Day: February 26, 2015

Coxing Q&A

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What are some items and pieces of clothing that you think all coxes should have at indoor practices (normal ones and tanks) as well as in the boat once we are on the water again? I’m trying out for a new team (switching from rowing to coxing) and I want to be prepared and give a good impression of that to the coach.

This clip from GIRLS pretty much explains my stance on how coxswains should dress at practice.

I can’t imagine the coach is really going to care what you wear but to answer your question, just keep it casual. I pretty much live in leggings and pullovers or some iteration of that, unless I’ve gotta go somewhere right after practice, in which case I’ll wear normal clothes. Our coxswains all do the same, if they’re not wearing sweatpants and a tshirt they’ll usually wear whatever they plan on wearing to class, unless they want to bike or workout while the guys are erging. It used to bug me when coxswains would wear “normal” clothes to practice because you’re pretty much just asking to leave with your nice clothes smelling awful and you just look out of place but honestly, wear whatever you want. Stop by an American Apparel if you have to.

Related: What to wear

Once you’re on the water what you wear is going to depend on what the weather’s like. Do not be that weirdo that wears jeans and a button down while you’re coxing though. I can’t even with coxswains that do that. Check out all the “what to wear” posts though (linked in the tag above) – they cover pretty much everything.

As far as other things to have, at practice a notebook is always handy but there’s not usually much for coxswains to do when you’re inside so there’s not really anything you need to have with you.

Related: What’s the most basic gear a novice coxswain should have?

All anyone is going to care about you bringing on the water is your cox box so whatever else you bring is up to you. I’d recommend a waterproof bag with a wrench or two, a recorder, some electrical tape, and some band aids to start.

Coxing High School Q&A

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Hi, I’m a first year junior girls light weight rower for my school team and I would like to eventually become a coxswain. Right now I weight 119 lbs & I’m 5’3.8 feet tall. My coach used to be a coxswain and she’s not the most approachable person so she’s not someone I want to talk to about this yet. I can afford to lose weight but what do you recommend ? Should I just stay a rower?

It’s really up to you. At your height/weight you could really do either one. If you’re already rowing then you could always finish out the spring season and then transition to coxing in the fall. If you can get some experience coxing over the summer at a learn-to-row camp or something then that might make it a little easier to approach your coach since you’ll at least have a little bit of experience under your belt.

The only way I’d say you should “just stay a rower” is if you don’t want to talk to your coach at all about this. She’s not going to magically assume you want to try coxing unless you say something though. My advice would be to row this season then try coxing over the summer when things are a bit more relaxed and if you decide you like it, talk to her maybe a week or so before school starts to see if you can cox full-time.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

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Hey there, I am going into my second year as a coxswain (I cox boys novice). I feel like I could be more enjoyable in the boat. Don’t get me wrong, the boys and I have fun all the time but I also don’t want to upset my coach by talking to the guys and having in with them and stuff. I feel like there is no way I can have fun and be an enjoyable coxswain for the guys while still getting my job done. Also I have started a note book to write things down in for practice and regattas, any tips about what to write in it and good calls to make?

I think it’s important to remember that you’re not really there to be their friend while you’re in the boat. I mean, obviously there’s no reason to be unpleasant but you’re not a cruise director … your job when you’re on the water is not to ensure that they’re having a five star experience. They have a job to do and you have a job to do and that comes first. You shouldn’t be talking to them when the coach is talking because a) that’s rude and b) you (and they) will end up missing something the coach says which ends up wasting time later when he/she has to repeat themselves. If you’re already having fun like you said then just keep doing what you’re doing but keep in mind that being “an enjoyable coxswain” is not one of your responsibilities.

As far as notebooks go, check out the post linked below. For the most part my notes are just a running list of phrases, calls, things the other coaches say, and miscellaneous thoughts based on whatever we’re doing. My best advice though is to figure out a system that works best for you and stick with it.

Related: Keeping a notebook

“Good calls to make” is pretty much one of the vaguest questions ever (sorry) so I’d recommend checking out the “calls” tag and some of the recordings posts where I’ve pointed out calls I like, don’t like, think are awesome or could be said better/more effectively, etc. to see if you find something in there that you like. Most of the time though the calls you make should be based off of what you’re seeing. The more experienced you get and the more time you spend educating yourself on technique the easier it’ll be to make good calls.

Coxing Q&A Rowing Teammates & Coaches

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So I had a really bad coach this fall (who got fired so she’s gone now, thank god) but after a particularly windy practice, she proceeded to yell at me for telling ports to row with pressure/vice versa because something got caught in my rudder and my steering didn’t work. She said that if we were going fast enough, our boat would go naturally straight. I’m just curious as to if her comment was accurate. (BTW, on this day it was windy, there was a current, and the water was whitecapping). Thanks!

