Tag: head race

Coxswain recordings, pt. 6

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 6

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Purdue university men’s Lightweight 8+ 2012 Milwaukee River Challenge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=KbhgdqCq12M

There’s a lot going on here with the rowing that is pretty … bad … so I’m going to skip over talking about a lot of that and focus on just the coxing. This is also a long recording so I’m cherrypicking what I think is the most important parts rather than pointing out every single thing. Ultimately I think this audio was solidly average. There were a lot of missed opportunities but the stroke seemed happy with it so take what I say with a grain of salt. If your rowers like what you’re doing by all means, keep it up, but at the same time, recognize where improvements can/should be made too.

While they’re sitting there waiting to start, see how 7-seat is moving his oar back and forth a lot? This would have driven me nuts because it messes up your point, not to mention is really irritating (especially up in the stern) since it jerks the boat a little. That’s probably part of the reason why he has to tell 2-seat to tap it a couple times.

At 3:11 he says “we’re in the cute”, which is a good thing to let your crew know, especially in bigger head races like HOCR where the entire starting area is a humongous clusterfuck.

At 4:45, notice how he calls the 10 really sharp and concise (albeit a little forced) but returns to his normal voice in between counts? That’s a good way to maintain the intensity and keep the crew relaxed.

Between 4:56 and 5:07 is a good example of how to communicate with your stroke during a piece or race. They’re not having a conversation or anything, rather the stroke says what he’s feeling in one quick breath and the coxswain translates it to the rest of the crew. In that same vein though, as the race went on this started to annoy me because even though stroke-coxswain communication is important, I wanted this coxswain to be saying all the stuff the stroke was saying before the stroke said it. Everything he said, with the exception of a couple things at the beginning, the coxswain should have already seen and made a call for. The coxswain should not be coxed by the stroke, if that makes more sense.

When he says “we gotta pull something out” … *long pause* … “alright, we’re going for it” at 11:36, I was pretty convinced that he didn’t actually have a plan or know what he needed to do in the upcoming stretch. You can’t say in a semi-aggressive tone that they’ve gotta make a move and then stop talking. You also can’t say “alright we’re going for it” like you’re debating whether or not you should actually go for it. If now is when you need to make a move, get on their asses and tell them you’re taking a fucking move. When you’ve got contact on a crew like this and you’re trying to walk through them, this is where you take a 20 to get even or put your bow ball in front. A 10 might get you to them but it’s not going to get you through them, which is what you want. If you stop your ten and you’re only half a length through them, that’s going to give their coxswain an opportunity to counter whereas if you take a 20 and can get up to their 2-seat, you’ve essentially absorbed them and it will be harder to counter.

A pro-tip for going around turns like the one at 12:43 is to tell one side to power down to 1/2 or 3/4 pressure and the other to power up. It seems counterintuitive but it’s actually a lot more effective than having one side still at 100% and trying to get the other side to out-pull them. In most cases you should be able to get around in 5-6 strokes. This is something you should practice when possible though so the crew gets used to “powering down” for a few strokes and develops that muscle memory for what it feels like (because 1/2 pressure when you’re consciously thinking about it is a lot different than 1/2 pressure in the middle of a race when you’ve got a shitload of adrenaline pumping through you).

When he says “you’re missing a ton of water” at 15:06, my immediate reaction was “…no shit/OK? How do you want them to fix it??”. You should never assume they know what to do or that something is obvious, especially since it’s your job to tell them what to do and more importantly, when. They’re missing water, you want them to not miss water, but what about their technique needs to change? Just saying “get it in” isn’t going to do much, especially if you’ve already been saying that for 10+ minutes.

Last thing – unless you’re like, 5 strokes from the line, you’re not “almost there” … and even if you are, “almost there” is not a call you should make EVER.

Other calls I liked:

“Together, we move…”

“The boat felt alive…” He said this after the race but this is a great (motivational) call to make during the race when the boat’s running well and you’ve got a good rhythm going.

