Tag: race management

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 35

By readyallrow February 16, 2016

Something I really like about these recordings is how sitcom-y they feel. You know how in any show things start off fine and then something happens but then at the end things are good again, if not better? That’s what these pieces are like – the first one was alright, the second piece not great, and the third is where they make some changes and it all comes together. We’ve all had practices like that but this is the first set of recordings I’ve come across where you can actually hear and feel how the pieces ebb and flow throughout the practice. If you struggle with how to call practice pieces (i.e. how to find that balance between race-coxing and still maintaining a technical focus), you should definitely make time to check these out and take notes.

University of Washington 3x1500m, Piece #1

At the beginning I like when the coach (Bob Ernst, I think … this would have been his last season with the men before switching to the women’s team) says “try not to make it a tug of war with the upper bodies”. When the water’s not great or there’s a headwind it’s easy to fall into the trap of pulling more than you’re pushing and it can be tough to come up with a way to communicate that (that’s not the same played out “make sure we’re driving with the legs” calls…) so I like the tug-of-war analogy there.

Throughout these pieces you’ll hear Katelin talk a lot about the rate and where to bring it up (the drive) and bring it down (the recovery). If you’re trying to take it up, “a beat through the drive” is the simplest, most straightforward way to communicate that and avoid creating a lot of rush on the recovery. The “through” part of it is kinda crucial too because you want the crew to be accelerating from catch to finish and “through” says that without you having to throw in a bunch of extra words and make the command longer than necessary.

It’s not until they’re sixty seconds into the piece that she first mentions the other crew … and only to say that the other coxswain is taking a move but they’re walking on him as he does it. The next time she mentions them (thirty seconds later) is when she says they’re gonna take a move when she’s next to their bow man … but the move isn’t for the other boat (i.e. to take another seat, get the bow ball, etc.), it’s for them (five for timing, five for the legs) and that is one of the key things about calling pieces in practice like this. Are you “racing” the other boat? Yea sure, but you’ve gotta get your own shit together first if you want to actually be able to race the other boats like you would other crews during an actual race.

She does a really good job of telling the crew where they are and what she wants while keeping the atmosphere calm and focused. They’re racing but she’s keeping them more in tune with what’s happening in their boat instead of constantly calling out the other crew and ignoring the technical issues that you hear her making calls for. THIS is one of those key things that, as a coxswain, the sooner you get it the better – she could have just called this like a normal race and made a third of the technical calls she’s making and the crew might have still finished ahead … but at the end of the day they wouldn’t be any faster. Because of the technical calls she’s making and the way she’s incorporating them into her race strategy, she made them faster that day by being relentless about holding the crew accountable for their strokes. (And now she’s coxing the national team so take from that what you want.)

At around 4:10 you can hear her stroke or 7-seat say “let’s open it up … open water” and then the next series of calls she makes is that ten to get some separation between the two crews. THREE MINUTES AFTER THE START OF THE PIECE and that’s when her boat starts to really race the other one. THREE MINUTES. THREEEE. MINUTESSSS. Her tone intensifies, her calls intensify, and the focus has clearly shifted to walking away. I also really like the call “do not get up and sit up” call she makes towards the end of the ten. They’re not being walked on (yet) but they’re also not walking away either … in that situation they’re the easier target.

6:41 is probably one of my favorite “speeches” I’ve heard a coxswain make in awhile. A lot of coxswains are … for some reason … afraid to say shit like this to their crews but sometimes you really do just need to get on them and say it’s really fucking unacceptable that we – WE – let this happen. This is also a perfect example of the difference between being a bitch and being authoritative and really reiterates the point I was trying to make in the post linked below from November. Next time someone tells you to “be more bitchy” when you’re coxing, this is what they want you to do.

