An aggregate resource for all those riding in the 9th seat
What type of shoes do you think are appropriate for coxswains to wear in the boat?
I usually wear some rotation of Hunters, Uggs, or Bean Boots and then starting in late April through September I wear sandals every day. Sperry’s, tennis shoes, etc. are all fine too. Basically just wear something that can stand up to getting wet and will keep your feet warm when it’s cold out and you’ll be good.
Previously: Intro to rigging, spread, and span || Oar length, inboard, and blade profile || Pitch || Rigger height and work through
Rigging is one of those things where I feel like you can just look at the boat and see that “Oh, there are nuts and bolts holding the riggers on … so to de-rig all I need to do is take the nuts and bolts off, sit them somewhere where they won’t be lost, and then put them back on when the rigger is off.” You’d be surprised how many times that has not been the case.
Some coaches put their coxswains in charge of rigging the boats themselves, others go through at the end and quickly make sure everything is tightened up, others just walk around with their wrenches in case anyone needs one. All are fine for you to do but all still require you to still know how to rig the boat, which wrenches to use on which bolts, etc.
Check out the video above to see how the riggers are connected to the hull.
Before you get started, make sure that you know the parts of the rigger and what the front stay and back stay are before you rig your boat. Knowing this can help you avoid putting all the riggers on backwards.
Something very important to remember is to not tighten the bolts too much. If you tighten the bolts too much you can crack the ribs that make up the frame of the hull. My coaches have always had the rowers tighten them to finger-tight (as tight as you can get them using just your fingers) and then the coxswains would go around and two-finger tighten them with the wrenches (as tight as you can get them with only your index and middle finger leveraging the wrench). Then they’d go around and make any final adjustments.
Don’t forget to check the top nut on the oarlock either. These need to be locked on pretty tightly (more than two-finger tight) so make sure you go over them when you’re tightening everything else.
When you take the nuts and bolts off, put them in the shoes or in the tracks. Do not try and hold them in your hand because you’ll probably drop them. If you drop one, obviously look for it but if you can’t find it tell your coach and/or coxswain so they can bring you a spare. The rigger needs all of the nuts and bolts so if you think your coach will be pissed that you dropped one nut and/or bolt, wait until you see him when your entire rigger has come off in the middle of practice and you tell him you knew it was missing one of the pieces.
Last thing, just as a general reminder – when you’re rigging a boat, you’re usually headed out to practice or race immediately after and when you’re de-rigging you probably just got home from a regatta or you’re heading home after practice. Regardless, there’s always somewhere you have to be and you want to get there as quickly as possible. Don’t rush the rigging process to the point where things aren’t done properly but don’t move at a glacial pace either. Rigging an eight should take no more than 10-15 minutes, TOPS. De-rigging should be even quicker.
Once you’re done rigging your seat either help the person beside you or go somewhere else. Personally I like for rowers to go away when they’re done, that way I can see who’s left and how much still needs to be done. If there’s seven people all standing around the boat or one seat or whatever it just makes it hard to maneuver around the boat to check everything. You can help speed up the process by moving out of the way when you’re done so the coxswains and/or coaches can finish up.
Next week: Tools for rigging
When we write down erg scores/times, I never fail to copy one down wrong. Ugh. Any advice? I know it’s SO simple but…
Trust me, you’re not the only coxswain to have a brain malfunction while trying to write down splits, times, watts, average stroke rate, etc. Multiply all of that by 25+ rowers and you’re bound to make a mistake. It happens, you’ve just gotta make sure to minimize the number of times it does so that time’s not being wasted and the data the coaches are getting is accurate.
My friends and I came up with a “system” in high school to make writing everything down easier, simpler, and faster. We had a similar system in college too that made the process a lot smoother, especially since there were twice as many rowers to collect data for. In addition to all this, another thing that helps is dividing up the rowers amongst the coxswains, i.e I’ll take the front row, you take the second row, and so on, that way you’re not rushing around trying to get everyone done.
All the ergs are numbered, 1-x. Each erg must be full, meaning it can’t go someone on 2, someone on 3, no one on 4, someone on 5, etc. That’s what always trips me up when I’m writing stuff down. When they sit down, I write each person’s name down beside their erg number. Once I’ve written their name down, they can’t switch ergs. While they’re erging, each coxswain makes a “table” for whatever we’re supposed to be writing down so we can quickly fill it in when they’re done. (You can also input them directly into Excel if you’ve got a laptop on hand and a spreadsheet pre-made that’s ready to be filled in.) Also, if for example you’re taking splits and time, make sure the order you have them written down in is the same across the board, that way when you give your coach the numbers or they look at the sheets they don’t have three pieces of paper that have splits written down first and one that has their overall time down first.
