Category: Racing

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 19

By readyallrow April 22, 2014

Drexel University 2014 Kerr Cup Men’s Varsity 8+

The biggest thing that I noticed in this recording was that he used a lot of basic calls but never actually said anything to the rowers (except on like, two occasions) or made a call about their position on other crews. It was mostly a good example of how some coxswains go out with this “tunnel vision” mindset where they execute the race plan and kinda ignore/forget about everything that’s happening within their own gunnels or in the lanes around them. He also did a lot of counting and counting down to things that didn’t really need countdowns. I like the “in 2 … in 1…” countdown but is that really necessary just to note the 500m mark? It wasn’t a bad piece overall though – how he said his calls almost made up for the fact that he was saying a lot without saying much at all. The best part of the race by far though was that turn through Strawberry Mansion. If you’re a Philly coxswain, definitely take note of that execution.

Related: Navigating the Schuylkill

At 1:11 when he says “back it in”, make sure you’re not making catch-specific calls like that midway through the drive of that stroke. You don’t have to say each stroke number when you’re counting out a five or a ten so if you call your strokes at the catch (like you’re supposed to) but have a catch-specific call to make, just replace that number with your call. You could also say “back it in, one … back it in, two“, etc. and say the number of the stroke you’re on at the finish. Point being though, don’t make catch-specific calls at any point other than the catch, otherwise the effectiveness of that call is lost. Same applies to finish-specific calls.

Other calls I liked:

“At the wire, you’re bringin’ the fire…”

George Washington University vs. Holy Cross 2014 GW Invite MV8+

At the start you hear Connor say “when they say our name, bury ’em…” with regards to getting the blades fully buried before the start. Watching crews lock on and lock in right at that moment is pretty cool. The point of doing this, regardless of whether you do it when you hear your name or when they call attention, is that it helps ensure everyone’s blades are in the water and in the best position to allow them to take a powerful first stroke. It’s something worth practicing though because sometimes people get a little too aggressive with it and jerk their hands up, which throws the boat off, causes them to dig too deep at the start, etc. This is also why I like that “sharp and shallow” call he makes because it’s a good reminder to keep the catches on point without lifting the hands too much.

Listen to the slide speed during the starting 20 between 0:40 and 1:10, then listen to it right at they transition into their settle at 1:11. You can actually hear the slides lengthen out. Between that and the sharpness of the catches throughout the piece, this race is so satisfying to listen to. A few strokes later at 1:39 he says “about half a seat down, no worries…” in the most chill tone, which is exactly how you should tell your crew you’re down, particularly at the beginning of the race.

I’m a huge fan of how he makes that “long, rhythm…” call at 1:45. Rhythm in rowing means that the crew is relaxed, they’ve got good swing, they’re getting good run, and they’ve just got a smooth, consistent flow going. One of the best ways to tell if your crew has a solid rhythm is to feel the boat and then look at the stroke rate. Does it feel like you’re rowing at the rate your cox box displays? If it feels like you’re rowing lower than the displayed rate, that’s usually a good sign that your crew’s got a good rhythm.

Another thing you can do to gauge your crew’s rhythm is to watch the shoreline. (This is best done during practice.) If the crew is moving well together and not rushing then you should notice that on the recovery you stay in relatively the same place in relation to something on shore. You only surge forward on the drive. If you ever get a chance to ride in the launch, pick a rower and watch for this. If you’re feeling like the boat is being rushed or like there’s no consistency in motion between the rowers, a call like “long, rhythm…” (spoken in the same way Connor said it) is a simple and to the point call to make. It’d also be a good call to make coming out of the start and into your settle as a way to help establish the rhythm following the frenzy of your high strokes. In order for a call like this to actually get the message across, it’s important that during practice or off the water you communicate with them what rhythm actually is so that they know the “deeper meaning” behind the call you just made. Practice is the time to do the explaining and clue them in to what your calls mean, that way during races you can be short and to the point in order to keep them engaged and sharp.

At 2:36, I like how he jumped on the opportunity to move and made that “now we walk” call. Whenever you’re down on another crew, if you take a five or ten for something you should always be watching to see if that burst resulted in you walking on the other crew, even if that wasn’t your original intention. If you do gain on them, capitalize on that and immediately say “even”, “gained a seat”, etc. followed by something like what he said here: “now we walk”. These opportunities are rare and fleeting over the course of a 5-7 minute race so when they come up, don’t miss out on them.

“They came out too hard, now we punish them” – this is another opportunity that you can capitalize on if you’re paying attention. If you notice a crew go out hard and fast, you’ve gotta make a judgement call: do you push your crew to keep up and risk burning them out too early or do you wait for the other crew to crash and burn so you can (hopefully) walk through them with a strong finishing 500? If you wait and see the other crew starting to fall off pace, jump on it immediately. They made a mistake, now’s your chance to burn them. Bonus points if you lock eyes with someone in the other boat when you tell your crew they came out too hard – trust me, it’s a whole new level of (twisted) joy you have to experience to understand.

