Tag: safety

Video of the Week

Video of the Week: How to get back into a flipped shell

All of this is great info that you should learn when you first get on the water, regardless of whether you’re in an eight or a single. In most cases you can’t take out small boats until you’ve demonstrated that you can get back into it in the event that it flips so this would be a good video to study so you’re prepared if/when you have to do that.

College Coxing Novice Racing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: “Ignatius, stop rowing”, pt. 3

Really? Really?

That novice boat should have been disqualified and given a serious talking to by the regatta officials with their coaches present. (Supposedly they only received a 20 second penalty.) This goes way past your standard novice screw-up. The blades of the two boats were overlapping which means they were probably less than 10 feet apart. This was almost a head-on collision between a varsity four at full race pace/pressure and an eight that appeared to be rowing at least by bow 4. It doesn’t matter that they’re novices, “oh they weren’t going that fast”, “they probably just didn’t know where to go”, etc. … NO. Not buying ANY of those excuses.

Coxswains, I implore you to use your common sense and pay attention to the traffic patterns so you know where the travel lanes are and where the actual race course is. I don’t care if you’re a novice or varsity – pay attention. Varsity coxswains (and coaches, because … it’s your job …), you should be asking the novices multiple times if they understand the course, the traffic pattern(s), etc. so that there is no question that they’re prepared when they go out on the water and aren’t going to be at risk of putting themselves or another crew in danger. Novices, you need to suck. it. up. and get over being intimidated by asking questions and ask someone if you don’t know where you need to go. There are plenty of people on land that you can ask, in addition to regatta officials and other crews on the water. You should also have your head on a swivel at all times so that situations like this don’t happen.

There’s really no question with regards to how the coxswain from Marietta College handled this. Given the nature of the situation, I think he did well. I mean, what else can you do other than make a split second decision to either try to get the other crew’s attention and/or drastically alter your course? He was loud, made a good effort to get the coxswain’s attention, got his crew right back into it afterwards, and didn’t appear to have to make any steering adjustments. Saying “way off course, coxswain” is pretty much the tamest thing he could have said in that moment so props to him for not losing it on the other crew. Trust me, as much as you’d probably want to in that situation … don’t. Find the regatta officials afterwards and talk to them or go find the crew’s tent/trailer if you know what team they’re from and let their coach know what happened. It’s not about throwing them under the bus or trying to get them in trouble so don’t use that a reason to not say something later. The only way situations like this are going to be prevented in the future is if people speak up and give the coaches/officials a chance to address with the coxswains where they need to be on the water, either again or simple more effectively this time.

Coxing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Pay attention, coxswains

If you’ve ever had to fill out concussion forms for crew and thought “why am I filling this out, how could I possibly get a concussion?”, this video should give you an idea of one of the (very) few ways that you can sustain one. Keep an eye on the guy in the green shirt.

Coxswains, if something like this happens it’s on you. There’s no excuse for something like this. It’s not like massive trees just hang out below the surface and then suddenly think “hmm, time for some fresh air” before popping up out of the water. For as close as they were to it combined with the fact that it was sitting upright about 5ft above the water it should have been visible to the coxswain and she should have steered around it. “But there are eight tall guys in front of her, do you know how hard it is to see around them? They’re practically trees themselves!” Why yes, yes I do. That’s why when I’m coxing, regardless of who it is, I’m always peaking my head out of the boat every 15-20 strokes to see what’s up ahead of me.

Oh, and nonchalantly saying “sorry I didn’t see that” is probably one of the fastest ways to get eight people really pissed at you really fast. One or more of your rowers could have been hurt, not to mention the damage done to your boat (snapped oar and a broken rigger in this case) so a little bit more emotion, for lack of a better word, would do you some good. I have no idea how she reacted once they stopped but I know my knee-jerk reaction and probably that of the coxswains I know wouldn’t be “ho hum oops sorry”, it would be something along the lines of “oh SHIT are you guys OK??” Someone (I think my college coach but I don’t remember) said to us once that our reaction to hitting something should be proportional to the size of the object we hit.