#1 rule, no one is allowed to leave their erg until their stuff has been written down. This just ensures no one gets skipped or erg #5’s times are written down in erg #4’s place. I make sure the screen that displays everything is up so I can get time, splits, meters, etc. off of it all at once without having to waste time cycling though them. If I’ve gotta write down watts, which isn’t on the main screen, it’s always written down last and is always listed last on my table. All the info on the main screen I take down in the order it’s displayed. Time goes down first, since it’s at the top, then splits, then whatever else, that way I don’t get confused as to whether I just wrote splits in the time column or time in the splits column.
Also, take your time. Be quick about it obviously but don’t rush to the point where you’re being sloppy, can’t read what you’ve written, or aren’t looking carefully at what you’re writing down. Don’t let the rowers mess with their screens either. If they want to look at something just tell them to wait until you’re done so they aren’t in the way and/or slowing you down. Also, double check everything before moving on to the next erg. #1 rule of coxing, better safe than sorry.
Hi there! So I’m in my 5th year of rowing (3 years in high school as a rower on a women’s team, in my second year of coxing men’s collegiate right now) and this morning during seat racing I experienced a problem I’ve never had before. We were in fours, and my stroke seat, a port, was out-powering every 3 seat who switched in, but my bow pair were matching up pressure. It was pushing my stern to starboard a bit, but I was steering to port just enough to keep our bow pointed straight. However, we also had a cross-wind coming from port, also pushing us to starboard. The result was that I held the right point, but my course wasn’t straight because we were kind of skidding sideways while we were going forward. In a situation like that where I need to steer a straight course but I can’t actively cox my boat (beyond telling them stroke rate and position) and I can’t ask them to adjust pressure, what can I do beyond just using the rudder? Is there a way to keep my boat straight without sliding sideways across the water like that?
When you’re rowing into a crosswind the best way to avoid getting your bow knocked around is to angle it slightly into the wind so that when the gusts do hit you, they blow the bow straight and forwards instead of hitting you when you’re already straight and pushing you to the side or off at an angle. Trying to get your point back when you’re fighting the wind is a lot harder than just pointing into it from the very beginning. To anticipate this I’ll watch the water in front of or around us so I know where the wind is coming from and when we’re about to get hit by a gust, that way I can make an adjustment before the wind catches my bow and pushes it around.
As soon as you get off the water make sure to tell your coach all of that information though – stroke was overpowering everyone who was seat racing, the wind was pushing you around (even though you were pointed mostly straight), you couldn’t ask them to adjust their pressure, etc. All of that is important to the “integrity”, so to speak, of the seat races.
Sometimes weather is a factor and there’s nothing you can do about it so don’t be afraid to bring it up. If the wind or something like that is a big issue when you’re out and it’s hard for you to control the boat in it, don’t wait until you’re off the water, tell your coach right away. It might piss everyone off in the moment (especially if things are already tense due to the seat racing) but if you have to delay racing or row somewhere where the water’s calmer, that’s usually the best (and fairest) option.
We have our last big head race this Saturday, and then it’s regatta season. Our crews will probably be mixed up but I don’t know how much. I was wondering what you’d look for in a rower/crew in regatta season as opposed to head season? It’s my first regatta season and I’m loving my crew so I’m in a bit of a pickle.
I think most coaches look for the same things in both the fall and the spring. Technique, strength/power, etc. If you’re asking in terms of lineups, I don’t think coaches have a lineup they race specifically for head race season and one they specifically race for during sprint season, so my guess would be that unless people in your boat(s) made any drastic improvements over the winter that would warrant them being moved up a boat, they’ll stay mostly the same. Best suggestion though is to talk to some of the varsity rowers and/or your coach to get an idea of how they do things in the spring.
What does coxing mean to you/for you personally?
Coxing is my release. It’s cheaper than therapy and I get to yell … loudly … and a lot. It’s how I relieve stress and it’s how I get my adrenaline rush. I think part of the reason why I was so excited to get back out on the water when I started coxing again was because I had five years of pent up stress to get rid of. I’ve always been an intense coxswain but damn, I surprised even myself when I called my first few bursts.