OARS Lightweight 8+ 2013 Youth Nationals Petite Final

Right off the bat I love that he reminds them to “look at the flag”. This is important and definitely something I recommend coxswains do. Remember, you go on the drop of the flag, not when the announcer says GO. If the flag comes down before he says GO, you go anyways. You can’t see that so it’s important that everyone else in the boat is watching for it.

About a minute in he says ““we’re ahead of everyone” … cool but by how much? If you’re going to tell your boat you’re ahead or behind, always tell them by how many seats. If you only say you’re up or down, inevitably someone is going to look out of the boat because they want to know by how much. Usually I’ll say something like “up on the field, three seats over Lane 3, two seats over Lane 5” and tell them where we are compared to the lanes on either side of us. When everyone is still clustered together it tends to be too difficult to say specifically where you are on five other lanes so a semi-specific overview is generally sufficient.

At 6:15 he says “come on, don’t let them take it…”, which can be a good or bad call depending on your tone. You’re in the midst of a very high-energy situation and you obviously don’t want to give anything up but you also don’t want to make it sound like you’re begging because that just comes off like there’s no hope. Instead of “come on” say “show me what ya got”, “right here, lemme see it”, “stomp on the feet, lemme feel it”, etc. Instead of “don’t let them take it” say “don’t give an inch”, “don’t yield to them”, “show ’em you’re not backing down”, etc. All of this requires a bit of “planning” ahead of time but if modifying how you say something results in a more positive psychological response by your rowers, it’s worth it.

SoCo Crew 2013 Youth Nationals men’s v8+ Heat

The very first thing I noticed – not even joking, the very first thing – is where the starboard buoys are at 0:27 (a foot or two off the blade) and where they’re at at 0:43 (nearly under the rigger). Come on guys. Gotta steer straight. It’s literally your primary/only job.

When you’re counting out strokes try not to just count out the strokes and say nothing in between. I’m definitely guilty of this sometimes, usually when I’m trying to concentrate on something else that’s going on (either where we are, something with the blades, etc.), but it’s something I’m always conscious of and working on. When you’re just counting strokes, especially during a 20, it’s so monotonous. Case in point, the beginning of this race was 50 seconds of straight counting. Go sit in front of someone and count continuously for 50 seconds and see how long it takes for them to get up and walk away. Personally I’m also really anti-counting up and then counting down when calling 20s. If you’re going to count up (1, 2, 3…) on the first ten, do the same with the second ten. Don’t start counting down (10, 9, 8…) because it makes it seem like you’ve hit a peak and you can start coming down now when in actuality you’re still building into the piece. Psychology, guys. Psychology.

At 1:23 he says “we need to get under 1:40 the whole time to win this…”, which might have been something they discussed beforehand but regardless, there are definitely better ways to make this call. Knowing your splits during a race can be both a blessing and a curse and as the coxswain it’s your responsibility to know how to work that information to your advantage. You should go in with a plan – are you going to negative split the whole time or try to hold a steady average? If you go into the race wanting be under a 1:40 you’ve got to communicate and remind your crew of that in an encouraging way. “We committed ourselves to holding a 1:38, let’s see that commitment right now. Sitting at a 1:40, let’s go, big press now … drive it, find that rhythm, 1:39, press swing … 1:38. Connect, press, sssend. YES! Let’s maintain this until we make our move at the 1000m. Commit, sssend. Commit, sssend.”

“I want it bad so we gotta have it…” is a bullshit call and not something you should ever say to your crew. Stop with the separation between you and the rest of the boat. Same goes for the “this is unacceptable” call at 3:17. Yea, maybe it is, but this still is not something you say to your crew in the middle of a race.

The counting between 6:06 and 6:46, randomly calling power 10s in the middle of another power 10 … dude, no.

