Day: October 27, 2014

Coxing How To Q&A

Question of the Day

What’s the best way to steer through a wake?

Just do it. That sounds dismissive but it’s really that simple. I think wake affects the rowers a lot more than it does the coxswains which is why it’s important to tell them that it’s coming and to stay relaxed. It’s almost always coming at you slightly perpendicular to the boat so unless it’s so rough that you’re getting aggressively knocked off keel then you should just be able to row right through it with minimal adjustments to your steering.

If it’s really rough and you’re getting knocked around then just weigh enough until the water is calm and you can pick it back up. Outside of that, the only steering adjustments I make tend to be steering into the wake for a stroke if it’s particularly strong so that my bow stays pointed where I want it to be (since wake coming from your port side can push you towards shore if you follow a normal traffic pattern). Otherwise I just tell the rowers when it’s about to hit us and on what side (“on this next stroke there’ll be a little bit of wake off of port”) so they can adjust accordingly.

Video of the Week

Video of the Week: What makes the fastest crew?

This is so true: “The only way to compete effectively is to make the boat go fast and the only way to make the boat go fast is to collaborate perfectly with the very same people they’re competing with. It almost requires a schizophrenic frame of mind.”

Related: Books on rowing, pt. 1

This guy, Mark de Rond, wrote the book “The Last Amateurs” which is about the 2007 Cambridge crew and the time he spent living with them while they trained and prepared for The Boat Race.