When I’m out, I am 100% present and focused on what I’m doing but I’m also 100% in my own bubble where no one or nothing can bother me. It’s my thinking place. Even when I’m calling power ten after power ten after power ten and my brain is going eight hundred miles a minute, I still do some of my best thinking out there. Nothing can touch me. For two uninterrupted, blissful hours, I am completely my own.
Hi, I have a problem and I would love to hear your thoughts on it! Ok so, I am a sophomore in high school and I have been rowing for my local boathouse in the juniors programs but there aren’t any spring programs. Every school district that lines the Hudson River in my county has a crew program besides mine. I have talked to my school’s athletic director and my coaches for winter training about rowing for another school and they all have said it’s impossible. I will be able to row again in the summer and the fall, but do you have any thoughts or suggestions on how I could go about this? PS you have an awesome blog!
If they don’t have a program, I don’t see why it’s a big deal for you to join another team. I never understood that when I was in school either. Unfortunately though, if that’s the rule you’ll more than likely have to follow it. I know here in Boston a lot of kids whose schools don’t have teams go to CRI and make up one big club team, so I don’t know if that’s a possibility for you if there’s a team like that on the river or if your coaches will still say it’s against the rules. Couldn’t hurt to check it out though. If there is, you might be able to work something out with your school but it could mean that you’d have to row for that other club year-round instead of rowing for your regular program in the fall.
One thing you could do though if none of those things are an option is offer to help out one of the other teams on the river in exchange for using their ergs, weight rooms, etc. That way you could keep training and keep getting experience, even if your chances to get in a boat are limited. Offer to come in the launch a few times a week and take video for the coach or something like that. Coaches love volunteers and almost always have something that needs to be done that they don’t have time to do themselves.
I’m a novice and I keep hearing that the head varsity coach at my club is an ego tripping jerk who doesn’t let a lot of stuff slide which stinks because I’m injured and stuff and I don’t think I’ll be totally better by next season when I go to varsity and OMG how do I cope with a scary coach?
Forget everything you’ve heard until you’ve experienced it for yourself. Go talk to him as soon as possible and let him know about your injury, the time table for when you hope to be back to 100%, and what you can expect (training wise) when you return. Also ask what would happen if you weren’t at 100% by the time you moved up to varsity, that way you know what to expect and aren’t blindsided by anything next season.
If he brushes you off or something, have your parents talk to him. In most cases, when parents get involved, coaches will be less rude and/or dismissive towards them than they will to the kids. Just have your parents approach it from the “concerned parent, not sure if my son/daughter told you but they’re injured, etc.” angle instead of the “my son/daughter said they told you this and you said that” angle. That’ll just cause a lot of unnecessary drama and put you in an awkward situation.
College Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches
How did you balance crew, classwork, and a social life while you were in college?
I didn’t at all. My college experience could be equated to Murphy’s Law – everything that could go wrong went wrong. Looking back I should have advocated for myself a lot more than I did when I talked to my coaches, I should have gone to my professors sooner when I realized I was falling behind, and I should have avoided my advisers entirely since they ended up steering me in the wrong direction more often than not. The way things panned out with rowing and college in general is without question the biggest regret I have.
College itself wasn’t a shock to my system or anything so there really wasn’t an adjustment period there but as soon as classes started I got smacked in the face with crew from every angle. Practice twice a day, weights in the morning twice a week after a row (7-8:30am before classes), not to mention having a teammate as a roommate (alarm clock going off every five minutes for an hour starting at 4:30am … I wanted to kill her) was a lot to deal with on top of the usual college stuff.
I started taking classes over the summer and already had an incredible group of friends before the year even started. I went from seeing them every day to never seeing them. I was way too exhausted to go out on the weekends so I missed a lot of opportunities to hang out and stuff. I justified missing out by saying that rowing in college was what I wanted to do and I knew there were going to be sacrifices and if this was one of them, fine. All work and no play is not healthy.
Classes were a whole separate issue entirely. I was excited about my major and most of my classes but it’s hard to maintain that excitement when you’re late to your morning class every day because you get held over by 20, 30, 40 minutes at practice (and then have to wait for the shuttle back to campus) and are so exhausted at the end of the day that you can’t manage any brain waves when it’s time to actually do your work. I’d come back from afternoon/evening practice around 6-7pm, maybe grab something to eat (justified again by not having enough time, I didn’t feel that hungry anyways, etc.), take a quick break to wind down from the day (usually in the form of a shower, which was the only time during the day when I felt no pressure to do anything), and then start my homework. That’d go from 8pm-2am usually before I’d set my alarm and go to bed. If I got more than 3 hours of sleep a night I was ecstatic. I was constantly running on empty.