Related: Do you have any advice for a novice coxswain who just crashed for the first time? It really shook me up and I know I won’t be able to get back in the boat for a few days (due to our walk-on coxswain rotation) but I want to get over it.

The days after it’s rained are the ones where you’ll most likely have to deal with excessive amounts of debris in the water. In Philly last summer we had a week of really bad thunderstorms that resulted in our coxswains having to deal with massive tree trunks and limbs (even house furniture, oddly enough) almost every day. It’s tough but manageable if you’re paying attention to your surroundings.

Another time you’ll have to deal with stuff like this is when the ice melts since it’ll most likely cause some flooding. If you’re really short like me (4’11”) and/or have trouble seeing around your rowers then it’s your responsibility to communicate with your bowman and have them turn around every so often to check if there’s something that could potentially impede your path. If there is then they need to YELL LOUDLY and you either need to immediately weigh enough and check it down or figure out where the object is so you can navigate around it.

How to: (Cold) Water safety

How To Teammates & Coaches

How to: (Cold) Water safety

So … your boat flipped.What do you do?

Recently in exchanging emails with other rowers and coxswains a slightly scary trend emerged in that it seemed like a lot of coaches aren’t going over water safety with their athletes. There is a video from USRowing that everyone is supposed to watch but that thing is so ridiculous that it’s unlikely that the majority of people who do see it actually pay attention to what’s being said or demonstrated. (Raise your hand if you’ve seen it and the only thing you remember is the part about crabs.) Some people have said their team doesn’t even show it anymore because of that exact reason.

This is a problem though because what if something happens while you’re out and you end up in the water? It makes me incredibly nervous when an experienced coxswain says “our four flipped today, the water was freezing, and none of us knew what to do”. (That’s from an actual email I got.) If you don’t know what to do if/when this happens, I honestly can’t imagine a more dangerous situation to be in.

There are a couple different aspects to water safety but what this post is going to focus on is the basics of what you should do if you and your crew end up outside of your boat and the effects that cold water in particular can have on your body. Every aspect of water safety is important but in my opinion these two things rank at the top of the list, particularly right now since some crews are going to be entertaining the idea of getting back on the water within the next couple weeks.

If your boat submerges or flips

The first thing you must do is remain calm. This is not the time to be throwing blame, trying to figure out what happened, laughing because “haha this sucksss“, etc. The good thing in this situation is that regardless of how much water is in the shell (or if it flips) it will still float. The oars will also float and can be used by everyone to hold on to. Because the hull floats, it’s not necessary to remove the oars from the oarlocks so it’s best to just keep them in there. Coxswains, you should grab on to your stroke’s oar – don’t worry, it will support both of you – and quickly do a head count to ensue everyone is accounted for. This might not be easy to do, particularly in the heat of the moment when you’re likely a little panicked, so it’s crucial that the rowers do their best to stay quiet. Similarly to how backseat coxing isn’t OK in a normal situation, it’s even less OK now.

Once you’re sure everyone has been accounted for, the next thing to do is keep everyone with the boat. Do not try to swim to shore. I don’t care if you’re the second coming of Michael Phelps, do. not. leave. your. boat. It is very, very easy to underestimate the distance to shore or how you’ll be affected by the elements (air/water temperature, wind, the current, fatigue, etc.), which can lead to you drowning. When you’re going against the elements and/or are in cold water, being a good swimmer is at most a psychological advantage and nothing more.

The vast majority of the time you will likely have a launch nearby that will already be on its way to you. If the launch is in sight but doesn’t see you in the water, yell, scream, make as much noise as possible to try and get their attention. The launches are required to carry life jackets on board so once it comes over the coach will distribute them and get everyone out of the water. When getting out of the water and into the launch, distributing everyone’s weight is going to be important in ensuring that the launch doesn’t also start to sink. Keeping a low center of gravity will also be important.

If you want to know what not to do … ever … like, EVER … watch this video.

The one good thing about that video is at the end they show how you should get the boat out of the water once you’re back on land. First, you’ve got to bail out as much water as you can using buckets or a pump. Next, you’ll need to get hands on (probably at least two boats worth) and pick it up a little so you can tilt it on it’s side (do not rest the riggers on the dock) and let more of the water flow out. The next step is to get it up and over heads. Yea, it’s gonna be a waterfall and yes, you’re gonna get wet (see here). From here the coxswain will tell you to tilt it left, then right, then left, then right to get even more water out. When you do this you’ll want to make sure the bow and stern caps are open too. (They should always be closed when you’re on the water.)

