Six of the seven New Zealand crews in action on day one of rowing have progressed directly through to quarters or semi-finals, but many of them are far from happy with the conditions they were forced to race in.

Gusty winds made for choppy weather and white caps on the Lagoa, with Emma Twigg and Mahe Drysdale among those believing they shouldn’t have been racing in such conditions.

"After the race I put my hand up and protested, because I simply don't believe we should be racing in an Olympic Games conditions like that," Twigg said.

"It was very tricky, today it was more about surviving and not falling out, which is a shame when you come to the Olympics and your first heat is about staying in the boat as opposed to putting it all on the line."

"I don't believe we should be training for four years and putting ourselves through the training we do to go and race in conditions like that."

Drysdale avoided the worst of them early in the day.

The men’s pair saw one of their rivals fully capsize in their heat, the first time Hamish Bond says he’s had that happen in a race, although didn’t think the conditions were unfair.

The men’s quad, given the call up to Rio just a month ago, were the only crew not to progress directly and will instead go to a repechage.