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.

Tags: coach problems coxswain qotd rowing steering