Boat Configurations

In the aerial views (or overhead view) given below - the athletes are about to take a stroke (see also the notes at the foot of the table).

Common Parlance	Abbreviation	Aerial View
Single Scull (or Single)	1x
Double Scull (or Double)	2x
Quadruple Scull (or Quad)	4x
Coxless Pair (or Pair)	2-
Coxless 4	4-
Coxed 4 (note that some boats have the cox at the front of the boat, then the boat is known as a "front loader")	4+
An Eight	8+

What is given above is the "base" abbreviation which defines the configuration of the boat. The abbreviation is generally augmented with other letters and numbers e.g. M1x (Men's Single Scull) W1x (Women's Single Scull) and JM4x (Junior Men's Quad).

M, W and J are only other letters you need know for the Henley Royal Regatta.

As you can deduce x means a sculler, the number denotes the number of people in the boat holding blades (oars) and + or - denotes whether there is a cox (or not). Strictly a + or a - should accompany each abbreviation but some configurations such as 4x+ are so rarely seen that the + is dropped and 4x is assumed to mean 4x-.