Another call that I thought was smart/good was the “internal now” call. If you’ve been making several calls in a row about other crews, following them up with something “internal” helps bring the focus back to you guys. He makes a similar one a little bit later where he says “focus on me, not on them”, which is particularly useful if/when you see rowers looking out of the boat. (That should be a cue though that if they’re looking out of the boat they’re probably trying to see where the other crews are so you should give them a position update if you haven’t done so in awhile.) Also with regards to internal calls, with the “one bad stroke, get it back” call, regardless of why it was a bad stroke, move on. Make this call to keep the rower(s) present and focused on the strokes ahead, not the ones (s)he’s already taken.

Last thing – at 3:28 he says “we gotta keep moving”, which I think is one of those calls that sometimes we know we need to make but aren’t sure if we can or should make because it’s demanding and coxswains don’t always feel comforting demanding their rowers do something. Your job though is to execute the race plan and strategize in real time what the crew has to do to finish ahead. If you find you’re just sitting on a crew (not giving anything up but not taking anything either), get aggressive and make a call to recommit, get the catches in, and drive the legs. Don’t let the crew settle for anything because you never know when the other ones are going to make a move and surge ahead.

Other calls I liked:

“Sharp and shallow…”

“Ready … steady … now!”

“They’re fucking toast!”

You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow April 13, 2014

Hi I was wondering if it was possible to merge boys and girls on a boat for some races? For example if we row a 4+, could we have 2 guys and 2 girls ?

As far as I know, you can only row a mixed gender crew in events that are specifically listed as “mixed” races. If they’re not listed as that then you have to follow the rules of the event you’re entering (i.e. “men’s varsity 8+” must be all men (minus the coxswain), “women’s junior quad” must be all women who aren’t seniors, etc.).

Coxing Novice Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow April 7, 2014

Hey! I’m a novice coxswain and yesterday we had our first race which we lost by a lot. I struggled with trying to motivate my boat when we really didn’t have a chance of coming back. I could tell everyone felt pretty defeated and I didn’t know what to say to keep them working hard. Do you have any advice on what sort of calls I can make if this happens again? (Fingers crossed it doesn’t)

Check out the two posts linked below. The first one is a video from the Harvard, Penn, and Navy race from last spring and the second is a question about coxing off of other boats when you’re doing pieces at practice. Both touch on similar issues of one boat being way ahead of the other(s) and ways to deal with that as the coxswain.

The toughest thing is not letting what you’re seeing come across in your tone of voice. If the rowers start to detect any sign of defeat in your voice it’s going to change the entire attitude of the boat. It can from “yea, we’re in this!” to “screw it, why bother” in a very short period of time if you’re not careful. Don’t start getting overly-motivational because that just makes it obvious that you think they have no chance but on the flip side, don’t get completely dour or silent either.

I was fortunate enough that I was only in this position maybe two times that I can remember and the thing that I told my crews both times was that regardless of where we finished, we were going to cross the line looking, acting, and rowing like a first place crew. Being down in a race is no excuse for letting your technique get sloppy or your attitude to become “woe is me”. Losing a race and having a bad race aren’t synonymous – you can lose and still have a good row. The crews that are ahead should always be just the tiniest bit afraid that you could come back on them at any given second. It doesn’t matter if you’re in first place or fifth place though, you should finish the race rowing as hard and as well as you can.

This is where intrinsic motivation is so important because, like you said, it’s easy for a coxswain to just run out of things to say to keep their rowers going. The rowers should have their own personal reasons for being out there (that their coxswain doesn’t know about) that they can rely on for motivation when they need a reason to keep going. I would try to remind the rowers in close races or races where we were down a few seats (particularly in the 3rd 500) to think about why you row … what do you do it for? … and then we’d take a BIG refocus 5 for that. I wanted to be able to feel their motivation in those five strokes. This would always gain us back a couple seats and from there, I’d cox them like normal until we crossed the line.

The best thing you can do is to find something that will put a bit of energy back in the boat and then capitalize on that. There is no “magic call” for this and it’ll very rarely be the same thing between boats – it’s gotta be completely unique to each crew, something that you only know because you know your rowers and what drives them. They key is remembering that all you’ve gotta do is ignite a spark and let the fire follow. Once you see the fire in your rowers, fuel it like you would during any other race.

Another thing I’d say to them is something our coaches said to us after a particularly rough practice and before all of our races: who do you row for? They’d ask us two to three times, louder and more aggressively each time, WHO DO YOU ROW FOR? My interpretation of that was that they were always reminding us that what we’re doing is bigger than any one individual. You’re rowing for each other, your teammates, and for the pride you have in your program. Pride and dignity should be two huge forces that drive your crew and you want to be able to cross the line with both of those things intact regardless of where you finish.

Talk about the importance of mental toughness with them too. Remind them that just because there’s a voice in your head telling you there’s no point in continuing to row hard doesn’t mean you have to listen to it. Also remind them that the other four or eight people in the boat aren’t giving up, which means they can’t either. The only time you should ever assume anything during a race is that you’re the only one doubting yourself. Always assume that the other four or eight people are 100% confident in your abilities as individuals and as a crew. That should be enough to change your mindset really quick.

Related: Words.