Related: The Bitch in the Boat

University of Washington 3x1500m, Piece #2

The tone of this piece is a little different because they lost a length at the end of the last piece so they’re fired up and planning on going hard right off the line to match the other boat. Spoiler alert, this backfires. Now don’t get me wrong, I love that she says “we’re not waiting to make the move” (that’s a great call, especially for situations like this) but as the piece goes on you can hear how that mindset, while good in theory, probably contributed to a lot of the slide control issues they experience. I don’t think you need to spend three minutes waiting to get into race mode on every single piece but at the very least you do have to establish your in-boat presence first (whether that takes ten strokes or two minutes, whatever) before your focus shifts to walking on or away.

At 3:44, I like how she splits up this ten. A lot of coxswains, particularly younger, less experienced ones, will call for a ten and then trail off midway through because whatever they called for didn’t actually need to be ten strokes long whereas here, she calls for a ten but it’s actually two fives that are focused on timing at both the front and back ends of the stroke. This is a much more effective way of matching up the timing without saying “move together”, “watch stroke seat’s blade”, “ten for catch timing”, etc.

Related: All about Power 10s

At 5:11 you can hear her stroke seat yell out “get long, get longer!” and then the next set of calls she makes after she finishes the ten are for length on the slides. Normally if my stroke says something to me or yells something out to the boat when I’m calling a ten (it’s always during bursts) it knocks me out of my bubble for a second and I’ll stutter on the next call because it’s like “wait, what just happened?” … I hate that. I can’t tell if that rattled her focus or not (which is good, obviously) but even if it did, she did a great job of finishing up the ten and then immediately incorporating in calls to reiterate what her stroke said. This is another thing you should talk about with regards to communicating with your stroke. I’m OK with my stroke talking to me (as you hear her stroke doing throughout the pieces) or occasionally yelling things out to the boat but one of the few no-no’s I have is if I’m calling a burst, don’t say anything until we’re done because I just go into a zone when I call those 10s and 20s and them saying something just jolts me out of it. If you don’t like your stroke yelling out to the boat or talking to you when you’re calling 10s or whatever else, make sure you have a conversation with them about that off the water.

Her point at the end about it not being a big deal if they get up a couple seats applies to pretty much any situation with any boat ever. A few seats isn’t a death sentence so long as you regroup and focus your energy through the drive and not on trying to get to the catch faster just so you can get your blade wet again.

University of Washington 3x1500m, Piece #3

Her stroke makes a good point at the beginning about it being the same number of strokes and that they just need to get longer on each one. If you’ve ever done those “how far can you go in X number of strokes” pieces then you’ll get what he’s saying. The crew that controls the slides and accelerates the handles on each stroke is going to be the one that covers more ground and does so more effectively, not the crew that is rowing at the same stroke rate but has lost their ratio in the process.

Compared to the previous piece, you can hear the difference in her tone at the beginning here. It’s pretty similar to those pieces from the last set of recordings where the stakes are high but you know that she knows that the key to her crew’s bow ball being in front at the end is staying calm, focused, and loose right from the start.

At 2:11, that’s the kind of positive reinforcement you should put out there when your crew does something well, particularly the “nice fucking response, that’s the way to get it done” part. Obviously you don’t have to say it exactly like that but you can’t deny that just hearing “nice response” would probably make you sit a little taller and push a little harder on the subsequent strokes. (Also another example of swearing with a purpose.)

2:52, “let ’em know it’s over” … this is one that I would save for just the opportune moment – it’s one of those afterburners calls that just reignites the fire at the end of a piece. I distinctly remember using this call once during a similar workout where we’d been sitting on the other boat for probably 5-7 strokes after having walked up on them about half a length on our previous move to get almost even (we were maybe half a seat to a seat back).This was a crew I knew we could beat (I was in the 2V and we’d been evenly matched with our 1V on the ergs and the water for pretty much the whole season) and I could tell the other crew was getting comfortable with us being beside them, to the point where they thought we were starting to fall apart because our progress on them had stalled. I heard the other coxswain say something to the effect of “show them why YOU’RE the 1V” and my stroke said “fuck that, let’s go” so I called a ten and made the “let ’em know it’s over, go now” call. We ended up finishing two seats up and me, my stroke seat, seven seat, and three seat all got switched into the 1V.