The biggest thing I noticed in this piece was that the coxswain sounded so irritated the whole time, like he was just pissed to be there. Yea, you’ve gotta stay on them and pay attention to what’s happening around you but saying stuff like “this is unacceptable” or “I want it bad” during a prelim would make me seriously reconsider wanting you in the boat for semis and finals. I went and looked up the heats results from Youth Nats this year and in this race it was first place to semis, next two to the reps. Does going to the reps mean you’ve gotta row another race, yea, but sometimes you’ve gotta cut your losses and know that that’s the inevitable result instead of pushing your crew to beat a team that you’re (most likely) not going to catch. Anyways, I feel like this coxswain has a lot of potential that he’s just not taking advantage of. His voice is great and his intensity (when he’s channeling it properly) is solid but the calls and overall race strategy need work.

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

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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I never know what to say at the beginning of a head race. I know what to say once we get going but not before, any ideas/tips?

This past season with my eight, I think the only thing I consistently said to them while we were staging was “we’ve got a plan, let’s get after it” or something like that. I tried not to talk too much before the starting line (with the exception of telling people to row) because I wanted them to focus in and not be distracted and I needed the quiet time to focus on getting us lined up in the chute.

Sprint races vs. Head races

Racing Rowing

Sprint races vs. Head races

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Winter training is slowly trudging along but before you know it, the spring racing season will be upon us. If you coxed or rowed in the fall but haven’t done a spring season yet, you’re probably wondering what the differences are.

Head races

Head races are run over a course an average distance of 3 miles. Instead of being a distance race, it’s raced against the clock, with the goal being to have the fastest overall time with as few penalties as possible. Crews are started 10-15 seconds apart, allowing for faster crews to overtake slower ones along the course. Due to the length of the race, the cadence is much lower when compared to a sprint race. Head races are aptly nicknamed “the coxswain’s race” due to the winding turns along that river. Navigating these turns as efficiently as possible aids the crew in achieving a fast overall time. In comparison to the spring season, the fall season is usually shorter in duration – crews might only do two to four races starting in late September and ending in early November.

Sprint races

Spring season is the best season. In college races, rowers cover a course of 2000m whereas in most high school races, rowers cover 1500m. They’re rowed somewhere between five and a half and eight minutes and at a much higher stroke rate than head races. Anywhere from 4-8 boats are lined up at the starting line, either through a floating start or on stake boats, after which the starting marshal will utilize one of the various starting calls followed by “Attention, GO” to begin the race. The end of the race (250-300m) is an all out, balls to the wall sprint.

The season itself lasts from late March or early April until the beginning of June, and crews will typically race in seven to ten races during that period. The training is much more intense and unlike fall racing, begins a few months before the actual season starts, a period classified as winter training where the athletes primarily train indoors on the erg.

Coxswains employ a different strategy with these races compared to head races because there is less distance to cover, which translates to the amount of time you have to make move running out very quickly. It is imperative for coxswains to have good control over the steering of the shell to ensure it travels the straightest line possible. If he/she is slaloming down the course, it can cost their crew a win. The intensity of the race overall is also heightened – it’s pure adrenaline from start to finish, which is an experience you can’t really comprehend until you experience it.

Image via // @rowingcelebration

Coxing High School Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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Hi, I’m 14 and I’m from England. I’m a cox (obviously) and I often cox the years above, and today we had a head-race, and its pretty likely at we’re going to get disqualified, and I feel terrible. It will all be my fault and all the coaches will hate me as will the crew and I’m just terrified and I’ve been crying for the last hour and I don’t know what to do…

Why do you think you’re going to get DQ’ed? What happened?

They’re not going to hate you. If they hate you over something like getting DQ’ed from a race, you need to join a different team. They might be annoyed but that’s it. Talk to your coaches and rowers and explain what happened. Explain why you did what you did. If you had a reason for doing something, even if it got you DQ’ed, that’s a lot better than NOT having a reason … like, you hit a bridge pier because you got squeezed out of your line by passing crews and misjudged the distance between your oars and the pier vs. you hit a bridge pier just because you weren’t paying attention.

Don’t be scared and definitely don’t cry. If you’re allowed, go down to regatta headquarters and see if there’s an official you can talk to who can explain why you were or might be DQ’ed or what you did wrong. Get as much information as you can and then study it. Figure out what you could have done differently compared to what you did, that way you know in the future what to do if a similar situation arises. The race has happened, and whether is was good or bad, the only thing you can do now is learn from it.

