From steady state to race day, it’s critical that you get the most out of every stroke. Having the proper spread or span, depending on your height and boat type, is one of the best ways to ensure you’re rowing efficiently.

• Something to keep in mind before making any adjustments is you or your athlete’s height. Shorter heights mean you will want the pins closer in towards the gunwales for a tighter spread or span, and taller heights will necessitate having the pins further out from the gunwales for a wider spread or span. Always consult your coach or boatman about what spread or span distance is right for you before making any adjustments.
• Also, here’s a handy chart of standard spreads and spans for every boat type in case you aren’t sure where to start.

Spreads	Spans
2- 86cm	1x 160cm
4+ 85cm	2x 159cm
4- 85cm	4x 158cm
8+ 84cm

• To measure and adjust spreads and spans, you will need a few tools. First of which being a tape measure or a self centering span gauge (coloquially known as a “spread stick”) from Active Tools. The latter will make the process much faster and a bit more accurate, but since tape measures are a bit more commonplace, this tutorial will use one of them instead. Additionally, depending on whether you are working with a C-Cup oarlock bracket or a standard oarlock pin, you will need either an allen key or 19mm wrench, respectively. 
• First, take your measurements. For spread, use the tape measure and measure the width of the boat’s hull from gunwale to gunwale. Our example boat comes out to 52cm. 
• Next, divide the hull width by 2, which comes out to 26cm in our example boat. This will gives you the center point of the boat.
• Then, proceed to measure the full length from the far gunwale to the center of the pin on the opposite side. Our example boat comes out to 113cm.
• Lastly, subtract the center point number (26cm) from the full width number (113cm). This gives us a final spread number of 87cm on our example boat.
• Since 87cm is a bit higher than the standard spread for our example boat, you can move the pin in towards the gunwale by either loosening it with the allen key or 19mm wrench depending on what kind of pin/rigger setup you have. On our example boat, we have a C-Cup bracket which requires the use of the allen key.
• To measure and adjust span in a sculling boat, you can simply repeat steps 1-4 on the opposite side. This will give you 2 spread numbers. Add those up to calculate your total span distance, and check your work by measuring the distance from pin to pin with the tape measure. If there are any discrepancies, you can adjust the pins as necessary with either the allen key or 19mm wrench.