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

College Coxing Racing Recordings Rowing

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 34

By readyallrow January 28, 2016

As most of you know I got to coach at the coxswain camp that Sparks hosted in Tampa the week after Christmas. One of the other coaches was Katelin Snyder, current coxswain of the USA women’s eight, and she graciously offered to send me a bunch of her recordings to put on the blog. I’ve been obsessing over these things for the last week so I’m really excited to finally share some of them with you guys. The three I’m posting today are all in a playlist on my YouTube channel that I’ll keep updated as I share more of her audio in future posts.

University of Washington Opening Day 2008 vs. Navy and Poland

This is from Katelin’s junior year at UW, her second year in a row coxing the varsity eight.

Right off the bat you can hear how she calls the start isn’t like how a lot of coxswains call it. There’s some punch behind her words but for the most part she’s very calm and relaxed. One of the big concepts that we’ve talked about with coxswains at the Sparks camps is not losing your shit at the start of the race and instead remaining composed and keeping your focus on steering straight through the first five or so strokes. This is a perfect example of what that should sound like.

At 0:45, I really like how she called their stride – “we’re striding in three strokes, increasing boat speed in two…”. She says what she wants (stride) followed up with an objective (increasing boat speed), and says it all as succinctly as possible.

When calling something like a minute move like she did at 1:17, it’s easy to think that in 60 seconds you can take a handful of seats on the other boat(s) but I like that she kept it simple here by going after just one seat and calling out the guy in her boat whose seat they were targeting (and then told him when they’d got it).

In between her calling “inches” you can hear her stroke say “length!” at 4:13, which she immediately follows up with on the next call by calling for more length through the water. That’s a fairly common question that I get, how to communicate with your stroke during the race and this is a good example of how simple it really is.

University of Washington vs. California 2009 Duel

OK, so for some context watch this video of the race that was taken from the launch. Turn your volume up too and prepare yourself for the single greatest move that I think I’ve ever seen at 1:41. (TBH I’m kind of excited to hear from inside the boat how this move played out because we saw Washington do something similar several times at IRAs last year, including when they were in our race in the V4+, so … it’s nice having some insider knowledge now of how they do it.)

I really like the “lengthen and increase boat speed” call she makes out of the start at 0:40 as a reminder to not let the power fall off as the stroke rate starts to ease out into their base pace. Also saying “hold the knees” instead of something related to the slides is a good alternative; it’s a more active call than just “slow the slides” or whatever we normally say.

I like that they take their move at 650m in. Calling moves at the 500m, 1000m, etc. is fine but these moves taken at relatively unconventional spots are what gets your bow ball in front. Starting at 1:52, I’m obsessed with this chunk of calls, particularly the “get outta here!” one. I’ve looped it so many times because even without watching the video, I can feel California’s souls getting crushed and as a coxswain there are few better feelings than seeing that moment when the other crew realizes they’re about to get dropped. After you make a successful move on another crew, the next thing you have to do is watch them for the counter attack because it will happen and you don’t want to be caught off guard when it does. I like how she stays calm at 2:25 and reminds them to defend it by completing the strokes (nothing fancy, just relying on flawless execution of the basics) before calling that ten at the thousand to “end it”.

Lengthening out at 1250m is a really solid strategic move. It’s not necessarily a move to gain anything, rather it’s an internal move to get the bodies ready for the last 500m. By 1250m – the middle of the third 500 – this is probably the peak of pain before the rowers catch that second wind leading up to the sprint. Reminding them to breathe, stay long, etc. eliminates any tension that could otherwise shorten the strokes and decrease the boat speed.