Finally, talk to your crew about your race and find out what they were thinking, how they felt, and what you could have said to keep them going. Get their feedback and use all of that to help shape your calls for next week. Whenever you feel them starting to slip off the pace (this applies to practice too), use what they said to you about your last race to keep them going hard in this race.

Coxing How To Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow April 2, 2014

I coxed a race last weekend and was told that while my coxing was good, it sounded more like a piece than an actual race. Can you give some tips on how to really up the intensity while coxing a race? I thought I was communicating a sense of urgency pretty well through my tone, but I’m not sure if it came across as well as I had hoped. Thanks! Your blog has been an absolute godsend since this is my first year coxing.

I’ve done that too, mainly during scrimmages or heats if we’re comfortably beating the other crew or already sitting in a qualifying position. I don’t think there’s anything wrong necessarily with coxing races like that but it obviously depends on the race and your crew. For me, I always talked to my crews and established that for any race but the final, if we were ahead by a large enough margin that we could afford to back off a bit, I was going to tone down my coxing to a steady state level and they would follow suit with their rowing. There’s obviously a lot of other things that go into this but the goal was to make sure we were leaving enough in the tanks for the finals so we could go hard for the entire piece, regardless of the margins. One of the things that I’ve worked hard on over the years is getting my crews to match the intensity of their strokes to the intensity of my voice (…or vice versa, I never really have figured out which one it is).

In the post linked above from a couple weeks ago I talked about the “coxing intensity scale” (which is now officially a real thing…) and where I usually fall on it depending on what we’re doing. “On the coxing intensity scale where 1 is your warmup and 10 is a race, I’m usually around a 6 (relaxed but focused tone) for the majority of each piece. I’ll bring it up to a 7.5-8 when calling 5s, 10s, and 20s though so that the rowers stay engaged and alert (and I don’t die of boredom) and then when it comes down to the last 6k, 2k, or whatever I’ll try to cox it like an actual race (somewhere between an 8.5 and a 9).” Think back to your most recent steady state piece during practice and rate yourself – where would you fall on that scale? Now think about your race. Rate yourself and then ask your crew to rate you. See how your numbers and their numbers compare to how you rated yourself during a steady state piece. This should give you a good comparison so you can get an idea of how the crew viewed your coxing during the race. I’ve definitely had races before where I thought I was coxing them really well and then we got off the water and they’ve said “you could have pushed us harder”. Talking to them though and getting feedback on how they interpreted my calls, my tone of voice, what they want/need, etc. was always the first step for me in the “do something different” process. Your first year or so of coxing is always a big test of your communication skills – the best thing you can do for yourself if you think your coxing didn’t come across as intended is to find out why.

When you put all of that stuff together, that’s what will help increase the intensity of your pieces. Intensity isn’t just about being loud or being aggressive. If “intensity” were a tangible object, like an onion or something, your volume and tone would only be the two outermost layers. Underneath all of that are the calls you’ve created, the “insider knowledge” on each of your rowers, what you know about technique, strategy, etc., in addition to all the other skills you’ve been practicing. When you combine all of that with a more-aggressive-and-at-times-louder-than-usual tone, that is what creates a sense of intensity in the boat. For more on that, definitely check out the posts in the “tone of voice” tag.

Also check out the post linked above. Although the question that was being asked is the opposite of what you’re asking, what I said in my reply definitely applies here. Another thing that really helps with the intensity during races (or any hard piece) is making sure you’re projecting your voice rather than just yelling. Listen to some recordings too – there are some great examples of what “good” intensity in the majority of the ones I’ve posted.

True mental toughness means having the discipline to not be overcome by adrenaline at the start, and holding back just enough to settle into a pace that, if held, will end up challenging your will to live by the end.

Coxing How To Racing Teammates & Coaches

How to cox a seat race

By readyallrow April 1, 2014

I’ve talked a bit about seat racing before but haven’t ever gone over how coxswains fit into the picture. Our role is very limited in what we’re allowed to do but at the same time we have the ability to drastically effect the outcome of a race, more often for the negative than the positive.

Seat racing day is usually one where tensions run very high for the rowers, especially when the seats being decided are for the top boat, a big regatta, etc. The number one responsibility of the coxswain is to be impartial and ensure that the races are run fairly. The coaches and rowers (most especially the rowers…) rely on us to not overstep our boundaries or give anyone an unfair advantage over another rower and it’s our job to put personal preferences, friendships, etc. aside and let the rowers determine who wins the seat.

Related: Words

There are a lot of factors that go into seat racing but this post is just about the responsibilities of the coxswain on race day.

Things you SHOULD do

DO meet with the coach(es) before practice to go over the logistics for the day. Have your notebook handy so you can write down whatever instructions the coaches give you. The most important details you need to find out are what the warm up is (it may or may not be different than your usual one but whatever it is, both coxswains must do the same exact thing), where you’ll be meeting to start the piece, and the starting time of the first race. You should treat this like any regular race day where you have to be locked onto your stake boat 2 minutes prior to your race. Don’t put yourself (or your crew) in a position where you have to frantically get up to the starting line.