I’ve always been a good student but my grades were awful and having never experienced that before, I was constantly kicking my own ass and telling myself to get it together. I was nervous to talk to my professors because I figured they would look at me as an entitled athlete expecting special treatment so I didn’t go to them for help (until it was all but too late) and instead committed myself to figuring out how to fix things on my own. Needless to say, that didn’t work.
Midway through the semester, I hated crew. Like, absolutely hated it. I didn’t feel like I was getting any opportunities to do anything useful when I was at practice and I (and some of the other coxswains) always felt like the coaches were pretty “meh” towards everyone but their “favorite” coxswain. Whenever the subject of crew, the team, etc. would get brought up by friends, family, professors, etc. I could feel the look of disgust on my face. If I never saw another oar, boat, or cox box ever again it would have been too soon. It went from being something that I loved doing more than anything to a job that I despised waking up for. I was stressed beyond belief, I was constantly getting sick (I ended missing nine straight days of classes at one point because I was so run down … the doctors I saw were horrified and almost made me check into the hospital for treatment), I had no energy, and the energy that I did have was spent convincing myself that this was what I wanted. I wanted this!
When I had conversations with my coaches or athletic advisers, I got nowhere. My athletic advisers, instead of finding ways to help me, only offered the suggestion of “just pick an easier major”, which I ignored because that’s literally the most lazy, bullshit piece of advice ever. My coaches guilt tripped me because I had committed myself to the team and I had to fulfill that, blah blah blah. I sat in their offices ready to punch the walls at a moment’s notice because it was like … do you think I don’t know that I made a commitment? Why do you think I’m running myself into the ground right now? I’m doing it because of this commitment!
Eventually it came to the point where I knew I had to walk away. My grades were the number one reason but my health (physical and mental) was another. I had never felt before what I felt my freshman year. I was in a perpetual state of fatigue, hunger, anger, stress, anxiety, depression, etc. that no one understood. The people I did talk to about what was going on knew maybe 1% of everything – the rest of it I kept to myself. People aren’t joking when they say doing that eats away at you. I could feel myself becoming less and less of the person I was before and that only added to everything I was feeling.
Walking away from crew was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. I know it doesn’t seem like something that a normal person would agonize over but for me it was. I knew that quitting (something I had never done before) would put an end to my dreams of competing at the elite level. I was back home when I got a call from the assistant coach who said that she could tell something had been going on. No shit, really? Do you think maybe you should have said something beforehand instead of rubbing my “commitment” in my face? I told her I needed some time to figure out what I wanted but I didn’t think I was going to be on the team next season. It wasn’t until I took a step back and realized how miserable I was making myself that I realized the choice was already made. I called my coach back and said I was done.
I hate that I’m that person who is the anomaly and couldn’t make things work out. There are thousands of collegiate rowers out there that do and on some level, I’m envious of that. I’ve realized in the years since that I should have stuck up for myself and I should have told my coaches at the very beginning that something wasn’t right. Whether they could or would have helped me is something I’ll never know but I should have made the effort to at least see what they had to say. Asking for help as a coxswain is something that’s really easy for me but asking for help in “real life” is really hard and it bit me in the ass here.
The simplest piece of advice I have is that the moment you start to feel the ground under you getting a little shaky, figure out why and then go talk to the appropriate people until you’ve got things stabilized. Even if you don’t think you need someone else’s help, down the line you will. If your professors know ahead of time that you’re juggling a lot and struggled a bit with a certain topic, problem set, etc., they can at least throw out a “Hey, how have you been doing since we last talked?” at the beginning or end of class one day. I never had any professors like this but maybe you do. They can’t help you if they don’t know there’s a problem though, regardless of how minor it is.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you to “just switch to an easier major”. In the short term that might solve the problem but in the long run you probably aren’t going to be happy. Also, don’t let your coaches guilt trip you, make school seem like an interference to crew, or make you feel like your concerns are invalid. Don’t let anyone else invalidate your concerns either – family, friends, significant others, teammates, etc. How you balance crew, classes, and having a life is different for each individual too. There’s an experimentation period of trial and error where you find out what works for you before you settle into a routine, but the key is making sure your routine is dictated by you and not someone or something else.