At 3:55 you can hear the stroke say “They’re going!”, which is Reason #875 why stroke-coxswain communication is important. If you’re far enough ahead that you don’t have a clear view of the other boat in your peripheral vision, you’ll need to rely on your stroke seat to alert you to when the other boat starts to move on you.

Team USA Women’s 8+ 2010 World Cup III Heat

This is my favorite of these three recordings. Note how, similarly to the other two recordings, she has a very focused calm in her voice during the start. It isn’t until about 60 seconds into the race where her coxing voice really comes out.

At 4:48 when they’re approaching 750m she makes this call: “…5 more and we lengthen back out. I wanna do it by sending … now send through the back end.” Similarly to the “lengthen and increase boat speed” calls, I like this one because the objectives are clear and she’s calling for them to do it by calling on her knowledge of the stroke and by emphasizing their swing and acceleration (which if that’s something you know your crew does really well, you should incorporate that into calls like this and work the rhythm that comes from it). I also love how her voice is pretty chill at the start of this and then there’s that kick in her voice when she says “fuck yea” – the excitement there is motivating in itself but the contrast in her tone would for sure make me drop a split or two if I were rowing.

Similarly to the lengthen move at 1250m in the previous recording, I like this “breathe for 5” move that they take at 6:45 coming into the last 500m. This has always been one that I do too with my crews just as another way to get them to stay fluid and loose and refocus before we make the final push to the line. The thing to remember with calls like this (that Katelin does really well) is you have to match your tone to the intensity of your call – a call like this can’t be said in the same tone as the “we’re gonna send a fucking message to Canada” call.

Side note, one of the many amusing stories that the guys told me last year about our V8+ coxswain was how during a race he was trying to get the crew to relax and because he was getting progressively more frustrated with how the boat felt, eventually he yelled “JUST. FUCKING. RELAX!!!” which obviously accomplished absolutely nothing. Don’t do that. If you’re gonna make a call that falls under the “relax” umbrella, your tone has to be a little more subdued that it is during the more intense parts of the race.

One last thing I want to point out is the swearing, which I’ve talked about on here a few times (most recently in this post). These recordings are some more good examples of how to swear and how to make it work without sounding like a try-hard. If you’re a junior coxswain and even less so as a collegiate coxswain, very few people are ever going to actually care that you said “fuck” during a race if you use it to punctuate your calls like she does. It’s when it gets gratuitous that coaches get annoyed because it’s just unnecessary and can be borderline unsportsmanlike.

Other calls I liked:

“Hold your momentum…”

“Third 500 is crushing … base … speed!”

“We’re gonna send a fucking message to Canada!”

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

College Coxing Racing

Coxswain recordings, pt. 33

By readyallrow December 17, 2015

University of Washington 2012 Windermere Cup Men’s open 8+

I realized after uploading this that I think I labeled the video incorrectly – rather than the varsity eight race I think it’s actually the men’s open eight since “Western” is Western Washington and they weren’t in the V8+ race.

Starting at 0:22, I like this series of quick calls (“now build it and here we go, get on it now…”) right before they start their high strokes. It’s a good alternative to not calling the first four or five stokes if you’re not into that kinda thing.

“One seat up, that’s fine…” Compare his call of “one seat up, that’s fine” at 0:59 to what a lot of coxswains do – “200m in, we’re one seat up, by 250m I wanna be on their bow ball, power 10!” – and it’s not hard to see why I like this, not just for what he says but for how he says it. If you’ve established your rhythm, are taking tight, clean strokes, the boat feels good, etc. then ride that and use it to your advantage for as long as you can, regardless of whether you’re up one seat or down three seats.

