Tag: equipment

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hi – we were doing 6×5′ race pieces today at 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, open. Obviously the coaches were being sticklers on the rate but my cox box was not giving me the right stroke rate – it said I was at a 22 the entire time when I knew that we weren’t and the boat really likes to know what rate they’re at. When I felt the rate coming up I would call to bring it down but the coaches kept saying “you’re above rate, bring it down! It’s your responsibility!” I know that it’s my responsibility but how do you deal with these kinds of situations? We don’t have speed coaches to use either. Thanks!

I really, truly, genuinely hope that I’m not the only one who thinks that the most obvious (and only legitimate) solution here is to just tell your coaches that your cox box isn’t giving you the correct rates. It is your responsibility and part of that responsibility includes communicating with the coaches when an issue that could impact the workout arises. You literally have no excuse to not speak up in situations like this. It’s not that hard to say “hey, my cox box keeps showing that we’re at a 22 even though we should be at a 28…”, to which the coaches will respond (maybe slightly annoyed but whatever, they’ll survive) “ok, we’ll keep the rate from the launch and let you know where you’re at”. Every coach has a stroke watch (which is how they knew you were above rate) but they’re not gonna know that you need them to tell you what they’re getting if you don’t speak up.

The other thing you need to do is put the boat in slings after practice and have the coach or your boatman look at the sensor under the stroke seat since that’s probably where the problem lies.

Novice Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Novice boat handling skills

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This is a great instructional video for novice rowers (and coxswains, but mostly rowers) because it walks you through the entire process of getting the boat out of and back into the racks, how to carry the oars, adjusting the foot stretchers, getting in/out of the boat, etc.

Related: Coxing a boat in and out of the house

In the moment of trying to do all these things it can be kind of confusing and this video does a good job of showing what each part of the process looks like, as well as demonstrating what the applicable commands are.

(Another reason) Why you need a working cox box

Coxing

(Another reason) Why you need a working cox box

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Below is an email I received from a coxswain who wanted to share her experience of coxing without a working cox box. I will never understand programs that look at cox boxes as an option rather than a necessity or say that sending them in to be repaired, serviced, whatever is too much effort, too expensive, etc. Cox boxes are expensive, yes, but so are boats and oars and riggers and you rarely, if ever, see programs so flippantly write off issues that arise with them. So … why are cox boxes any different?

“I’ve been following your blog for a while now and I have seen several stories and questions about not having a cox box. I just wanted to share my story about not having one.

My freshman year of high school I decided that I wanted to try out for crew. I was put as the coxswain because I was one of the smaller girls. At the start of the season, our team had 4 varsity 4s (coxed) and the novice team had an 8 and 2 extras. Between the time the season started and when we really started to learn how to row effectively, more girls had joined which gave the novice team an 8, a 4 (coxed), and an extra. The eight was the worst boat and I was given that boat because the other coxswain was better than I. I didn’t have any problem with that because I wanted our team to be fast.

Since our freshman year (I am now a sophomore) both the other coxswain and I did crew in the fall and spring of freshman year and fall of sophomore year. This spring season however, she decided that she wanted to do lacrosse. Now I am going to get to cox the second boat – in the fall I was in fourth boat because there are only 2 experienced coxswains. But my story really starts with the eight novice year.

Our school has a total of 8 boxes. Box “A” is the newest and the best. Box “B” is the next best. Box “C” is third best (and mine for this fall season). Box “D” is fourth best. Those are the four varsity boxes. The novice boxes aren’t named because they change hands ever year. One of the boxes that we have really does not work at all but another one works fairly well. The last box, my box for my novice season, did not work in the eight or the novice four and was just really staticky in the varsity boats. I brought this up to the coach and he said that there was nothing that we could do so I should just try and yell. IN AN EIGHT. I some how managed to make my self heard and when the other coxswain and I switched halfway through the year we kept our boxes because at this point I was pretty good at projecting my voice so my rowers could hear me. Now though I was in a bow loader four.

