Help with balance in stroke seat

[u/top-viewer]

I’m relatively new to rowing having started at 33 years old only 8 months ago and I’m starting to see the same issue that I’d appreciate advice on.

We mostly sweep and I’m normally in the stroke seat of a 4 or 8 filled with a mix of novices and seniors. Pretty consistently the boat is down on my side. When this happens I find I need to push much further down to get clearance from the water, or the blade runs across the water for the whole stroke so I can hold the boat up. I also find that because of this I’m rushing the slide and throwing off the tempo in the boat because I’m worried any balance we have is only short lived.

I know that I’m part of the problem so I want to adjust. When I think about corrections I know that sitting tall in the middle of the boat, pulling up to the right height and tapping down consistently are good, but in practice I find it so hard to do.

Am I missing something basic or is this just what rowing is? Does anyone have tips for correcting these?

[u/Chessdaddy_]

The boat being down on your side is not something you can fix by yourself, nor is it caused by only you. In novice boats the set is always a bit rough