Tag: equipment

How to strap a boat down

How To Rowing

How to strap a boat down

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You really only need two things to strap boats down – boat straps and common sense. If you lack the latter I recommend leaving the boat strapping process to someone else.

These two videos do a good job of showing and explaining the process.

Some (common sense) advice:

Pay attention to the condition of your straps

If they’re frayed or ripped, set them aside, tell your coaches/boatmen, and don’t use them. It’s way cheaper to spend $100 on a new set of straps ($100 = 15 straps, which is enough for five eights) than $40,000 on a new boat.

Don’t be obnoxious about how tightly you pull the straps

Similarly to how rigger nuts and bolts only need to be finger tight, straps are the same way. They obviously need to be tight to keep the boat in place but over-tightening the straps can actually warp the hull so be aware of that when you’re tying the boats down.

Don’t throw the buckle end of the strap over the boat or let it sit on the hull while traveling

Letting metal clunk around on the fiberglass can dent or put small holes in it. Letting the buckle sit tightly against the hull can also put dents or holes in the shell from the pressure of being pulled tightly. If you can, try to have the buckle sitting as close to trailer rack as possible.

Learn how to strap the boats down if you don’t know how

If you’re a varsity coxswain and your coach or boatmen is preoccupied with something else, take the initiative to show the new coxswains/rowers how to do it.

Small boats = 2 straps, eights = 3 straps

If you’re going on a long road trip (like cross-country for IRAs or something), consider double-strapping the boats for extra security.

Don’t tie knots in the straps

It weakens them and it’s a pain in the ass trying to get them out.

This is what happens when your boats are tied down improperly.

Yes, it’s funny in a “dude, that sucks” kinda way but think about what could have happened in this situation if the trailer was in the left lane and beside another car or if there was a car traveling behind the trailer. It goes from being a really irritating situation to being a potentially fatal one. If for nothing else, at least take the time to strap your boats down properly so that everyone else on the road is safe when they’re driving near your trailer.

Image via //@lucerneregatta

Coxing

Question of the Day

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Hi! Totally random, but my team just officially gave me a cox box to keep for the rest of my high school coxing career. I really want to personalize it but I don’t know how! Do you have any ideas on how to decorate a cox box?

Nice! Since I assume you have to give it back when you graduate, I wouldn’t do anything too permanent, like writing on it or attacking it with glitter and a Bedazzler. Your coaches might not appreciate you doing anything to it either, especially since they’re $500 (literally). The first thing that came to mind was getting some cross-stitch thread in your team colors (or your favorite colors, whichever you choose) and macramé-ing the strap (like this).

Other that that, I’d definitely get a sticker label and write in permanent marker your name, team name, and city/state on it in case it ever gets lost. I’d put this either on the back or the bottom of the cox box. Put a piece of packing tape over it to make it “waterproof”.

Coxing How To Q&A Racing

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Hi! Since fall season hit, I’ve been trying to improve my steering. The problem is, my team has a limited number a boats and we’re taking a Resolute to a head race. The steering essentially forces me to go straight and I find it impossible to make it around big turns! I was wondering, how can I steer a head race in a Resolute?

Whenever I’m in Resolutes I feel like I’m steering a bathtub or something. I don’t know if they’re all like that or just the ones I’ve been in but it was really frustrating. I think one of the boats we used at Penn AC was a Resolute too and I remember the coxswains had a lot of problems steering around the turn right after the finish line on the Schuylkill, probably because we had the same racing rudder that you have.

Your best option is going to be using the rowers to help you turn. In some races, like HOCR, this is a necessity anyways on some of the turns. You should still use the rudder and turn it in the direction you want to go but to fully get around the turn, you’ll want to have the rowers adjust their power so that one side powers down while the other side brings it around. Having one side row at 100% and then telling the other side to “pull harder” just does. not. work. It doesn’t! I don’t know why coxswains do this. If you’re turning to port, you want the port rowers to go down to maybe 75% (I never go less than 50% on any turn) and then have your starboards go balls out to bring you around. It’s gotta be coordinated well so that everyone still stays in time, knows when to adjust their power, and when to even it out again. I typically say something like “ports down, starboards up in 2…in 1…now, starboards GO”. This tells everyone what to do in as few words as possible. We also practiced doing this a lot before HOCR last year so they had plenty of opportunities to get used to how I was planning on calling it.