FOLLOW UP
Basically as part of the course there’s an ait (I don’t know if you have that in America but its like an island) and you have to go to the right of it and you cant overtake in it. For quite a while we had been gaining on this crew, and by the time we got to the ait we were pretty much level with them. My cox box was broken so I was shouting and passing on messages through bow (it was a four) and they were doing some sort of motivational shouting like ‘push cmon!’ so we were starting to pull ahead and this Marshall was like ‘your not allowed to overtake, move towards the bank!’ so I did, but I think according to the rules We can still get disqualified.

That sucks that your cox box was broken. Was it broken before you went out or did it happen once you were on the water? When something like that happens, you have to adjust your whole strategy. Were you in a bowloader? It’s fine to use your bowman to pass on things like power 10s, etc. but other than that no one should be talking. Even though it’s hard for them to hear you, they have to be quiet and not try and cox themselves. More than anything else, it’s a safety issue.

The situation you were in is actually pretty common. You pull up to a crew and right when you want to pass them, you hit the “no pass zone”. If that happens, the only thing you can do is tell your crew to back off. They’re going to think you’re insane but you have to explain to them that you’re entering a no pass zone and you caught the crew in front of you too quickly. They need to power down so that you stay either RIGHT behind them or RIGHT beside them. You have to have PERFECT steering to maintain that distance between your two boats. As SOON as you exit that no pass zone, you GO. Power back up to 110% and take a 20 to walk away.

It doesn’t sound like you did anything that explicitly broke the rules. The marshal was just doing his job, so don’t take it too personally if he yelled at you when he told you to move. He’s gotta make sure you hear him, which is why he probably yelled. At most, I would think you might get a penalty, but I don’t see any reason why you’d be disqualified. If you just sat even with them, I don’t think that’s a violation of the rules because technically you didn’t pass them. I would talk with your coaches and see what they say, but it sounds like you did what you were told to do by the marshals, so you should be fine.

FOLLOW UP
We didn’t get disqualified, we won our category!

Congrats!

Coxing Novice Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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Hi, I’m a beginner coxswain for a men’s novice 8 and my first regatta is coming up in two days. I’m super super nervous and I was wondering if you could give me some really good calls I can make in the middle of the race … I usually end up not really know what to say and repeat the same things over and over! Thank you so much!

Try and find different ways to say what you’re already saying, that way you can repeat yourself without actually repeating yourself. It keeps the rowers alert and tuned into what you’re saying if you can keep a running list of different ways to say the same things.

Calls for the middle of the race … this is where you’re going to start transitioning from more technique based calls to more motivational calls. You’ll be able to come up with some great stuff if you can find out what THEY want to hear. Remember, you’re guiding them down the river so you’ve got to, in a sense, tell them what they want to hear (and in some cases, what they don’t want to hear) in order to get them to do what you want. Don’t be to stringent though with your calls and try to script it out though (that never works).

Related: HOCR: Race plans and My race plan from HOCR

During my eight’s race two weeks ago we were just sitting on a crew for probably 20 strokes before I said that I was sick of looking at this other crew and that on this next 20 we were going to walk away from them. They responded really well to that and we walked by them with no problem. Another call my crew really likes is “Do not sit, do not quit”, which I borrowed from Pete Cipollone. I used it as we were coming into the last 500m or so to remind them to not sit for a single stroke and to stay focused and in the boat. They said it was one of the best calls they’d heard because it really got them fired up for the end of the race.

A great way to develop your calls is to listen to the calls of other coxswains. Listen to them and pull out/modify anything you think would be beneficial for your crew. Remember the number one rule of borrowing coxswain calls though: don’t take, use, borrow, or modify a call if you do not know why it was being used in the first place. Remember your tone of voice too throughout the race. I know there are posts either on here or on the blog somewhere where I talk about tone, inflection, volume, etc. They’re all very important in communicating well with your crew and making sure they stay alert and focused.