DO find out how the lane-switching will work. Typically you switch back and forth so that each crew has an equal opportunity to race in both lanes – consider this nothing more than quality control to ensure the fairness of each piece. It’s important for you to know what lane you’ll be starting in and which one you’ll be switching into at the end of each piece and then for you to actually do that before you get to the starting line.

DO know the length of the rest time following each piece and what the centers are. Centers are the amount of time between the starting time of each race. For example, if your coach says that you’ll be running on 30 minute centers starting at 2:30pm, that means the first race is at 2:30pm, the second is at 3pm, the third at 3:30pm, etc. Assuming you’re doing 1000m pieces that take four minutes to do, that means the amount of time you have between when you finish your race and when you need to be back up at the starting line to begin the next one is 26 minutes. At the end of each piece there will be a rest period where you’ll weight enough and the rowers can get water and make their switches. You (ideally) won’t know who is switching in and out until the coaches tell you but in the grand scheme of things, that’s irrelevant. All you need to do is keep an eye on the time.

DO be quick and efficient about pulling the boats together so the rowers can switch boats. If this isn’t something you’ve done before, try practicing it with another coxswain if you find yourselves sitting around not doing anything while you wait for your coach to get out. It’s really not that hard to do but you can’t spend five minutes trying to do it either. The easiest way to do it is for you to gently point your bow towards the other crew and the row over to them (lightly by pairs). Stop when the bow pairs oars are close enough to the stern pair of the other crew that they can reach out, grab the blade, and pass it back to their bow pair. The two crews can then lift their oars up and pull them across the shells to bring the boats together. Check out the video below of some UCLA fours seat racing to see how the coxswains bring the crews together. (If it doesn’t start automatically, skip ahead to the 7:00 mark.)

DO carry your notebook, pen/pencil, wrench, some spare band aids, and maybe some extra spacers out on the boat with you, just in case. If it’s a particularly hot day, also consider carrying a spare water bottle with you to give to the rowers if they run out.

DO know what you are and aren’t allowed to say. 99.999999999% of the time, coxswains aren’t (and shouldn’t be) allowed to say anything more than the stroke rate and the time/distance. If during a normal sprint racing you are talking 98% of the time, during a seat race you should be silent 98% of the time. When I’ve coxed seat races I would tell the crew the stroke rate every 30-45 seconds, point out 250, 500m, and 750m, and let the crew know the time (i.e. 1 minute down, 2 minutes down, etc.). All of that was regulated by the coach too – I didn’t just randomly decide to say those things or when to say them, I was told to give that information and only that information at specific times during the piece (usually 1000m pieces). You cannot cox them at all. No motivation, no technique, no moves, nothing. In the boat, the most important thing you have to stay on top of is making sure the stroke rate stays consistent and doesn’t surpass whatever cap the coach has given you. If the cap is no lower than 28spm and no higher than 30spm, it’s your job to communicate with your stroke if he/she is under or over that. The only thing you can do to get the stroke rate back in that range if it’s outside of it is to keep reading off the numbers until they get it where it needs to be. You can’t cox or coach them on how to get it there. (In any other situation you should not do this. Seat racing is the only time when reading off stroke rates like this is OK.)

DO write down the times/stroke rates from your cox box during the rest period if your coach asks you to.

DO consult with the coach at the end of practice to go over the results. Be objective with what you say too – remember, your number one responsibility is to ensure the fairness of the races. Give them feedback on how each boat moved with the addition and removal of each of the rowers and also let them know if anything happened that might have effected the outcome. This includes steering issues (i.e. having to steer to avoid hitting a log in the water, just steering poorly on that piece, etc.), a crew rowing outside the rate cap, not being even at the start, etc. If you steered poorly you must be honest about it and say that you didn’t hold a good point on the third piece so that the coach can factor that into the results if necessary. If your crew lost a close race but you fail to mention that you also steered an entire lane off of where you should have been, you might have just cost that rower their seat in the boat.

DO steer straight and stay in your lane. This is a great opportunity for you to really focus on holding and maintaining a point in a race situation because you’re going to spend the majority of the piece not talking, thus you have little to nothing to distract you.

DO communicate with the other coxswain(s). This is important on a normal day but it’s even more important when you’re seat racing. Keep the crews together, start your warm ups together, etc. There are few things more irritating to a coach than telling his coxswains to stay together only to get out there and see one crew rowing up in lane 1 and the other rowing up in lane 5 or one crew three lengths ahead of the other. Another thing you need to communicate on is maintaining the spacing between the crews. If you’re in your own lanes and steering straight this shouldn’t be an issue but you need to get any issues like this squared away before you start rowing down to the starting line. Most of the time you just row into these pieces rather than taking a start, which means coming down to the starting line together so you can both cross the line together, at the same time, is critical. If the two crews don’t start at the same time then the validity of the piece is now in question. If you’re rowing down and see that your crew is half a length ahead with 100m to the line, don’t be a jerk and force the other crew to power it up just to get even with you. Either tell your crew to back off or throw in a pause or two until you’re even. If you’re the coxswain of the crew that’s down, do whatever you’ve gotta do to get your crew even. Call over to the other coxswain to lighten up and then get on your crew to pull you up next to them.

