My Comments on the Journee du 8+

From my experience, France and Bretagne in particular not have the culture of rowing in 8s. Reasons given to me were:

a) Thats American !
b) Its hard to have 8 people row in an sweeping boat the first time.
c) Its easier to start sculling

Reason (a) is the most obnoxious reason I have ever heard. I started rowing in Canada on an 8. I think sculling and sweeping both have their challenges and are equally hard.

From, the Olympic rowing point of view France has been performing well in smaller boats such as 2-,4x+, 4-, 2x etc. however, they certainly have not produced good results when it comes to rowing in the 8. Several other nations including the Americans and Canadians pay special attention to developing a strong 8.
The 8+, ladies and gentleman constitutes the blue ribbon event. The idea of sucking in one's pride and to trust 7 others and row together , in my opinion, captures the true spirit of rowing.

The 8 has also served as the boat smoothly welcoming beginners in university after one season of rowing. The smaller boats are more challenging, and not to mention relatively boring.

I would certainly like to solicit comments about why France lacks this culture of encouraging rowers to row in 8s.