I’ve had one or two coaches say that to me too but in my experience it’s never really been true, mainly because there are too many tiny variances in pressure, technique, etc. that I can no longer account for due to the lack of steering. Plus, if your steering isn’t working why would you be rowing fast anyways? That’s stupid.  The only control I have over what the boat does is through a credit card-sized piece of plastic connected to two strings … if that somehow fails then I no longer have control of the boat which means I want to be rowing with only the necessary people at a relatively moderate pressure. “If you were going fast enough” makes me think your coach assumes everything would be totally fine if you were rowing all eight at full pressure. Because that wouldn’t end up with you running into a bridge pier or anything…

In situations like that my opinion has always been that the coxswain has the final say on what they do because they’re the ones in charge of the safety of the crew and the equipment. (If you’re a novice/inexperienced coxswain this doesn’t apply to you.) What looks like it might be fine and safe to the coach in the launch might make the coxswain extremely uncomfortable because from their perspective it’s not safe. Obviously the last thing you want is your coxswain to be is unnecessarily tense and anxious so it makes a lot more sense to say “OK the steering’s not working, how do you want to get back to the dock?” Not only does this engage the problem-solving part of their brains and make them think about the best way to approach this but it also lets them to say what they’re most comfortable doing which allows them to stay in control of the situation.

Coaches tend to look at stuff like this as “(potentially) broken equipment = money, time, wasted practice, dammit” which causes them to get frustrated (sometimes deservedly so, other times not) and become a little too controlling. This in turn results in them being short with the coxswain which can be a confidence killer and make them look/feel like that have no control over what’s going on (two things that, obviously, do nothing to help them feel like competent leaders, regardless of how experienced they are). I’m not saying every single interaction (good or bad) needs to be OMG-so-empowering for the coxswain because sometimes we screw up and we deserve to have our asses handed to us but more often than not it’s better to stay civil and turn the situation into a learning experience and then express your annoyance with them on land rather than let them have it on the water in front of the people they’re supposed to be in charge of.

For future reference, if you find that you’re unable to steer the first thing you should do is stop and reach under the boat to see if your fin is still attached. Even if you didn’t hear or feel something hit the boat you still might have run over something that pulled it off. (And yes, I know, sticking your arm in the water is not an ideal solution. Personally I’m not doing it unless it’s May – August when I know the water’s warmer and I’m guaranteed to not be wearing long sleeves and/or layers. In most cases though your coach will take pity on you and not make you do it if the temperature/water is cold.)

If the fin is there then the next thing you should do is see if there are leaves or something stuck in the rudder. If it’s rained recently then this is the most-likely cause of your steering problems and is pretty easily taken care of. I’ve had leaves, seaweed, rope (???), and one time a small tree branch get wedged up in the rudder but as long as you’re able to clear it out you should be all good. If the fin isn’t there then you’re shit-out-of-luck and you’ll have to use the rowers to help guide you home. I prefer to row by sixes at somewhere between half and 3/4 pressure depending on the conditions but if you’re less experienced then rowing by fours might be a better option for you. Unless my coach says to cycle through the sixes on the way home (typically what we’ll do if it’s raining or it’s cold, that way no one is sitting out for too long) then I like to stick with stern six rowing and then I’ll add in bow or two if I need help steering or going around a corner. Rather than have people power up here I prefer to have one side power down and the other side maintain their pressure. In my experience this always works better but feel free to play around and find out what works best for you.

Coxing Q&A Racing

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How do you deal with running out of things to say in a long head race (4000m+)? I don’t know what to say so I either repeat myself endlessly or go quiet and then say something stupid…

As long as you have a plan I honestly don’t think that running out of things to say is possible. If you look at the race as one 4000m piece instead of several 500m chunks filled with landmarks, technical focuses, individual reminders, etc. then yea, you’re going to make things a lot harder on yourself. Breaking it down into more manageable sections though lets you focus on different things which ultimately makes it easier to plan out what you’re going to say. Keep in mind that “plan out” doesn’t mean the same thing as “script”. You can not script a race and think that you’re going to be able to recite everything you came up with on the land once you’re on the water. It’s just not possible. My goal whenever I’m racing is to have a handful of calls that I know I want to incorporate based on recent stuff we’ve done at practice, things we’ve talked about as a crew, etc. and then the rest of the race will be filled with the basics – landmarks, positioning, time, and general stock calls – that I’ll call on the spot as the race progresses.

Related: Race plans for practice pieces

If you feel like you’re going to forget something then write a brief outline of the race on a Post-It note and tape it to the boat. I’ve done that for the last two HOCRs just as a backup in case I need it and even though I haven’t had to rely on it too much it’s good to have in case you get caught up in something outside of the boat and need to quickly re-focus to what’s happening inside the boat.

As far as saying something stupid, I think we’ve all been there. The thing you learn though is that very rarely does anyone in the boat remember the things you said that you thought were stupid. It’s very, very rare that the crews I cox have been able to remember much, if any, of what I’ve said during a race once we’re back on land. The only reason we remember it is because we’re the ones that said it so it sticks with us longer. It’s really not that big of a deal though. If you thought it sounded stupid just remember that for next time and work on finding a better way to communicate whatever it was you were trying to say. If you need inspiration, check out the coxswain recordings I’ve posted. There are a lot of great calls in there, most of which I’ve tried to point out.