What should you do while you’re waiting for someone to come get you?

The most important things are keeping your head above water and continuing to talk to one another so that everyone stays alert and conscious. You’ll also want to turn your backs to the waves if the water is choppy. When the air/water temperature is on the colder side, getting everyone on the same side of the boat can give you a little bit of warmth. In this situation I’d recommend linking arms while holding on to the gunnels or riggers, just as another way to ensure everyone stays above water.

Coxswains, you should always stick with the stern pair. Remember, the hull floats, so if the water is particularly cold or you need to get someone out of the water, you can climb (gently) on to the boat and drape yourself across it. If the boat is submerged (but still right side up) then you can roll it over (you can leave the oars in the oarlocks, just make sure everyone is out of the way), which will trap air underneath it and allow it to sit up just a little bit higher out of the water.

What happens to the body in the cold water?

A few things.

You lose body heat 25-30x faster when you’re submerged in cold water compared to just sitting in the open air.

Your gut reaction is going to tell you to keep moving and tread water in order to generate heat. It doesn’t work like that when you’re submerged in cold water though. This will actually cause you to lose body heat faster, which will increase the rate at which hypothermia sets in. You need to stay still, stay upright, and keep your head above water

Within 10-15 minutes your core temp begins to drop, causing your arms and legs to go dumb and eventually resulting in a loss in consciousness (which then could lead to drowning).

You’ll start shivering as a way to generate more body heat and as hypothermia sets in (around 95 degrees Fahrenheit), it will become more intense and you’ll lose the ability to voluntarily stop shaking. When the body temp reaches around 90 degrees Fahrenheit you’ll stop shivering completely because it’s no longer effective. This is usually a sign that you’re in serious danger because after you stop shivering the rate at which you lose body heat rapidly accelerates.

How can I tell if I or one of my teammates is hypothermic?

There are several stages of hypothermia ranging from pre-hypothermia to severe hypothermia. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to remember every detail of each stage but the most important stage to watch out for is the “pre” and “mild” stage symptoms. If you recognize that someone is showing these signs then you can get them out of the water and up onto the hull. This is why it’s very important that you keep talking to each other.

Pre-hypothermia (body temp is around 95-96 degrees Fahrenheit)

Physical symptoms: Hands and feet become stiff and sore as circulation decreases and muscle tension increases due to shivering (although at this stage you can still voluntarily stop). You might also start feeling tired and lethargic, symptoms that could be exacerbated by the fact that you were most likely just rowing.

Mental symptoms: For the most part, you’ll most likely still be all there.

Mild hypothermia (body temp has decreased to 90-94 degrees Fahrenheit)

Physical symptoms: You can no longer control your shivering, your fine motor skills are deteriorating (making it difficult to hold on to things, which is another reason why linking arms with the person beside you with one arm and with the oar or rigger with the other is important), your heart rate and breathing have increased (because of the shivering), and your speech will start slurring.

You might also notice that you spontaneously start peeing – this is pretty standard as part of the fight-or-flight response (and also because you’ve probably been drinking a lot of water) and occurs because the majority of your blood volume is migrating to your core in order to protect the vital organs. The downside to this is that it can rapidly lead to dehydration (you can read about some of the effects of that towards the end of this post).

This is the point where you need to get out of the water to prevent losing any more of your body heat. Hopefully your teammates have recognized this and are taking the necessary steps to get you on top of the hull. When draping them across the hull, don’t just get them on there and go back to where you were. Stay on either side of them and hold on to their arms and legs to keep them from sliding off.

Mental symptoms: You’ll start becoming confused, maybe unaware of your surroundings or how you ended up in the water. Doing simple things like counting from 1-10 or saying everyone’s names can be difficult to do.

