this is the sport where the coxswain doesn't say "stroke", he says "catch". There are 1 person boats, 2 persons, 4 persons, and 8 persons. This is the sport that takes up time and attention just because it is that important
You: Yeah sorry I have to go, I'm gonna go cox at crew.
Friend: Oh, your the guy that says stroke?
You: *punching friend* The hell I do! I say Catch!
Perhaps the preppiest of all prep sports. True preps begin as early as seventh grade, though honorary preppiness is bestowed upon college oarsmen so long as they wear chinos and Brikenstocks off the water. Difficult to explain attraction to a sport that demand you skip Monte Carlo Weekend just to add to your blisters, calluses, and bloody, scarred calves. (Up-side: feminine attention and sympathy.) Does provide one with a lean, muscular physique, though, and is license for various kinds of eccentricity the lacrosse team would never tolerate. Participation in Head of the Charles and/or Henley Royal Regatta assures social set bragging rights later on in life. At no point does the midget in the bow/stern of the boat yell "stroke."
Vikings did not use slaves för propelling their ships. Free men joined the skeppslag and rowed their chiefs longships motivated by the coming share of loots and for the plain pleasure of men doing things together.
On crew and frienship:
Och åter bland kämpar jag spejande stod
Efter skepp i det fjärran blå.
Kom vikingasegel, - då gälde det blod;
Kom krämarn, - så fick han gå.
Men blodig är segern den tappre värd,
Och vikingavänskap, den knytes med svärd
Uppå hafvet.