Editing Sculling (section)

===In crew ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1982-0819-033, Nationalmannschaft, DDR, Doppelvierer.jpg|thumb|[[Quad scull|Quad]], Germany, 1982. Stroke Seat: [[Martin Winter (rower)|Martin Winter]]. 3 Seat: [[Uwe Heppner]]. 2 Seat: [[Uwe Mund (rower)|Uwe Mund]]. Bow Seat: [[Karl-Heinz Bußert]].]]
Sculling, one of the two major divisions of [[Rowing (sport)|crew (or competitive rowing)]], is composed of races between small, sculled boats crewed by various numbers of rowers. Generally, one, two, or four athletes row these [[Racing shell|shells]]. These shells are classified according to the number of rowers that they can hold: [[single scull|singles]] have one seat, [[Double scull|doubles]] have two, and [[Quad scull|quads]] have four. In keeping with this pattern, quads rowed by three people (due, for instance, to a temporary shortage of rowers) are often colloquially referred to as "triples". The boat manufacturer 'Stampflï' has created a triple with only three seats (rather than using a quad occupied by three people). A rare sculling shell is the octuple, rowed by an eight-man crew, which is sometimes used by large rowing programs to teach [[novice]] rowers how to scull in a balanced, [[Coxswain|coxed]] boat.

The physical movement of sculling is split into two main parts: [[Anatomy of a rowing stroke#Drive|the drive]] and [[Anatomy of a rowing stroke#Recovery|the recovery]]. These two parts are separated by what is called the [[Glossary of rowing terms#Catch|"catch"]] and the [[Glossary of rowing terms#Finish|"finish"]]. The drive is the section of the rowing stroke where the face of the oars, also known as blades, are firmly placed in the water and the rower is propelling the boat forwards by pulling against the anchor the oars provide. The recovery is the section where the rower's blades are not in the water, but instead gliding above it as the rower prepares for the next stroke. The catch is the moment the blades are dropped into the water at the end of the recovery and the start of the drive, while the finish is when the blades are slipping out after the drive is done and the recovery is beginning. In order to improve balance on the recovery, the blades are [[Glossary of rowing terms#Feather|feathered]], or held parallel to the surface of the water, at the finish, and [[Glossary of rowing terms#Square|squared]] (perpendicular to the water surface) at the catch.

Competitive crew requires an efficient [[anatomy of a stroke|stroke]] with all rowers matching the cadence and movements of the stroke seat, the rower closest to the shell's [[stern]]. The shell may have a [[coxswain (rowing)|coxswain]], or "cox", to steer the boat, encourage the crew, and monitor the rate, though coxswains are highly uncommon in competitive sculling shells and the rower in [[bow (rowing)|bow]] seat usually takes on these responsibilities instead. The bow-most rower may have equipment that attaches the [[skeg]] of the shell to one of the bow's shoes to aid with the steering; without such equipment, a sculling boat is directed by uneven pressure applied to the opposing blades.

A key technical difference between sculling and [[sweep (rowing)|sweeping]] in [[rowing (sport)|crew]] is that the sculling oar handles overlap twice during the stroke cycle ([[sweep (rowing)|sweep]] oar handles never overlap during normal rowing because each [[sweep (rowing)|sweeper]] usually holds only one oar). The overlap occurs at the midpoint of [[Anatomy of a rowing stroke#Drive|the drive]] and again during [[Anatomy of a rowing stroke#Recovery|the recovery]]; because of this, scullers must hold one hand (conventionally the left hand) higher than the other at the point of overlap. To prevent this from impacting the balance of the boat, one oarlock (conventionally the starboard one, to the rower's lefthand side) is rigged higher than the other prior to rowing.<ref name="peinert1"/> This prevents the oar handles and the sculler's thumbs from colliding with one another and causing a [[Catch a crab|crab]] or other problems.