Related: Coxswain recordings

I know I didn’t give you any SPECIFIC calls in here but hopefully I’ve given some tools to help you come up with your own stuff.

Coxing Novice Q&A

Question of the Day

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Hi, I’m a novice coxswain for a Girls Novice 8. We have competition in less than a week, and our boat is a mess. Catching and finishing in time is a major problem, as well as motivation. My priority really is motivation but we don’t have access to a Cox-Box until the day of competition, and are currently rowing on a boat with no steering; so all turns are pretty much manual. In less than two weeks we have Head of the Hooch and we can barely operate! Any feedback or advice would be helpful.

Why are you even on the water? Being in a boat with no steering not only sounds completely pointless but more importantly, incredibly unsafe. Add in the fact that you don’t have a cox box and then it becomes really unsafe.

Are you having problems motivating them because of the situation you’re in with the boat or are you having trouble because they’re just not that into rowing? If it’s because of the boat, there’s not much you can do other than remind them that (hopefully) this is only a temporary situation and that they’ve just got to make do with what they’ve got. Tell them that instead of focusing on how much the boat sucks, focus on themselves. Think about THEIR strokes, THEIR body position, THEIR timing, THEIR technique, etc. Channel the frustration into something productive. If you’re having problems motivating them because they’re not that into the sport, that’s tough. Rowing is one of those sports where the motivation has to inherent otherwise external motivation isn’t going to have an effect.

Remember, you are NOT their cheerleader. Motivating them is, in my opinion, about 2% of the role of coxswains. It’s miniscule. You’re there to give them feedback, to tell them what they’re doing right, what they’re doing wrong, how to improve, what needs to change, who needs to change it, where you’re at in the race, what the other crews are doing, what they need to do to hold off the other crews or walk on the crews ahead of them, etc. Being motivating doesn’t mean that you’re sugarcoating things or stroking their egos either – it means being brutally honest, no matter how much they might not want to hear what you’re saying, in the hopes that what you say lights a fire under their ass and gives them the push they need to do what needs to be done.

HOCR: My race plan

Coxing Racing

HOCR: My race plan

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Previously: Getting to the starting line || Steering through the bridges || Landmarks along the course || Steering around the turns || Race plans

This is the general race plan I’ll be using on Saturday for my race.

From starting line thru BU Bridge: High 20 + lengthen 10

Out of Magazine Beach to start Powerhouse: 10 to start the stretch, maybe another 10 if we’re close to another crew to try and make a move

River Street: 5 to jump on the top 1/4 of the slide

Western Ave: 5 to squeeze into the finish

Weeks Bridge: 5 out of the turn to lengthen back out, regain seconds in the flat

Anderson: 20 out of turn to lengthen back out, regain seconds in the flat

Before the start of the Eliot turn: Focus, get ready to go

Eliot: 20 under the bridge, driving for the Belmont-Winsor dock

Last turn: 10 if necessary (i.e. we’re close to another crew)

Start of the docks: 5 to build, sprint to the end

Stay up to date with future HOCR-related content by checking the “Head of the Charles” tag.

Image via // Navy Blazer Club
HOCR: Race plans

Coxing Racing

HOCR: Race plans

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Previously: Getting to the starting line || Steering through the bridges || Landmarks along the course || Steering around the turns

One of the most important things you can have during a race is a plan. Things might not necessarily go according to that plan, but at least you’ll have one. Creating race plans aren’t nearly as difficult as they sound and for races like Head of the Charles where you’ve got multiple landmarks to work off of, it’s relatively simple.

Related: Landmarks along the course

The first third of the race should focus on technique, the second third split between technique and motivation, and the last third all on motivating your rowers to pour everything they’ve got left into the last mile around around Eliot.

Pick out 3-5 landmarks throughout the course to do Power 5s, 10s, 20s, etc. at. and decide what those bursts will be for/what their purpose is.

Determine 2-3 spots that you’ll use specifically for “making a move”.

Develop a list of “special calls”, i.e. calls that resonate specifically with your crew.

