Getting Started

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Getting Started

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What is Online Rowing?

Online Rowing is rowing with other RowPro users live in real time via the Internet.  It's free to all RowPro users.

During an online row, each participant sees their boat and the other participants' boats on their RowPro screen, moving along exactly in accordance with the meters rowed by each participant.

Why row online?

People row online for many reasons:

Stimulation

There is a very different and quite unique feeling when you know the other boats beside you on the course are real people rowing with you in real time.  It's very stimulating compared to just rowing alone or with pace boats.

Company

The in-built text Chat is a key part of the Online Rowing experience, and people quickly get to know others and develop great friendships with their Online Rowing buddies.

Encouragement

The online rowing community is full of helpful people who are only too keen to help new members get started.  Their support and encouragement can be a great help to people who would otherwise be rowing alone.

Discipline

When you have put your name into a scheduled session, you feel a certain commitment to follow through.  People say this adds a discipline that helps you stick with your rowing even when you perhaps don't feel like doing it.

Individual competition

The sessions you row online can be anything from a group paddle to a full-on race.  Even if you're not 'really' racing, your competitive instinct comes out and you'll more likely than not try to keep up with or ahead of the others.

Online Regattas

Online Rowing enables schools, colleges, clubs, universities, gyms, military units and many other organizations to compete with each other without needing to travel.  This opens up a whole new realm of rowing activities, and enables local, regional, national and international regattas between similar organizations.

How does it work?

Each RowPro PC connects to the Online Rowing server at www.digitalrowing.com to send and receive live session information in real time via the Internet.  All that participants need apart from RowPro is a connection to the Internet.

The Online Rowing server can handle many sessions simultaneously and enables text Chat between connected users.

As part of the Online Rowing system, Digital Rowing provides an online club called Oarbits where RowPro users can schedule online rows, create online regattas, view results, and send messages to each other.

URL of this page: https://digitalrowing.com/support/help/index.html?overview10.htm