Things you SHOULDN’T do

DO NOT give the rowers any information about how they did, how the piece felt, where the boat finished, how the coach made his final decisions, etc. ever (unless the coach has given you expressed permission to do so … which they probably won’t). This includes on the water, after practice, next month, etc. Fair, objective, and impartial, remember? This means not giving the rowers any indication that they did better or worse than someone else. They can see where they finish, they know how the boat feels, thus they can come to their own conclusions on how they did. If the coach wants them to know any of that info then they can tell themselves when they let them know the final results. The bottom line is don’t say or do anything that could compromise the integrity of the practice.

Feel free to comment below with any do’s and/or don’ts that you think coxswains should know regarding seat racing that I might have missed.

Coxing How To Novice Racing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Stake Boat Tips & Tricks

By readyallrow March 24, 2014

Getting into the stake boats at regattas isn’t that hard, provided you’ve practiced how to do it beforehand. If you try doing it for the first time at the start of your race, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Related: Racing skills: Pre-race prep

This video has a lot of good pointers on how to get into the stake boats so definitely check it out and share it with the younger coxswains on your team.

Coxing Novice Racing

What happens at a coaches & coxswains meeting?

By readyallrow March 20, 2014

Coaches and coxswains meetings are held at every regatta, typically first thing in the morning but occasionally in the afternoon/evening the day before racing begins (I’ve been to ones as early as 6am and as late as 6pm). They are a necessary part of any regatta and are where the regatta officials provide information to the coaches and coxswains on regatta rules, procedures, course details, schedule issues, etc.

It is imperative that you go to these. Yes it sucks having to get up really early in the morning to go to a 15-20 minute long meeting, especially when you or your team doesn’t race until later in the morning or afternoon, but the information that you’re given helps make the regatta run quicker and smoother for everyone. Even if you’ve been to the regatta three times already and know what’s said in the meeting backwards and forwards, I still encourage you to go. This year might be the year that the regatta officials say something different and you might not know until it’s potentially too late.

If there are any coaches reading this, I encourage you to not go in place of your coxswains. You should go with them to avoid having to repeat all the information later on. Having coaches go for the coxswains also presents the problem of the coach selectively choosing what to tell the coxswains later on, which can cause confusion and unnecessary stress, penalties, etc.

When going to early-morning meetings that happen well before the rest of the team needs to arrive, have just the coxswains and coaches go either on the bus (which, believe it or not, CAN go back to the hotel to get the rest of the team) or with one of parents. Afterwards, walk around the race site, go down to the docks (if you’re able to), walk up to the start line if possible, etc. and visualize what was discussed during the meeting. As much as you might want to, don’t just plop down into a cocoon of blankets and pillows in the tent until everyone shows up. That’s the fastest way to forget everything the regatta officials said.

Below you’ll find a very, very annotated outline of (almost) everything that happens during these meetings.

Roll call

At large regattas and sometimes smaller ones, the officials will start off by doing a roll call of the teams. Just like taking roll during class, all you have to do is say “here”. At the regattas I’ve been to that have done this, attending the meeting was required and if you were not present when your team name was called you were assessed some kind of team points-related penalty.

Introduction of the referees

These include the dock master, starting line marshal, finish line marshal, course referees, and regatta director/head official. (Note, at some regattas, certain officials may take on two roles, i.e the starting line marshal is also the course referee, etc.)

Dock marshal

In charge of getting crews on and off the dock. They will call you down to the dock and direct you where to launch from and as you come in, where to dock. You must follow their instructions and go to the space they direct you to. They’ll also typically check to ensure that you have your bow numbers. Sometimes they’ve got extras on hand if you don’t have yours but don’t assume that they do.

The dock masters are also the first in line to make sure the regatta is running on time. If crews are taking too long on the dock, they will push you along and tell you to hurry up. Budget for 90 seconds on the dock and no longer. A great way to put your team in a favorable position with regatta directors is to not piss off the dock masters. If they sound gruff or agitated, don’t assume that you’ve done something wrong and/or get angry or talk back to them. They’re on a tight schedule so get your crew moving as quickly as possible so that other crews don’t need to wait on you.

Starting line marshal(s)

There is at least one and sometimes up to three marshals in the starting area. The first one you’ll probably encounter is the one telling you where to go as you approach the line. They’ll usually say something like “Marietta, pull it up behind the platform and proceed to (whichever side of the platform your lane is on).” Make sure you raise your hand to indicate you heard their instructions.

Once the previous race has gone off and the platform is clear, the second marshal, who is usually standing up on top of the platform will call you in, typically by lane number, and tell you how much time there is to the start. “Marietta, Saratoga, and Grosse Ile, pull it up and enter your lanes in order of bow number. 6 minutes to start.” This marshal is also the one who will call the start by saying “Attention, go!”.

The third marshal is lined up parallel to the platform and looks straight across the bow balls of each crew. They’re in charge of aligning the crews and getting everyone even. In the event that you aren’t on a starting platform that has a marshal on it, the marshal who is doing the aligning will also be the one who calls the start.