At some point along this path I had developed a cough that sounded uncannily like a goose. Like not even kidding, the geese on the dock would honk back at me. Now this cough didn’t really bother me, it was just part of who I was and it didn’t hurt. My rowers though told me to go to the doctor. Being a silly fourteen year-old, I did not connect the cough to the coxing so I continued as normal. Fast forward through the winter (during which I play ice hockey) and the spring season (when I decided that I wanted to try rowing for some unknown reason). My cough continued but was less noticeable. Spring season ended. At our school spring sports end before finals start and at the end of the two week finals I get a cold (right before my oral Chinese final…). Of course along with a cold comes a cough. At first they were just normal coughs but towards the end of my cold they turned in to the dry deep coughs I refer to as my “goose cough”.

I took the first two weeks of summer off from doing anything and my cough continued. Soon though my summer job started up. At my summer job I biked 7 miles to a pool and then helped with swim lessons for the morning. I also knew that I was going to take the life guarding course at the end of the summer so I started swimming laps. I used to be able to swim laps with pretty good stamina but now I started getting out of breath after one lap. This shortness of breath continued throughout the summer and continued getting worse. Eventually at the end of the summer I had to go to the doctors for my regular physical. I mentioned my breathing problem and my doctor said it will probably pass and not to worry about it so I didn’t. Well a couple weeks later I’m back for some reason and I mention that it had gotten worse and she was able to hear me cough because I had been slightly sick. Without running any tests she “diagnosed” asthma and prescribed an inhaler, which didn’t really help. I went back to tell her that and she put me on another inhaler that was every morning and night rather than as needed like the other one was and yeah, it really didn’t help. It made me dizzy, tired, and was such a hassle.

Now school starts again and my breathing gets to the point were I am out of breath when walking down the hallway and I simply can’t do stairs. The crew team decides to go run Harvard stadium for a workout and the coxswains decided as a group that we would do this workout with the team, so I took along my inhaler. To warm up we run once around the stadium. I used my inhaler and tried to jog with them. I managed to get around but it was a very big struggle. We start to run the stairs and I do the first section with lots of problems. By section 3 I have to take the inhaler again because I physically can not get air in. I made the decision to stupidly do at least half of all the sections because … I was stupid. I took probably 8 puffs by the time we were done with 30 of the sections. Cut to the car ride home and the entire way I could not breathe. My mother was close to turning around and bringing me to the emergency room. She didn’t but made an appointment for me with a pulmonologist (lung doctor). He had me do a bunch of tests and when they gave me the asthma medication they normally used, my breathing capacity went down. So they gave me the proper tool to use the inhaler with and sent me on my way with a follow up appointment in 6 weeks.

I go back in six weeks and – surprise surprise – the medications are not working. They take me off them and suggest a possibility that had not previously been discussed. They asked me if I had ever misused my voice for extended periods of time and I was like “yeah try the whole fall season my freshman year.” They said I most likely had something called vocal chord dysfunction where the vocal chords actually close when you try and breathe, making it feel like you can’t get any breaths in. This perfectly described my situation and they put me on a different medication that mostly worked for the first couple of weeks (as in I no longer get out of breath walking down the hall) but I am still not completely well. I go back in two weeks and they will probably change my meds to better fit my needs (probably a stronger dose or something). And who knows, I might not ever be completely better. My breathing problems at one point made it so I was afraid I was going to faint while walking to chemistry class.

DO NOT LET ANYONE COX WITH OUT A BOX BECAUSE IT MIGHT CAUSE PERMANENT DAMAGE. I shared this story because I wanted to tell someone how dangerous coxing without a box is. By the way, love the blog, it has definitely helped me improve. Thanks for reading.”

I know I’ve talked to several of you recently via email about similar breathing/coughing issues so if this isn’t something you’ve already explored as the cause, I’d talk with your parents about it and make an appointment with your doctor as soon as you’re able.

Thanks to the coxswain who I sent this in, I appreciate it and I’m sure other coxswains (and their parents) will too.

