This paper describes the design of and some preliminary control results for a hydraulically actuated human power amplifier. The system is in the form of an oar, with its reach and pitch degrees of freedom being hydraulically assisted. A robust PI force controller is proposed so that the hydraulic actuator force tracks a scaled copy of the force exerted by the human. Nonlinearities and uncertainties in the compression spring, as well as parametric uncertainties are taken into account. The passivity property of the closed loop system is also analyzed. The controller has been tested in simulations and experimentally. It is shown to be effective when pushing against an object, and in assisting in bearing static loads.