Finish line marshal

The finish line marshal is usually on land or way off to the side of the finish line. As the crews cross they’ll usually blow air horn or drop a flag so you’ll know that you’re done.

Course referees

Course referees follow the race down behind the crews in a launch and are responsible for making sure nothing goes awry during the race. They’ll have two flags with them that they’ll use to communicate with the crews, typically to tell coxswains to move back into their lanes if they start to drift over. If a collision happens or something breaks, they’ll be responsible for stopping the race and restarting it, if necessary.

Regatta director/head official

Sometimes these are the same person, sometimes they’re not. The head official, in my experience, is who handles protests, announcing the races, and/or any other overarching issues with the regatta. If you have any questions that arise after the meeting, go to regatta headquarters and find this person.

Official regatta time

This may not be the same time you have on your watch or phone, so you’ll need to adjust whatever time keeping device you plan on using to match what the officials say. If their official time is five minutes faster than what you have and you don’t account for that, that could be a big problem for you when you get to the start and find that your race is already locked on to the platforms. I don’t think it’s even possible to change the time on phones so having an analog watch that you use for crew is a great thing to keep on you or attached to your cox box. Having a different time than the officials is not an excuse for being late to the dock or starting line.

Launching requirements

Requirements typically include having your oars already down by the dock (or having someone carry them alongside you as you walk down), having heel ties on your foot stretchers (this should be done before you travel), and having the correct bow number.

Time between first call and getting to the starting line

The announcers will make a first call, second call, and third call “x” number of minutes before the start of your race, usually somewhere between 45 and 30 minutes. You should know when your first call is and plan to have hands on a few minutes before that.

There’s a science to working the call system. You don’t want to be the first one out, get to the start really quickly, and then have to wait around for your race. You also don’t want to be the last crew out and get stuck between other boats that are in the races after you who are going out on their first call because then you get frantic about getting to the line in time. You also want to pay attention to the weather. If it’s really hot, sunny, humid, cold, snowing, windy, raining, or any other kind of inclement weather, don’t go out any earlier than you have to. If the weather is going to make getting to the start take longer, plan for that. If it’s a nice day but really hot out, try to go out as close to the end of the second call as you can so you can avoid the sun draining everyone’s energy.

At the meeting, the officials will give you an indication of how long it takes to row up to the start under normal circumstances. It’s usually somewhere in the range of 15-20 minutes depending on the warm up you do, if you have to stop for a race coming down, etc. Make sure you plan for this when you determine how early you need to get hands on and launch.

Centers

The centers are how often a race goes off the line. Usually they’re something around 12-15 minutes, give or take.

Directions to the starting line and back to the dock

Some courses are set up funny and it’s not that obvious how to get to the start or back to the docks after you finish. The officials will have a map out and will indicate which way you need to go to get from A to B. Pay attention to this because not following these directions can result in you going against the traffic pattern, which could lead to collisions and/or penalties.

Traffic patterns

There is at least one main traffic pattern you must follow and sometimes two.

On the way to the start and back to the docks after you finish

99.999% of the time it’s the same standard traffic pattern that we follow every day we’re out. If it’s different, they’ll tell you.

In the starting area

If there’s a large starting area that you can practice starts and stuff in, they’ll typically have you row around in a counter-clockwise circle. If you’re not planning on doing starts, make sure you know where to sit so you’re not in anyone’s way.

Course hazards

Low water levels, debris, rocks, trees hanging out from shore, or my personal favorite, seaweed…all are things they’ll tell you to be aware of and how to avoid them. (Shout out to Stony Creek, MI and the f-ing seaweed that delayed nearly every race I was in at Midwests my freshman and sophomore year … and the officials who forgot to tell us about it.)

Buoys

Where they are on the course (500, 1000, 1500, 2000m, etc.), if the course has buoyed lanes, and if the last 250-300m has different colored buoys than the rest of the course. (Usually they’ll be red whereas the rest of the course buoys are white.)

Hot seating

Sometimes hot seating isn’t allowed but if it is, one of two things will happen. The rower that is going out of your boat and into another will need to hop out as soon as you get on the dock, so you’ll need to have another rower come down to take their place when you carry it up or you’ll have to dock in a different area (in my experience, usually a beach area that is 100m or so up from the dock), which is where the crew the rower is joining will launch from. If YOU are the one hot seating (been there, done that) have another coxswain meet you and take the boat up (or have your coach do it). The rowers cannot cox themselves up. The procedures can be confusing so make sure you pay attention and know ahead of time whether or not you’ll be hot seating.

Stake boats vs. floating starts

Most likely you’ll know this a few days ahead of time but sometimes the officials decide to forgo one for the other, for whatever reason. Typically they go from a stake boat start to a floating start, not the other way around, usually because of weather.

How you’ll be called to the start

The marshals will say “10 minutes to start, 7 minutes to start, 5 minutes to start, 2 minutes to start…” so you’ll always know how much time there is. Depending on the course you may or may not be allowed to do practice starts on the course while other crews are getting locked on. Make sure you know whether or not this is allowed. The officials will usually call you in my lane number if you’re on stake boats. If you’re doing a floating start they’ll line the crews up about 100ish meters above the starting line and bring you down together.