Image via // @ryanjnicholsonphoto
Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Footboard

Coxing Rowing Technique

Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Footboard

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Previously: Rush(ing) || Body angle || Pick drill || Suspension || Skying the blade || Quarter feather || Pin || Run || Lunge || Washing Out || Missing water

What part of the stroke/stroke cycle does it refer to

The footboard itself obviously isn’t part of the stroke but it plays an important role on the recovery, at the catch, and at the finish.

What does it mean/refer to

The footboard, also known as the foot stretchers or just “stretchers”, is generally considered to fall under the “rigging” umbrella since it’s an adjustable part of the shell’s structure. (You can read more on its relation to rigging in the posts I’ve linked down below.)

Relevant calls

The calls you make here aren’t going to be strictly about the footboard, rather they’re going to be with how the body interacts with it at certain points throughout the stroke.

Recovery: “Stay light on the feet”, “No weight on the legs/stretchers on the way up…”, etc.

Second half of the recovery: “Transfer the weight to the toes…”

Catch/drive: “Stomp…”, “Legs…“, “Kick…”, “Drive…“, “Push…”, etc.

Finish: “Maintain connection through the feet…”

What to look for

As the coxswain, the things you notice about the footboard are most likely going to come in the form of something being off with the rower’s catch and finish angles. If they’re too sharp or too shallow then you’ll want to ask them if they’re getting to full compression (or if they’re over-compressing if the angle is particularly sharp) and then have them make an adjustment towards the bow or stern as necessary from there. Same goes for if/when you hear a lot of banging with the slides at the catch or finish.

In the 13 years I’ve been coxing I think I’ve only seen my coaches change the angle of the foot stretchers maybe two or three times, all to accommodate rowers who had very poor flexibility. It’s not something you’ll encounter that often but when you do it’s good to have a general idea of where they should be and how each positioning can effect the rower’s stroke. The general range is 38-42 degrees, with a shallower angle allowing the rower to have better compression and a steeper angle allowing you to drive with more force (although you’ll be sacrificing some of your length since you won’t be able to get to full compression as easily). If you have the chance to watch or help your coach rig the boats, talk to them about the placement of the stretchers and the angle at which they’re set.

Effect(s) on the boat

From a rigging perspective, if the footboard’s angle is too steep or too shallow then the angles of your catch and finish will be impacted. You might also need to move them towards either the stern or bow of the boat if you find yourself hitting the front stops (move to bow) or the back stops (move to stern).

From a rowing perspective, if you’re losing connection with the stretchers at the finish or not transferring your weight properly at the front end then you’ll be limiting the power of your stroke.

Related posts/questions

An Introduction to Rigging, pt. 4: Rigger Height and Work Through

Adjusting your foot stretchers

“How to set your footboards…” via USRowing

The other day our coach had all of us move our foot stretchers all the way forward on the tracks. I was wondering what the benefit of doing this is?

I have been rowing bow (port) in our starboard stroked bow-loader four boat. When ever we start to row and get to the drive part of the stroke my left ankle keeps cramping up and I was wondering if you had any way to stop this from happening?

Hey Kayleigh, I was hoping you could lend some advice on spacers, the correct positioning of your body in relation to the pin, and how to change these things either before you are out on the water or while you are out on the water. I was told that when in doubt to take a spacer off… is that the rule of thumb? It is different due to the type/make of the boat? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Question about the foot plates on the ergs – what number do you find it’s best to keep them on? Is there a standard it’s “supposed to” be at or is it best for each girl to change them for herself? What do those numbers even mean?

 To see all the posts in this series, check out the “top 20 terms” tag.

Image via // @reginaems
Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Pin

Coxing Rowing Technique

Top 20 Terms Coxswains Should Know: Pin

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Previously: Rush(ing) || Body angle || Pick drill || Suspension || Skying the blade || Quarter feather

What part of the stroke/stroke cycle does it refer to

This week’s term is one of two that aren’t specifically part of the rowing stroke – it’s actually part of the rigging. In relation to the stroke though, the first half of it (push + hang) occurs in front of the pin and the second half (the draw through) occurs behind the pin.

