Day: March 5, 2013

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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I’m very sensitive to pressure and negativity and being stroke that obviously doesn’t help my boat. Tonight’s outing was horrendous for me but the others said they didn’t even realize I was having such a bad time because they thought it went great. This outing we were chased by another boat and they’ve come dangerously close to us at the last testing so obviously our whole crew, but especially me, is being affected. How do I keep calm, especially when chased?

I’m similar. I’m pretty hard on myself so even when I know our boat had a good practice, I’ll still nitpick everything I could have done differently to make it even better. I don’t mind races because I’m super competitive so I tend to look at every one as a challenge. That’s my suggestion to you.  If they want to chase you, fine, let them, but be thinking the whole time “just try and catch us, keep trying, whaddaya got…”. Instead of letting the pressure get to you, accept their challenge. If the other boat(s) have come close to you in practice, don’t be intimidated by that. Instead, go out and row your ass off to intimidate them. That was always one of my favorite things when I’d race was to have a crew get close to you one day and let them think they’ve cracked you and then come back the next day and handedly beat them.

Confidence is huge. Communicate with your coxswain, keep the stroke rate steady, and focus. Concentration is key. Let your coxswain worry about the other boats and where they are. Your job is to focus solely on setting the rhythm and pace for the other seven rowers. If you’re spending too much time thinking about the other boat your boat is gonna be the one that suffers. When that happens the other boat wins, regardless of whether or not they came in first because psychologically, they’ve got you. Before each practice, piece, race, etc., take a deep breath and think about what you’ve gotta do. If you’re experienced enough to be able to maintain your rhythm and everything with your eyes closed, do that. I had a stroke seat once that would row the middle 1000 of a race with her eyes closed, which forced her to pay attention to only our boat when she couldn’t get herself to do it mentally.

The biggest thing is to just find a way to be motivated instead of intimidated. How you do that is completely up to you but once you get in that boat, all the nerves have gotta disappear. It might seem like a lot of pressure to have seven other rowers relying on you, but ultimately you were put in that seat for a reason. Your coach clearly thinks you have what it takes so just embrace it!

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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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.

An Introduction to Rigging: How to rig and de-rig a boat

Coxing Novice Rowing

An Introduction to Rigging: How to rig and de-rig a boat

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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.

How to rig a boat

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.

How to de-rig a boat

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

Image via // @brianrenesorensen