The alignment process

This will depend on whether or not you’re starting from a stake boat or doing a floating start. If you’re doing a stake boat start they’ll have you row it up, back it in, and get your point. You won’t need to do anything to align the boats; the official in charge of that will talk directly to the person holding on to your stern. If you’re doing a floating start however, they’ll talk to you and have you row it up (with bow pair) to match the other crews.

Floating starts are frustrating because they’re never totally accurate. Do your part and make sure your bow pair is rowing lightly so that they don’t pull you ahead of the crews you’re trying to get even with. Talk quietly too so that you can still hear the officials.

The starting commands and the flags

There are three different commands the officials can use: the quick start (Attention, GO!), the countdown start (5, 4, 3, 2, 1, attention, GO!), or the polling start (Washington, Cal, Cornell, Brown, Harvard, Princeton, this is the start, attention, GO!). The start that’s used is typically dictated by the weather. They might begin with one starting command but switch to another later in the day as the weather changes but they’ll tell you ahead of time if they anticipate doing that and what they’ll switch to (usually to a quick start if that’s not already what they’re doing).

The starting flag is a white flag that the official on the starting platform will hold. As he says “attention” he will raise it in the air and drop it as he says “go”. At nearly every regatta I’ve ever been to I’ve been told that you go on the drop of the flag, not on “go”. Get clarification on this from the officials if they don’t mention it.

Jumping the start

The fastest way to get 50+ people pissed at you in five seconds or less is to jump the starting line. Depending on the size of the regatta there are different penalties that are given for jumping the slides. Some add seconds to your final time and others give you a warning and then a DQ if it happens a second time. Know what the penalties are and talk to your rowers so they know what’s at stake.

Broken equipment

If something in your boat breaks, you will almost always be issued a restart if it happens within the first 100m or 30 seconds. It’s different for each regatta. If this happens you’ll be told to stop, raise your hand, and the referee will come over and determine whether or not to stop and restart the race. If the race is to be stopped they’ll usually blast the horn on their megaphone to alert the other crews so always be listening for that. Even if you see another crew stop, don’t stop rowing until you hear that sound.

Broken equipment means physically broken equipment. What is not broken equipment is catching a crab, jumping your slide, your cox box dying, etc. If any of those things happen and you stop and put your hand it the air, you are shit out of luck.

Commands from the course referee(s)

Course referees are really happen when they don’t have to say anything at all during a race. The things they’ll be watching for are crews that are drifting out of their lanes, imminent collisions, etc. They’ll have a red flag that they’ll raise and point to whichever side you need to move to. Make sure your stroke knows to watch out for this and tell you if the official is behind you. If you don’t follow their instructions you can be penalized or disqualified.

In situations like this, I consider it just as much the stroke’s fault (or bow, if you’re in a bow coxed 4+) as the coxswain’s because they can see what is happening behind the boat whereas the coxswain can’t. There needs to be communication happening so the coxswain can move to where the officials are pointing them.

The finish line

Where it is, how it’s marked, and what the officials will do when you cross (flag, horn, etc.). Also, what you should do after you cross – you always need to keep rowing through the line but make sure you know where you’re allowed to stop and for how long. Don’t forget there are races coming down behind you.

How the race will be declared official

When all the crews have crossed, the official that followed the race will briefly talk to the finish line official and then come over to each of the crews to make sure everyone is OK. If it’s a regatta where coxswains were required to weigh in, the officials might have the coxswains hold up their sandbags or weight plates to ensure that they actually brought them in the boat with them and are carrying them on their person (vs. distributing them throughout the boat, which is against the rules).

If no one has a protest, the officials will raise a white flag and the race will be “official”. If there is a protest, the officials will raise a red flag and the results will be considered “unofficial” until a ruling has been made.

What to do if a medical emergency occurs

Obviously something like this is not something you can predict but you can prepare yourself ahead of time to deal with the situation should it arise, that way you’re not all “deer in the headlights”. When your lineups are set, figure out if anyone in your boat has any medical issues you should be aware of – asthma and allergies requiring an Epi Pen are the two biggest ones. Make sure you’ve got their inhaler or Epi Pen up in the stern with you so you can get it to them ASAP if they need it.

As soon as you cross the finish line, raise your hand and have the person in front of and behind the rower in distress raise their hands. Don’t just hang them in the air either – you want to get the officials attention immediately and they’re more likely to respond to someone who’s frantically waving their hands in the air.

What to do if any other kind of emergency occurs

This usually refers to someone being ejected from the boat. The rules are different at each regatta so make sure you find out what to do if this occurs.

Protesting

At the end of the race, raise your hand and wait for the official to come over to you. The protest almost always has to be initiated on the water so make sure you tell the referee about it before you start rowing back to the dock. Explain the situation and what you plan on protesting. Usually at this point the ref will either say “ok” or try to dissuade you from continuing the protest on land.

This is where it’s important to know whether or not what you’re protesting is actually worth protesting. If whatever happened directly knocked you out of the medals or down a spot in the medals, protest it. Otherwise, if you were in 6th place and winning would only bump you up to 5th, don’t. It’s a waste of time for you and more importantly, the officials. At the meeting they’ll probably tell you what they consider to be worth protesting.

