Rowing Race Strategy : find the optimum through hydrodynamics, biomechanics and physiologics constraints.*

During a race, rowers have to travel a cosntant length: 2000 meters. They do it in approximately 240 strokes, oscillating on a thin shaped boat while pulling their oars. During this 6 to 7 minutes effort, they have to choose their energy managing strategy: some of them start very fast but are unable to maintain the high pace until the end of the race; on the contrary, some others accept to start behind in order to have enough energy to finish faster (negative split strategy). Inspired by the seminal work of J.B. Keller on running races, the goal of this stufy is to derive a theoretical model of the rowing race, taking into account hydrodynamic frictions of the rowing boat (added mass, skin friction, wave resistance), and the biomechnaics and physiology of human rowing propulsion, in order to find the optimal strategy to run the race.