If you watch the time on the video, you’ll notice that 200m to 300m and 300m to 400m only took them roughly 20 seconds per 100m. That’s a little over 11mph (18km/hr). For comparison, Germany rowed the first 500m of the final in London at just over 13mph (21km/hr). I stopped paying attention to this after awhile but in the first third of the recording you’ll hear him call 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, 600m, 750m, etc. While he’s probably rowed on the Montlake Cut long enough to know where each 100m mark is along shore, another way you can tell your crew where you are is by paying attention to the times. If during practice you’re pulling similar splits during pieces to what you’re pulling during your race then you’ll be able to guesstimate that each 100m is taking you roughly X seconds. This in turn means that even if there aren’t markers along shore telling you where you are, you can make a good guess based on what the clock on your cox box is saying.

At the 500m, I like the “five to set the swing” they took. Especially after the first 500m, which can tend to be a little frantic, it’s always good to take a couple strokes to re-establish that long, smooth stroke that you wanna maintain throughout the bulk of the race. Making focus-specific calls like he did here for swing is also important, especially when your busts are short like this one was. I liked the “good swing through the back” one the best.

Overall, this was a really well-coxed piece. What I really liked and what you should be taking away is how there was a good balance of everything a coxswain should be focused on during a race – position on the course, position on other crews, splits (if you’ve got a SpeedCoach), technique (maintaining a balance between general calls and calls for individuals when necessary), etc. His voice is great too – calm at times, in your face other times, but intense as hell from start to finish.

Other calls I liked:

“Hands up to the front bow six, we want no missed water…”

“Keep walking away, give them nothing…”

“Curb stomp the shit out of ’em…”

“We’re comin’ into the Cut, it’s Husky territory now, show ’em a hell of a race…”

“With the push…”, with regards to the leg drive. “On the legs” can get old after awhile so I like this as an alternative.

Gainesville Area Rowing Women’s Varsity 8+ Steady State + Docking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF9505cWYpI&feature=youtu.be

So this video is of an eight minute steady-state progression starting at rate 20 and finishing at a 26. At the start of the piece it takes a few strokes to find that long 20spm (during the 5+10) so going forward what I would do in that situation is try to hit the rates just like I would during a race, which means calling it the same, giving the same instructions, etc. (albeit minus the intensity of a race – her tone here was perfect for what they were doing), that way if you have to do something similar during an actual piece you’ll already know what to say to get them to respond (and in turn, they’ll know what they need to do).

That means telling them to hit it the rate “on this one”, making rate-specific calls such as “lengthen out a beat here”, etc. If you’re doing 5 to build or something similar then you’ve gotta communicate with your stroke beforehand and say “we’re at an 16 right now and we’re doing a long build into a 20, all you’ve gotta do is hit half a beat each stroke and we’ll be good”. From there, as long as you’re in the 19.5 – 20.5 spm range, you’re fine. Particularly at the junior level it’s unlikely that you’re going to be right on your desired rate every single stroke so going with a tight range like this gives you some wiggle room and prevents you from having to say the stroke rate every stroke to try to get it exactly on a 20.

This applies to all the other transitions too. Instead of saying “OK let’s take it to a 24 … 22.5, 22.5, 22.5, 22.5, 23.5, 23.5, 23.5, 24…” just say “OK we’re at a 22, let’s hit that 24 in one stroke with the legs … on this one, leeegs, good 24…”. Or, if you’re doing a long build again (which I think they did going from the 22 to a 24), instead of saying the rate on every stroke and nothing else, say something like “OK we’re gonna take another long build into this 24, let’s make sure we’re staying controlled, finding our length, and moving right with stern pair. Ready to go … on this one, that’s 1 through the water, 2 23, 3 controool here, 4 let’s hit that 24 … on this one, boom send…good, right on rate.”.

One of the things I think she did well was build her tone/intensity across the duration of the piece. It drives me crazy to hear one-note coxswains cox pieces like this because they never do anything different with their voice. If the rate and pressure is going up, by default so should your tone/intensity.

I love how she docked too. Good job giving them instructions and telling them what to do every step of the way. Novices in particular, take note – this was a pretty good example of how to bring it in at the end of practice.