Moderate hypothermia (body temp has decreased even further to 83-88 degrees Fahrenheit)

Physical symptoms: At this point, your body is no longer getting anything out of shivering so it stops. Your speech is very slow and you probably sound like you’re drunk when you try and talk. Your muscles have become very stiff and your heart rate and breathing has decreased dramatically. Because your breathing has slowed, less oxygen is getting to your tissues which results in less body heat being produced. If you’re still in the water at this point, the likelihood of you breathing in water (and drowning) has increased because your cough reflex is no longer functioning.

Mental symptoms: You’re operating under pure confusion right now and probably feel like taking a nap.

Severe hypothermia (body temp is now below 82 degrees Fahrenheit)

Physical symptoms: At this stage you’re dangerously teetering on the edge of the point of no return. Your heart rate will be extremely slow and your breathing will be very shallow and less stable. Your teammates will probably think you’re dead based on physical appearance. Drowning is a very likely and very real possibility if you’re still in the water. Even if your teammates were able to get you up on to the hull, waves can still present a threat to water entering your nose and/or mouth.

Mental symptoms: You’re unconscious.

How long will it take for these symptoms to set in?

This all depends on the water temperature. The colder it is though, the more rapidly the onset of symptoms will be. According to USRowing, if it’s under 32 degrees you could be unconscious in as little as 15 minutes. In water that’s around 40-50 degrees, it could be up to an hour before you reach unconsciousness. It’s important to remember that just because you’re out of the water once you’re on the launch or back on land doesn’t mean you’re safe from the effects of hypothermia, especially if you’re still in wet clothes.

Check out this video. Some of the stuff doesn’t necessarily apply to rowing (basically everything involving life jackets) but overall it does a pretty good job of communicating the dangers of being submerged in cold water. (I promise, it’s not super corny or anything and is only ten minutes long.)

So, moral of the story is this: stay out of the water but if for whatever reason you end up in the water, make sure everyone is accounted for, try to get the attention of your coaches, keep everyone talking, and watch for signs of hypothermia in yourself and your teammates. Also, bring up the subject of water safety with your coaches and have them go over it with everyone if they haven’t already. It’s important stuff that everybody needs to know.

Understanding what the buoys mean

Coxing Racing Rowing

Understanding what the buoys mean

Fall season is just getting started and before you know it it’ll be time to start racing which means buoys … buoys everywhere. Buoys in all sorts of different colors scattered all over the place. If you’re unfamiliar with what they stand for then it can be easy to become confused and/or disoriented when trying to figure out where to go on your way to the starting line or worse, when you’re on the course.

RED buoys should always be on your port side (meaning the boat should be to the right of the buoy).

GREEN buoys should always be on your starboard side (meaning the boat should be to the left of the buoy).

YELLOW (or sometimes orange) buoys are used to indicate some kind of potential hazard, such as a log submerged under the surface of the water, a sand bar, etc. and can be on the left or the right. As they pop up you just have to adjust as necessary. In my experience they’ve also been used to mark stakeboat turns on the race course during head races.

WHITE buoys are used to outline the course, although they’re more commonly used during sprint season to mark the lanes than during head race season. Head of the Charles uses them though to separate the travel lanes and the race course.

Typically at the coaches and coxswains meeting the regatta officials will go over any buoys on the course with you and tell you what they mean but for the most part they should follow the nautical definitions fairly closely.

During sprint season, buoyed courses are set up using the Albano buoy system, which is the marking of the race course with parallel lines of buoys. The first time this was done was at the 1960 Summer Olympics on Lake Albano in Italy, where the rowing events were held. The course is, as we know, 2000m long with six 13.5m wide lanes that are separated by seven lines of buoys that are set 10-15m apart. For the first 100m and last 250m of most courses the buoys are red whereas the other 1650m are white.

Image via // @tristanshipsides
Navigating the Charles River (Boston, MA)

Coxing

Navigating the Charles River (Boston, MA)

Below are a few maps that I found very helpful when I first started coaching on the Charles last spring. If you’re racing here in the spring, are around in the fall for HOCR, or just starting rowing here, check them out and familiarize yourself with the bridge arches, which ones you can use, which ones you can’t, etc.

