If you haven’t seen the newest coxswain recordings post, go check it out. There are only two this time around but they’re both really good ones that I know you’ll like. One is from the University of Washington in 2012 and one’s from the Crew Classic in 2003. Also, if you haven’t read the post on keeping a notebook yet go read it too. I tried to answer some of the common questions I get as well as a couple that you guys have asked over the last few weeks.

Lots of fun stuff is happening in the next couple weeks that I am really excited about (on the blog and in real life). In addition to all that, with summer coming to an end I’ll also be transitioning out of “summer mode” and getting back to posting regularly – yay. Notebook stuff will go up next Tuesday, new recordings post on Thursday … I forget about what’s scheduled for the following week but since school’s starting soon I’m pretty sure it’s geared towards novice coxswains. If there’s anything you want me to post though, feel free to send me your ideas. I don’t have any problems bumping the stuff I’ve already written for your guys’ requests.

So after procrastinating on writing this post for almost two years a really long time, I’ve finally started working on putting together a thing on notebooks. I know I’ve talked about stuff here and there but there’s just so much I could talk about that I think I’ve just been too overwhelmed by trying to put it all together that I just keep pushing it aside entirely. I got an email asking if I could do a post on them though so I guess the time’s finally come to get it done.

Some requests for things to talk about so far include how to organize everything, what to write down, how to keep a notebook when you can’t immediately write down everything you’re seeing (like if you were on the launch or something), how to use it for race prep, etc. If there’s anything you guys want me to talk about (or if you’ve got any tips, advice, etc. that you want to share) send me an email or comment down below.

Yesterday the blog crossed 450,000 hits, which I’m pretty excited about. Last June it hit 100,000 hits after eight-ish months of existence and in the year since then it’s gotten 350,000+. How cool is that? New mini-goal: 500,000 by October 1st (RAR’s 2nd birthday!).

Is it freaking anyone else out that next Friday is August 1st? Where has the summer/year gone?!

Posted some new recordings from IRAs, Stotes, and Dad Vail yesterday – you can see them and all the other ones I’ve shared under the “coxswain recordings” tab up at the top of the page.

I found out yesterday that a some emails I’d received that included audio attachments were marked as spam so if you emailed me anytime between late May and 2-3 weeks ago and haven’t gotten a reply from me … that’s why. I’ll be going through those this weekend and replying to them so keep an eye out for that.

This week’s playlist is very #murica/#freedom-themed, in case you need a 4th of July playlist.

I got a great question earlier this week about if it was important for coxswains to have time rowing on the water and I’m curious to know what you guys think. As I said in that post, I’ve briefly touched on that topic in the past but I don’t think I’ve ever explained my thought process in that much detail before. This is just another thing that, in an ideal world, I’d love to see coaches start implementing into their programs as a way to help coxswains get up to speed. Then again, I’d also like people to stop asking me if I’m the short kid that yells “stroke, stroke, stroke”…

You might notice the playlist looks a little different. I finally caved and decided to start making them in Spotify. I’ve held off for a while because there are tons of great songs and remixes on YouTube that aren’t on Spotify but convenience has finally won me over. Plus people asked me to make a Spotify account so they could play the playlists from the app while they’re erging or working out so I figured why not. I’ll spend some time over the next few weeks going through the previous playlist posts and updating them with the new Spotify playlists, but in the meantime feel free to follow me over there!