Rowing: Drysdale switches to single oar

World champion rower Mahe Drysdale will be missing a paddle on Saturday.

The single sculler normally rows with two oars but on Saturday he will be wielding just one as part of the New Zealand eight taking on an Australian crew at the Boathouse Eights on the Waikato River.

"It's only one oar and I've done enough rowing for it not to be a problem," said Drysdale, who won gold at the world championships in Gifu, Japan, last Saturday.

"Obviously it's going to take a bit of adjustment but I'm pretty confident I can do it and it's going to be a lot of fun."

While it seems illogical, Drysdale said the stroke was not too different despite having half the number of oars.

"The action is actually very similar. With one oar you rotate a lot more with your body and there's only one oar to control rather than two so in some ways it can be a bit easier."

The novelty of having crewmates may take longer to get used to.

"I think that's going to be the biggest adjustment. I haven't rowed behind anyone for about a year.

"It takes two or three rows to get back into rhythm and adjust to the stroke.

"But we're obviously all in the New Zealand squad so we've all got similar ideas."

With New Zealand's at the world championships -- where four gold medals were won -- it has been suggested that they aim to qualify crews for every final at the 2012 Olympics, which would mean eights in both the men's and women's.

While Drysdale will concentrate on the single scull to try to win gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he did not rule out switching to the eight later on.

"Eights are the fastest so it's definitely something I would be interested in in the future."

The Australian eight did not race at the world championships in Gifu but won bronze at the 2004 Olympics, and for the race on Saturday their crew includes Australian legend Drew Ginn.

"It's pretty exciting to jump into an eight with my teammates from last year and take on a good Australian crew," Drysdale said.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge."

Meanwhile, the Waikato University eight were on the river together yesterday for just the third time and the first in weeks.

Nathan Twaddle, who together with George Bridgewater won the coxless pairs in Gifu, was back on the water just a day after arriving back in New Zealand.

Tonight, the Washington University and Waikato crews face off in the annual pre-Gallagher Boathouse Eights ergometer (rowing machine) race at SkyCity Casino.

- nzpa