Related: (Head of the Charles) Getting to the starting line || Steering through the bridges || Landmarks along the course || Steering around the turns || Race plans || My general race plan

CHARLES RIVER TRAFFIC PATTERNS (You can download a copy of the map in PDF form here.)

CHARLES RIVER BASIN 2K COURSE (You can download a copy of the map in PDF form here.)
Pay particular attention to the arches that are available to use on the Mass Ave. bridge – you’ll see there are upstream lanes on the far right Cambridge side and on the far left Boston side (the Union lanes). The Union upstream lanes are typically only used when the basin is horrific because of wind or there are races happening.

In terms of the 2k course, note where the starting line, finish line, and each 500m marker is. To see them more closely, download the PDF and zoom in. The starting line is at the end of the Memorial Drive ramp just off the Longfellow Bridge, 500m is just before the MIT sailing center, Mass Ave. is 1000m, MIT’s boathouse is 1500m, and the finish line is right before the Hyatt Regency Hotel. There’s a white pole in the ground on shore that marks the finish line and obviously, there will also be a race official with a flag to let you know when you’ve crossed. At the end of the course and across from BU are some large neon markers that give you your points to aim for.

In addition to all of that you’ll see the small blue arrows in the water that denote the traffic pattern on race days (and most other days too). Pay close attention to those and make sure you follow them.

To read up on how to navigate the river during HOCR, check out the posts linked at the top of the post and follow the “Head of the Charles” tag to stay up to date on all future HOCR posts.

Image via // @dosdesignsltd

Coxing Novice Racing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: “Knuckleheads”

People in the comments here were saying the announcer was way too harsh on this crew – they are novices after all. Um, no. No, no, no. Being a novice does not exclude you from being shit on for making straight up illogical decisions. Novice or not, you should know via common sense to NOT go onto the race course before a race has passed you. Why? Because these guys are barreling down the course and novices move at the rate of an elderly turtle.

Related: Part of coxswain selections are how safe you are and if you can keep the boat safe in different situations. How would coaches determine your safety-ness?

If you can see three crews coming at you and/or you can hear people yelling “MOVE OFF THE COURSE”, get your ass in gear and move. I understand the “deer in the headlights” moment because I’ve been there but you’ve got to get over it and get out of the way. Not only are you in a position to impact someone else’s race but you could cause a serious collision that could result in very serious injuries.

So, in a situation like this what should you do?

For starters, don’t put yourself in a situation like this. Ever.

Know the traffic pattern before you launch. When in doubt draw it out on a piece of paper and take it in the boat with you. Also make sure you are actually supposed to cross the course at any given point. If you are there will likely be an official waiting in a launch to tell you when it’s safe to do so.

If a race is coming down the course, stop and wait for them to pass you before crossing to the other side. NEVER cross in front of a race. If the race is at the starting line and hasn’t gone off yet, do. not. go. unless a race official has specifically told you to cross. They’ll usually say something like “Belmont Hill, you’re clear to cross. Row it over all eight.” If something like this is necessary the officials will have told you about it in the coaches and coxswains meeting. If they didn’t bring it up, don’t do it.

Assuming you ignore everything I just said and you find yourself in the middle of the course with some heavyweight men’s 8s coming straight toward you, do. not. stop. rowing. Also do not row by pairs if you’re in a four or 4s if you’re in an eight. Row by all four or all eight and get out of the way. Row as far over as you can get to ensure that you are completely off the course. If for some reason you need to turn the boat, turn with everyone on whatever side you have rowing, not just one or two people. The goal is to move quickly.

Give clear, concise, and direct instructions. This is not the time to lose your head and be stammering, stuttering, and fumbling with your words.

Rowers: shut UP. You talking, yelling, etc. does not help and only makes things worse. I hesitate to say what to do if your coxswain isn’t giving you instructions because I don’t want to be responsible for widespread mutinies against coxswains but I can tell you that you should not be doing what the other three rowers are doing from 1:50-1:57 (i.e. just sitting there like it’s a totally normal day at practice and letting one person turn the entire damn boat).