Coxing Q&A

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I feel like this is kind of a stupid question but, have you ever coxed a stern loader 4+? My new school has them and I’ve never been in one. Is is similar to an 8+?

Definitely not a stupid question! When I was in high school (’02-’06) we had two brand new Vespoli fours and a couple older stern-loaded fours. I liked the stern loaded fours because there was no learning curve with them like there is with a bowloader.  They’re the exact same as an eight except four seats shorter. Steering’s the same (strings) and you can actually see your rowers, which is the biggest “pro” for me. The only “con” is that unless you’re racing against other crews in stern loaders you can’t look over and see the other coxswains, which is half the fun of racing, unless you’re a length up on them.

Coxing Q&A Teammates & Coaches

Question of the Day

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Today I was coxing and I crashed a boat because we were coming in and there are rocks on the bank of the river and I thought we had gone out enough but we hadn’t and crashed into a rock and bent the fin. I feel so bad and I’ve never been responsible for gear breakage before and I apologized 20 million times and the coach said it’s ok but he still looked disappointed and I feel horrible. Sorry, I had to vent somewhere.

If it was your first time being responsible for some kind of equipment breakage, it probably wasn’t that big of a deal, especially if it was an accident (even more so if it was unavoidable). Your coach might have looked disappointed but he was probably just thinking that fixing the boat is something extra he’s got to do on top of his other responsibilities. Make it up to him by offering to help replace the fin or by asking to watch so you can see how to do it in the future.

Q&A Rowing

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Are those competition suits (sorry idk what they’re called) slimming or do all rowers have nice bodies? It’s looks like I’m rowing next year and I don’t have a perfect body so I was just wondering. Sorry if I sound creepy!

Unisuits. I think a lot of rowers would say they border on fairly unflattering, regardless of what you think of your body. You get over the initial discomfort with how it/you look once you realize everyone at some point or another hated how they looked in their unisuit until they realized there are more important things to think about than how you look in spandex.

I think we can all agree that a decent number of rowers do have nice bodies but that’s mostly because they’ve put a lot of time and effort into staying in shape. Rowing takes a pretty hefty physical toll so it’s difficult to not see a positive change in your body the more you row and the more in shape you become. But seriously though, it’s not something worth being self-conscious over. It really isn’t. Embrace what you’ve got and embrace the unisuits.

Coxing Q&A

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How long can a cox box go without dying? (If it’s fully charged to start with.)

If it’s fully charged you can probably get around 3-4 hours out of them with normal use. Not having the volume turned up all the way for an entire practice is a great way to save battery – you shouldn’t need it more than half to three-quarters of the way up anyways. The older the batteries in them get though the harder it will be to hold a charge so some older cox boxes might not last as long compared to newer ones.

Coxing Novice

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Hi I’m a novice coxswain (like really novice, my first day of actual coxing was today) and I have a steering question. Should I steer when the rowers are on the drive or on the recovery (blades in or out of the water)? I have looked it up a couple places and found conflicting answers. Today I just steered during both because I figured for my first time it was more important not to hit anything than to have perfect “steering technique”. And I have one more question actually – I found it practically impossible to talk or run drills while steering today. That will get easier as I master steering right? For now do you have any tips for focusing on both talking and steering especially while running drills that involve calling pauses and counting strokes? Thank you so much and I LOVE your blog!

You’re right, the first few times you go out it’s more important to figure out how the steering works and just avoid running into anything. I tend to make small steering adjustments on the recovery. Sometimes I’ll adjust on the drive when we’re doing pieces since that is when the boat is most set (when the blades are in the water) but I find that I often get a better response from the rudder if I do it on the recovery. Turning the rudder effects the set a little though so you want to avoid doing anything that’s going to throw it off even more, especially if it’s already wonky. The boats I’ve been coxing in the last few months have really good steering and the crews I’m coxing are pretty experienced so it doesn’t mess with the set too much. Coming around a corner, if you make that small adjustment right at the finish you can just coast around it. If you’re not used to steering though and/or have an inexperienced crew, just stick to steering on the drive and keep your adjustments to a minimum (both in number and duration).