Have a list of “stock calls” to use in between your bursts and special calls. These are your regular every day calls that shouldn’t take any effort to come up with.

Know your rower’s tendencies and what they want/need to hear so you can develop calls based around that.

Prior to racing, have a map of the course on hand so you can look at it and determine the best spots to do your bursts. Practice your plan when you go out before the race and make sure you share the plan with your rowers. On the way up tell them what the plan is, where you plan on executing your moves, and what your goals are.

Next up: My Head of the Charles race plan

Image via // @globetophrapher
HOCR: Steering around the turns

Coxing Racing

HOCR: Steering around the turns

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Previously: Getting to the starting line || Steering through the bridges || Landmarks along the course

Taking the turns on the HOCR course is all about setting yourself up right. If you position yourself properly as you enter the turn you’ll all but guarantee a smooth exit, thus taking a load of pressure off of you and ensuring your crew has it’s best possible shot at the next part of the course.

Alongside each photo (aka Google Maps screenshot) I’ve included a difficulty rating ranging from 1-5 based on my experience with the turns, which 1 being the easiest and 5 being the hardest. As of writing this post I’ve been coaching and coxing on the Charles for about six months so while I anticipate these turns becoming easier to steer over time, this is how I’m rating them given the limited amount of time I’ve spent on the river thus far. If HOCR is your first time on the Charles or you don’t row here on a regular basis, this should give you a good idea for what to expect.

Keep in mind too that the lines drawn below are not 100% accurate – they’re just there to give you a rough idea of where the buoy lines are vs. what your ideal course around the turns should like look. Buoy lines are marked by thin green or orange lines and the course line is a thick purple line.

Magazine Beach // Difficulty: 1

Coming around the turn through Magazine Beach there will be buoys marking the shallow areas along shore, as well as the area where the singles and doubles will launch from (SADL). This is a fairly wide turn, even if you hug the buoys, so you should be able to get around on the rudder with no trouble. If you take it TOO wide, then you might need to have the starboards power down and let your ports drive you around for 1-2 strokes.

Remember, as you finish the turn and come into the Powerhouse Stretch you want to be aiming for the center arches of River St. and Western Ave. Set yourself up for Magazine Beach so that when you come out, you can look directly through both of those arches.

Weeks Footbridge // Difficulty: 4

The trouble I’ve had with Weeks isn’t getting a good line or coming out right; it’s been knowing when to start turning. As you come out of Western Ave. you’ll want to start aiming for the blue tower of Lowell House.

You should be parallel-ish to the buoy line coming down the last part of the straightaway (you can be next to it but there’s no need to be right on top of it) and then as you pass “the turning tree”, that’s when you want to start going hard to port. Have your ports power down and tell the starboards to really lay into it. It should take anywhere from 3-7 strokes, depending on the strength of your crew. The goal is to be about 90% finished with your turn as you come under the bridge.

If you have a port stroked boat, your 2-seat’s oar should be THISCLOSE to the left abutment of the center arch at the end of the turn if you’ve executed it properly. When I’m steering the turn and think “OH SHIT, I’m gonna hit the bridge…”, that usually means I’ve done it right. If you experience that momentary second of panic, congrats, you just nailed Weeks (figuratively speaking … literally hitting it would be bad).

Anderson Bridge // Difficulty: 2

As long as you come out of Weeks with a point on the left abutment of the middle arch of Anderson this turn will be a piece of cake. 90% of this turn happens under the bridge and it should only take maybe 2-3 hard strokes from ports to swing your bow around before you even back out.

One thing that coxswains get fixated on is this idea that they have to take the inside of every single turn without giving any consideration as to how that’s going to effect their next turn. Anderson is one such turn where you want to be on the outside of it – if you split the center arch in half and designated the left side as the Boston side and the right side as the Cambridge side, you’d want to go under on the Boston side of the center arch. That’s going to give you an easier line to the inside of the turn around Eliot, whereas if you go through on the inside (the Cambridge side) you’re more likely to get pushed to the outside in front of Newell and it’ll take that much more work and steering to get over to the buoy line before the start of the Eliot turn.