What does it mean/refer to

In physics terms, the pin is the fulcrum for the oar, which is the lever. It’s hidden when the oarlock is on so you can’t see it but it’s the vertical axle that the oarlock rotates around and is also where pressure is applied throughout the stroke. In order for the stroke to be effective, lateral pressure must be applied against the pin in the direction that the blade is moving (not the legs).

Relevant calls

“Maintain pressure against the pin…”, “hold your weight against the pin…”

“Rotate around the pin…” This is mostly in relation to achieving the proper length and body angle. Reminding the rowers to reach out over the knees and rotate the torso around the pin (while leaning into the rigger) helps emphasize keeping the chest up and not dropping the outside shoulder.

What to look for

The pin is one potential spot of connection in the boat so if you lose connection there then you lose efficiency in your stroke. More so with novices than with experienced crews, you’ll want to keep an eye on the oars to ensure they’re flush with the oarlocks at all points during the stroke (see the first link down below).

You can also draw attention to the pin during drills like the pair add-in drill where the shell is gradually getting lighter and picking up speed as each pair comes in. The load is going to be a lot heavier when there’s two people moving the shell vs. eight people so keeping pressure against the pin while cleanly accelerating the blade through the water should be the focus of your technical calls.

Effect(s) on the boat

In a rigging sense the pin plays a big part in determining the pitch, spread, span, oarlock height, and work through (all discussed in the intro to rigging posts linked down below). As far as the actual stroke goes, the key thing to remember is that pressure against the pin + acceleration is what allows rowers to effectively move the load.

Related posts/questions

I have noticed sometimes when coxing that some of my rowers tend to sort of bang the gate with their oar (not sure how to fully describe it) and was wondering what are they doing wrong in the stroke and appropriate calls to fix it?

Introduction to rigging

Hey Kayleigh, I was hoping you could lend some advice on spacers, the correct positioning of your body in relation to the pin, and how to change these things either before you are out on the water or while you are out on the water. I was told that when in doubt to take a spacer off… is that the rule of thumb? It is different due to the type/make of the boat? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

To see all the posts in this series, check out the “top 20 terms” tag.

Image via // @jdcsss

Coxing Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

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I have noticed sometimes when coxing that some of my rowers tend to sort of bang the gate with their oar (not sure how to fully describe it) and was wondering what are they doing wrong in the stroke and appropriate calls to fix it?

If I’m picturing this correctly, what I think you’re saying is that the rowers are pulling the oar away from the oarlock and the “banging” is when the collar comes in contact with it again. I see novices do this a lot, mostly because they don’t fully grasp that you have to apply consistent pressure against the pin to prevent that from happening. Something that helps with this is making sure you have the right grip on the oar. If your hands are really far apart and/or your outside hand is a few inches away from the end of the oar then you’re much more likely to pull the oar away from the oarlock. Hands shoulder-width apart, outside pinky resting on the edge of the handle – that’s what your grip should look like.

Technique-wise though, the simplest way of explaining it is that you want to be exerting pressure in the direction that the blade is moving rather than the direction your legs are moving (keep in mind those two things are moving in the opposite direction). If you’re applying pressure towards the front or back of the oarlock (depending on whether you’re on the drive or recovery) rather than flat against the whole oarlock, you’re more likely to pull the oar away from it at either the catch or finish and when you begin moving in the other direction, that’s when you’ll get that “bang” that occurs, like I said before, when the collar comes in contact with it again. As far as calls go, keep it simple and just remind them to keep pressure against the pin and that the collar should always be in contact with the oarlock (which means they need to be applying force in that direction).