One thing that you’ll learn as you get more experienced is that steering both is and isn’t something you’re doing all the time. It’s kind of like when you’re driving – sometimes you’re making tiny adjustments with the wheel and sometimes you’re good to just leave it alone. The boat is the same way. You should always be aware of where you are, what’s ahead, etc. and always be keeping your hands on the strings to keep the rudder straight but you don’t always need to be moving the rudder around. Once you get a point you want to steer as little as possible.

As you get more experienced multi-tasking will become second nature. Most coaches are OK with running practice from the launch for the first few days though to let you get the hang of steering. If you’re doing both right away and feeling overwhelmed, tell your coach. It’s more important that you pick up steering than it is for you to call drills right now. Pay attention to the drills and what’s going on so you’re ready to do them when it’s time though.

Related: The other day I was stuck in the center lane. Let’s just say it didn’t go so well. How do you concentrate on boats on either side of you/your point, your rowers, making calls and stroke rate? Ack, overwhelmed!

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If counting the strokes in your head is too overwhelming right now just use the stroke counter on your cox box. In newer models (like the one in the picture) it’s in the top right corner of the screen whereas in older models it’s in the lower right corner of. As long as your stroke is rowing you’ll be able to get a count of the strokes since the sensor is under their seat. If they aren’t rowing you’ll have to count the strokes yourself since the cox box won’t pick them up.

Don’t be afraid to try counting, steering when necessary, talking, etc. at the same time (in small doses). You’re going to have to do it sooner or later. As a novice, no one expects you to be perfect right away so now is kind of your one and only chance to “test” things out. If you keep avoiding it though because you think you’re going to mess up, that’s just irresponsible coxing (in my opinion, at least). In the beginning coxing is uncomfortable but embracing the discomfort and not letting it distract you or make you scared is what makes good coxswains.

Coxing Q&A

Question of the Day

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I’m a new coxswain on a team that rows in a salt water bay, and I’ve noticed some of the coxboxes have stopped working. Is salt water damaging to coxboxes? Like if I dip the connector for the mic/boat wire in the water to loosen it like you would in fresh water, is it bad to do that in salt water?

Yes, most likely the cox boxes are being damaged from the salt water corroding the wiring, which can cause the cox boxes to short out or not turn on at all. Salt water also carries an electrical charge if I remember correctly from chemistry, which means you’re lucky you haven’t suffered any kind of electrical shock to your hands or face yet.

My suggestion is to get in touch with NK and tell them what’s been going on. They’ll be able to tell you for sure if there is irreparable damage done to the cox boxes or whether or not they can be repaired/replaced. To be safe though, stop dipping the connectors in the water.

Q&A Rowing

Question of the Day

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Can you explain a few terms for me: bucket rigged, bow side, and stern side? And also how do you suggest rigging an 8? Starboard or port rigged? Thanks!

As far as rigging goes, there is no “right” or “wrong” side to rig it. In high school and college, every boat I raced in was port rigged because the women chosen to stroke those boats all rowed on port. The woman stroking my eight right now rows starboard, so we’re a starboard stroked boat. It was a little disorienting at first getting used to everything being on different sides but other than that I haven’t seen any clear advantages or disadvantages to the boat being rigged one side over the other. I think it’s best to determine who your stroke is first before you rig the boat instead of rigging the boat one side or the other and limiting who you can put in that seat right off the bat. It also eliminates having to de-rig and re-rig the boat to fit someone who rows on the other side.

Bucket rigged boats are boats that have two immediate rowers rowing on the same side. So, for example, instead of 5 and 6 being starboard and port, they would both be starboard. I’ve heard it called “tandem rigging” more than “bucket rigging” but both terms mean the same thing. The photo on the right shows a really aggressive example of how you could do this.

There was an interesting article that came out of MIT a few years ago that discussed the different types of bucket rigging. A mathematician was employed by the University of Cambridge to analyze the forces in rowing and he came up with “new” types of bucket rigs that help to eliminate wiggle (surprisingly, that is a technical term). It’s worth a read.

Bow-side is what I think nearly every country except the United States calls starboard. I’ve never heard the term “stern side” but the opposite of bow-side is stroke-side, so I’m assuming maybe that’s what you meant? Stroke-side is the port side of the boat, also a term that nearly everyone but the US uses.