A racing boat's hull is approximately 1/8" to 1/4" thick to make it as light as possible. This is why, instead of referring to racing boats' bodies as hulls, people call them shells. These shells are long and narrow, with different boat sizes being made for different rowers' weights. Most shells are made of wood, Kevlar, fiberglass, or carbon fiber. There are two distinct disciplines in rowing. In sweep rowing each rower concentrates all of their power on one, larger blade, and in sculling each rower divides their strength over two, smaller blades. There are one, two, or four people in a scull, whereas there are two, four, or eight people in a sweep oared shell.

All rowers face the back of the boat, which requires either a coxswain in front to steer the boat or one of the rowers to have a foot controlled steering mechanism. In this instance, that rower must occasionally twist his head to see in what direction the boat needs to be steered. A combination of back, muscles, and legs provides the power necessary to drive the shell. Rowers insert their feet into stationary shoes, and sit on a sliding seat. The oar is held in place by a rigger just outside of the boat.

There are four parts to the stroke: the catch, the drive, the release, and the recovery. At the catch the rower is all the way up the slide and poised to place his or her oar into the water. The drive occurs as the oar or blade is being pulled through the water and the rower's seat slides back. The release happens at the end of the drive when the blade is pulled out of the water. The recovery is then necessary to bring the rower back up to the catch. During this time, the blade is out of the water and the rower moves his or her seat up the slide.