Once you get off the water and within a certain period of time (usually 60 minutes from the conclusion of your race), you’ll need to get your coach and make your way to regatta headquarters to file a formal protest. Here you’ll have to write down your complaint and at some of the larger regattas, pay a small fee. If the ruling is in your favor you’ll get the money back. If you lose, you don’t get it back (hence why you should be absolutely sure of your account of what happened).

Like I said at the beginning, this may or may not be everything that the regatta officials go over. If they don’t go over something that you have a question on, raise your hand and ask. There’s a good chance that three other people have the same question. If you don’t ask it and then find yourself lost, confused, or with a penalty later because of it … that sucks but it’s your own fault. Don’t assume that the rules are the same at every regatta either. Even if it’s a USRowing event, which has pretty standard rules across the board, certain things might change depending on the venue.

Image via // @nickmiddletonphoto

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 18

By readyallrow March 18, 2014

Australia 2011 Rowing World Championships A-Final Lightweight M8+

This is a style of coxing that is so completely unlike what I’m used to that I don’t think I can give a good critique of it. The calls are a lot choppier than the “American” style and he’s so much more silent during the actual race, primarily during the first 500. There’s definitely a time and place to be quiet but I don’t think during a 2k is it. You can hear his tone and energy ramp up as the race goes on, although he does get a little shout-y as they come into the last 250m. You can justify that to an extent because they’re so tight with the Italians but that serves as a good reminder that even in the high-energy parts of the race, it’s important to maintain your composure.

Other calls I liked:

“Breathe in our rhythm…”

“Transition legs to bodies … this one, now…”

MIT Lightweight 8+ 1997 Eastern Sprints Heat

They start polling the crews around 3:00 into this recording. Instead of saying “Attention, go!” like we’re used to though they do the countdown start and follow it up with “Are you ready? Go!”, which I’ve never actually heard at the start before.

This is probably one of the most straightforward races I’ve ever listened to. It’s a good example of the whole “do everything right, no one will notice, do something wrong, everyone will notice” thing that is one the main tenets of coxing. Nothing really stands out because he just does his job and says/does everything he needs to do … which honestly, is exactly what you want. We always listen to these recordings and point out the great, the good, the meh, the bad, etc. and I’d say this definitely falls under “good” but in the most unobtrusive way, which is totally fine. Basically what I’m saying is that not every recording has to have some amazing call or move or thing that we point to and use as the defining feature of what makes that audio good. Sometimes they can just be “good” because the coxswain executed the race plan for the full 2000 meters with good energy, good tone, and good awareness of what was happening around him.

You can find and listen to more recordings by checking out the “Coxswain Recordings” page.

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow February 28, 2014

Hey! So during races, do you think it’s acceptable to yell to your own crew that “the other coxswain is swerving and looking nervous” or something like that? Is that abusive to the other lanes? And also to say for instance “lane 1 is gone, they are dying”. Are those decent calls? Thank you!

I’m definitely the kind of coxswain that gets way too much pleasure out of messing with other coxswains and crews but I do think you’ve gotta draw the line somewhere. There’s a difference between saying “5-seat’s not getting her blade in” and “their coxswain can’t steer” because saying something about their coxswain steering just seems like a cheap shot to me. Whether or not it is, I donno, but it’s probably just because I’m a coxswain that I think it’s not OK to say something like that. I wouldn’t say it’s abusive but in terms of good sportsmanship I think it’s questionable.

Plus, you’re the only one that’s going to care about whether or not she’s steering straight. If you say that during a race the rowers are probably just going to think “HA sucks for them” (if they think anything at all) but not really do anything different with their own rowing, whereas if you say “5-seat’s not getting her blade in” you can follow that up with “let’s take 5 for sharp catches to show ’em how it’s done”. When I’ve noticed other coxswains swerving a bit I just keep it to myself but commit extra hard to steering as pin-straight as possible for the next 10-15 strokes. Depending on how much the other coxswain’s steering is off it can be an easy way to grab a seat on them.

I do think it’s OK to say something about someone in another crew looking nervous because if you can see them looking out of the boat at you or you can hear the coxswain saying something about you guys coming up on them, trying to make a move to hold you off, etc. you’ve already started to break them. From there it’s up to you to capitalize on that. If you listen to this recording around the 1:30 mark you’ll hear the coxswain say they’re going to go off the other crew’s move. That can be huge for your crew if you call for them to take a move like that. Knowing that the other crew is already nervous that you’re breathing down their necks is just a nice psychological boost on top of all that for your rowers. Same goes for saying stuff about other crews fading.

All in all, I think whether or not they’re decent calls comes down to how you say them. If you’re saying “her steering sucks, their bow seat can’t row for shit, etc.”, that’s not OK. That’s just poor sportsmanship. Instead, phrase them in a way where you’re not sparing their feelings (because let’s be honest, where’s the fun in that) but you’re still getting the message across that you’ve found their weakness and now you’re going to exploit it.