Oars Edge Catches

Sofware by Kynsi

About this app

Oars Edge Catches is a rowing rhythm game about the one thing that actually moves a boat: taking the catch at the right moment.

Every stroke is two decisions made with one finger. Press at the CATCH, the instant the seat has arrived and the blade should go into the water. Hold through the DRIVE, the only part of the stroke that puts force into the hull. Let go at the finish, and the boat coasts through the RECOVERY with nothing driving it at all.

Because there is force only on the drive, hull speed pulses. It climbs while the blade is buried and falls away all through the recovery. Catch too early and you check the boat, throwing away the run you had just earned. Catch too late and the hull has already died, so the same pull buys you less. The amber catch window on the rhythm bar tells you when the blade belongs in the water.

RATE AND POWER ARE SEPARATE LEVERS
Where inside the window you catch sets your rate. How long you hold sets your power. A short, quick rating is a different race from a long, heavy one, and the reserve in your tank only refills through the recovery, so a high rate gives less of it back. Hang on past the finish and the blade simply drags.

FOUR PIECES ON THE CARD
Sprint 500: two minutes of noise, off the line at a racing start.
Standard 1000: long enough to punish a rushed slide.
Standard 2000: a start sequence, a long even middle, then a sprint finish.
Steady Row: no rivals and no clock prize, scored purely on how alike your strokes are.

RIVAL CREWS THAT ACTUALLY RACE
The other lanes run the identical physics you do, each to its own plan. One goes out hard and fades after halfway. One splits every 500 the same. One sits on you and attacks with 500 to go. Choose club, regional or elite fields, and put a ceiling on your stroke rate when you want to learn the long, patient version of the stroke.

WHAT YOU SEE
A shallow overhead view of flat dawn water. A live puddle trail behind the blades. A hull-speed trace showing the pulse, a split readout per 500 metres, a stroke-rate readout, a reserve bar, and a rhythm bar with the catch window marked. Flat shapes, no clutter, nothing shouting at you.

Best times, average rate, consistency and every pennant you earn are written into a logbook on the device and survive a restart.

COMPLETELY OFFLINE
No internet connection. No advertising. No analytics. No in-app purchases. No sound at all: the timing is carried entirely by what you see, plus an optional buzz on the catch that you can switch off. Portrait, one hand, any time you have four minutes to spare.