As you come out of Anderson, be aware of where the buoys are – they will pull you off the straightest course so do not follow them as you come past Newell. The boathouse is set back into a little bay of it’s own and the buoys follow that bow in the river. Don’t let this fool you. Coming out of the turn you’ll want to pick up a point on the tall white apartment building at the start of the Eliot turn.

Eliot Bridge // Difficulty: 3-5

Eliot is a half-mile long turn whose difficulty is wholly dependent on how close you were able to get to the buoy line, your speed, and whether you’re coxing an eight or a four. In a four I’ve always been able to do the entire turn completely on the rudder but in an eight I always need to call on the rowers to adjust their pressure once we hit the apex of the turn. (On the map that would roughly be about where the Route 3 sign is on the Cambridge shore.)

Having the ports power down and the starboards hit it hard is key to making it around here – you cannot do it with extra starboard pressure while ports continue to row full pressure. I typically have the ports back off to about 3/4 pressure and the starboards take no more than five hard strokes as we come around the first part of the turn, even pressure for one or two, and then one or two more hard strokes to finish it off.  This may vary depending on your speed and position relative to the buoy line but there’s no need or reason why you should have your starboards pulling you around the entire turn.

Think of this turn like an exit ramp off the highway. The faster you’re going coming into it, the harder you have to break to get around the turn without flipping your car. If you coast into a 25mph exit at 30mph, you’ll be fine coming around with minimal braking. If you take it at 45mph though, you’re going to have to hit the brakes before you make the big turn. Analyze your crew’s speed ahead of time to see what you need to do and if you have the opportunity, practice practice practice how you plan to take this turn.

As you’re coming around the turn, you want to set yourself up so that as you look through the bridge you’re pointed diagonally towards the far corner of the Winsor-Belmont Hill dock along the Cambridge shore. Note that if and when possible, the ideal course through this bridge is to enter it on the left side of the center arch and exit it on the right side. 

Final turn // Difficulty: 1.5

As just mentioned, coming out of Eliot you’ll want to be pointed at the far corner of the Winsor-Belmont Hill dock. Grabbing the inside of this turn is key to saving 8-10 seconds (at least) on your final time. It’s recommended to get your riggers over the buoys if you can or at the very least, your oars (but not your hull because that’ll be a 10 second penalty). Depending on how many crews are around you, it might beneficial (and safer) if you hold off for a stroke or two before shooting for that line. Once it’s open, take it.

This final turn is to starboard and can easily be done on the rudder with no additional pressure from the ports. There are no buoys on the inside after that last turn so you can get as close to shore as you want. Be careful of debris and low hanging trees though. When you start to see the river bowing to starboard, do not follow the shoreline – you want to hold a straight course and aim for the two yellow buoys that mark the finish line. It’s going to feel like you’re coming out towards the middle but you’re not so don’t let this throw you off. Once you’ve got your point set on the finish the only thing left to do is haul ass across the line.

Next up: Head of the Charles race plans

Image via // @outside_the_cavern
HOCR: Landmarks along the course

Coxing Racing

HOCR: Landmarks along the course

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Previously: Getting to the starting line || Steering through the bridges

When I’m coxing, I like to look for distinctive landmarks along the course that will remind me how far in we are or serve as good spots to take some power strokes. They’re also important to know so that you can tell your crew where you are. This saves them from having to look out of the boat to see where you’re at but also gives you something beneficial to say in between everything else you’re saying. Head of the Charles is 3.2 miles long, which means anywhere from 15 to 22 minutes of nonstop talking from you, the coxswain. Instead of repeating the same stuff over and over,  you can give them geographical information based on the landmarks along the course.

When you don’t know what to say, default to telling the crew where they are. Distance, rate, and time are the three things you should tell them on a consistent basis but when you’re doing a head race, location relative to the various landmarks can/should be added to that list.

Here’s the list of landmarks on the Charles in the order you’ll pass them.

Next up: Steering around the turns