I’d really recommend talking about this with your coach though because they’ll be able to address the technical aspects of it with everyone and then once the rowers understand what’s actually happening, whatever calls you make will be a lot more effective. A huge, huge pet peeve of mine is when coxswains see an issue like this and think that all it takes to fix it is a couple magical calls (which don’t exist, by the way). Not that that’s what you’re implying (because this is a really good question so I’m glad you asked it), I just that I think that’s what a lot of coxswains expect when they ask questions like this. This is something that has to be coached so tell your coach what you’re seeing so they can address it, otherwise whatever calls you make (which may or may not even be correct) won’t make a difference since no one will understand what you’re talking about. I know it’s said a lot that coxswains are “the coach in the boat” but coaching the rowers isn’t your job. Now that you (hopefully) understand a bit better what’s happening you’ll have an easier time following your coach’s explanation so listen to how they explain it to your boat and reiterate the key points they make using the same language and terminology they use … that is how you fix a technical problem. What I said up above (and pretty much everything I say on here), it all equates to doing the assigned reading before your next class so you’re not staring wide-eyed at your professor as he flies through the lecture. Ultimately my goal is to hit the high points so you can follow along while your coach fills in all the little details.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hi – Our rowing club in LA is having all sorts of coxbox/wiring issues lately. Weird thing is it’s in different boats and different boxes so I’m wondering if it could be something global like weather. Now, we don’t get that cold compared to other regions but we do row all year and last 3 weeks its been in the upper 40’s/lower 50’s in the early morning. The main symptoms are very low volume throughout the boat or intermittency – all speakers cutting out in middle of row. We did try at least two microphones in one boat this morning. Any ideas??

40s-50s is not cold … I mean, maybe by LA standards but that’s not the issue here. By the sounds of it, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you row in salt water, in which case that’s your problem. When the salt comes in contact with the wires it can cause corrosion which in turn can/will effect the sound quality, transmission, etc. That’s one of the main reasons why you have to wash the equipment (which includes cox boxes!!) off regularly, tedious as it might be, otherwise eventually it’ll catch up with you and you end up with problems like this.

Assuming you do row in salt water I imagine that you’re washing your boats every day after practice so while the rowers are doing that I’d grab a washcloth or something and wipe off the cox box, the wires, the connectors inside the boat, etc. With the newer cox boxes I think you can probably get away with doing this 2-3x a week since most of the important stuff has the rubber casing around it but with the older cox boxes where the mic connector is metal, the prongs on the connector inside the boat are a little more exposed, and the wires are more likely to be frayed due to age, I would probably wipe them down every day.

My next suggestion would be to check the wiring throughout the boat and make sure the speakers haven’t come unplugged anywhere. Sometimes that happens if the wires are exposed and accidentally get pulled or caught on something. Since this is happening across multiple boats with multiple boxes though I think salt water corrosion is your culprit.

How To Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Adjusting your foot stretchers

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Adjusting your foot stretchers seems like it’d be a really simply thing to do – and it is – but without fail someone always manages to just completely screw it up and either rip out the entire footplate, lose a wing nut, or both (and 50% of the time one or both of those things happen when you’re on the water.) The most important thing to remember is to not remove the wing nuts when you loosen them – just keep them on the bolts and only loosen them as much as you need to in order to move the stretchers.

Related: Adjusting the seat tracks

Varsity rowers and coxswains, this would be something worth going over with the new novices on your team if it’s not something your coach hasn’t already mentioned or shown them.

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Hi! Do you know where to buy spacers? Also, do you happen to know the size of the wing nuts that are used on foot stretchers? Thank you.

Check out the manufacturer’s website for whoever makes your boats. In their online stores (i.e. Vespoli, Resolute) you should be able to find spare washers for pretty cheap.

The wing nuts are all M5s as far as I know, at least with Resolutes. (What that equates to in imperial units (i.e. for Vespolis), I have no clue. It should be easily Google-able though.) Anyways, I wouldn’t buy those on your own, just ask your coach if he can find you a spare set or two so you can have them if you need them. There’s always some lying around the boathouse so it shouldn’t be too hard to find some. (Same goes for the spacers too, to be honest.) The priority though regarding parts you should carry with you lies with the riggers – spacers, washers, nuts, and bolts … and more spacers.

How To Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Adjusting the seat tracks

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We had to do some track adjusting towards the end of the season with the IRA four and since it became a slightly more involved process than I thought it’d be I figured it’d be worthwhile to share this video to show how it’s done. Keep in mind that you should talk with your coach first if you think there’s an issue with your tracks (i.e. they’re not aligned, they’re too far forward/back, etc.) before you mess with anything, just to avoid damaging them or making any unnecessary changes.