When someone tells you to row, don’t all just start rowing whenever the hell you want. You don’t do that any other time so why would you do it now? If anything, in situations like this is when you need to be the most coordinated in order to get out of there quickly and safely. There most likely isn’t going to be time for the coxswain to say “sit ready, ready, row” so just go with your stroke. Follow them from the beginning. Stroke seats everywhere, do not start rowing from half slide or whatever random position you’re sitting in. Have this worked out with your crew ahead of time that you’ll all start at the catch or the finish, whichever one you choose if you need to abruptly start rowing, that way everyone starts together and you don’t look ridiculous like this crew does.

Remain calm. You can freak out and be pissed at each other when you get back on land.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

Part of coxswain selections are how safe you are and if you can keep the boat safe in different situations. How would coaches determine your safety-ness?

In no particular order, I’d look at:

Whether or not you follow the traffic patterns (and before that, if you know what the traffic patterns are)

What your steering is like (are you a straight shooter or a drunk driver?)

Related: How to steer an eight or four

How you handle high-volume days on the water when there’s a lot of traffic (i.e. on any given day you’ll encounter numerous other crews, launches, sailboats, tour boats, duck boats, kayakers, SUP-ers, etc.)

Are you calm in stressful situations or do you easily lose your composure

Do you follow instructions (this is huge)

Are you trustworthy (can I send you off by yourself for a few minutes without supervision and trust that you’ll execute practice accordingly, keep the crew safe, etc.)

Are you careful with the equipment

How well you handle inclement weather situations

Whether or not you used basic common sense

The last one is big for me personally and is probably the number one thing I would like at if I were evaluating how safe a coxswain is. Being aware of potentially dangerous, unsafe, or atypical situations and doing everything you can to avoid putting your crew in harm’s way is one of, if not the most, important responsibility of a coxswain. Common sense can and will keep you and your crew safe 98% of the time but being able to master everything I listed above will be of great use to you. Better safe than sorry, every time, all the time.

The “Three S’s of Coxing”

Coxing Novice

The “Three S’s of Coxing”

I was lucky enough to hear Mike Teti speak at a coxswain clinic I attended when I was in high school and one of the things he spoke about were “the three S’s”. The three S’s are what a coxswain should consider to be their highest priorities. For novice coxswains, consider this an introduction; for experienced coxswains, consider this a reminder.

SAFETY

Safety is always and forever your absolute number one priority. Why? Because you’re in charge of a $20,000-$40,000 boat and eight other lives. If something happens on the water, it is your responsibility to do what is best for your crew. I tend to compare being a coxswain to sitting in the exit row on an airplane. You have to understand how the boat works, how to operate it, be able to follow the instructions given by your coach, and assess, select, and follow the safest travel route(s), amongst many other things. Remember, it is always better to be safe than sorry.

STEERING

Steering is an imperative skill that all coxswains must become proficient with as quickly as possible. It’s not something to joke about and spend four months trying to figure out. Yes, it’s tricky learning to navigate a 53 foot long shell along waterways with a steering system that consists of two strings and a credit-card sized rudder but again, it goes back to safety. Zigzagging across the river and not following the traffic patterns can have disastrous outcomes for both your crew and anyone else on the water. The rowers are not there to steer the boat for you – it is your responsibility to figure it out.

SPEECH

I think if most coaches (and experienced coxswains) had their way, novices would be seen and not heard. Unfortunately, coxswains must be heard if they are to do the job that is required of them and to additionally ensure the safety of their crew. HOWEVER, I do believe that novice coxswains should be silent until they’re comfortable with steering the boat and have a firm grasp on their duties. Essentially, you must prove to me that you can handle everything that is being asked of you. Instincts are key as a coxswain and once safety and steering become second-nature, then you can talk. Another important part of “speech” is learning and knowing what to say. If what you’re saying isn’t constructive to the crew, you shouldn’t be saying it.

Being a coxswain is an amazing position to hold, but it is not one without responsibilities. Although these are just three of them, like I said before, they should be considered your top priorities. Mastery of these skills through practice, listening to your coach, and learning from your fellow coxswains will put you on the path to becoming your crew’s biggest asset.

Related: What do coaches look for in a coxswain?

For more on each of the three S’s check out the “safety“, “steering“, and “communication” tags.

Image via // @merijnsoeters