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

Coxing Drills Racing Rowing Technique

The Language of the First 500

By readyallrow March 24, 2015

A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to go to the What Works Summit that’s hosted each year by the IRL program at CRI. The theme this year was “The First 500” and each speaker created a presentation that related in some way to that theme. For the most part I’m writing everything below as it is in my notes so while I’ve completed some of the thoughts, some of it is still in shorthand.

The first presentation I went to was given by Yaz Farooq, current head coach of Stanford’s women’s program and former national team coxswain in the 90s. She spoke on “the language of the first 500”, managing the transition strokes, and knowing how to balance focusing on your speed and communicating your position relative to the other crews.

Breaking down the start from a language perspective

What does the start look like and what are it’s core components?

Start sequence to get out of the blocks → high stroke sequence → lengthen → lengthen again to base

The first lengthen is what you might know as the “settle” but as Yaz said, most programs are starting to move away from calling it that and instead are focusing more on calling it the “lengthen” or the “sub-lengthen”. The thought behind this is you’re not really settling so much as you’re trying to maintain as much boat speed as possible while transitioning to a more sustainable pace. It’s one of those subtle changes in language that, in theory, has a more positive effect on the psychology of the crew. (Regardless of whether you use “lengthen” or “settle” though, pick one and stick with it.)

How do you break it all up?

Based on strengths/weaknesses of the team, how well they handle the high strokes (i.e. how efficient they are at high rates), and how powerful they are.

Scripting out the starting sequence

First and most importantly, have a plan and map it out. This is the only area of the race that is really worth scripting (in addition to maybe the sprint depending on how your team approaches it).

How many strokes do you need to get off the line, how many high, how many to lengthen, how many base, etc.

Assign key words – these are things the coxswain would say to reinforce the rhythm and make sure it’s as effective as it can be. They key here is to have technical themes assigned, possibly emotional or philosophical themes based on team beliefs that the crew can lock into. Instill these themes throughout practice so coxswains can set up attacks with key words/phrases that reference each theme (without monologuing). Having key words/phrases attached to each theme results in no confusion and everything is clear because it’s been practiced daily.

When possible, reinforce the rhythm with your voice to support it and/or get it to where it needs to go. For a standard five stroke starting sequence (1/2, 1/2, 3/4, full, full):

Squeeze, direct, build, lengthen, full

Grip, lock, lock, lengthen, full

Complete, direct, grip, lengthen, full

Drills to work on the start

These drills, if done with multiple crews, should be done leapfrog style so each crew can watch/cheer for each other. Remember to be patient when something isn’t working. Talk it out with your crew until you find what works for you. I always talk with my stern pair first when something doesn’t work but it’s important to make sure you talk with the entire crew and consider/incorporate everyone’s feedback into whatever changes you make.

Stroke-by-stroke start drill

The goal is to perfect the sequence and bladework.

First stroke done from a dead stop.

Stroke 1 + 2 done from a pause.

Strokes 1 + 2 + 3 done from a pause.

First five done from a pause.

First ten done from a dead stop.

The first stroke is heavy but you get to keep perfecting it and improving the strokes by doing them one at a time and building up through the entire sequence.

Example: If your start is the standard “half, half, three-quarters, lengthen, full” followed by high strokes…

Half stroke done from a dead stop. When this stroke is done, pause at half slide. Hold the pause long enough for the crew to collect themselves and the boat to set up but don’t hold it forever. Two seconds or so max.

Half, half done from a pause. Again, pause at half slide when finished.

Half, half, three-quarters from a pause. Again, pause at half slide when finished.

Half, half, three-quarters, lengthen, full from a pause. Let it run when finished, balance the boat, weigh enough, and check it down.

Half, half, three-quarters, lengthen, full + first five high strokes from a dead stop. Let it run when finished, balance the boat, and weigh enough.

4-6-8 drill

Starts are done by 4s, 6s, and all 8. Goal is to learn how to use your legs and complete each stroke. The boat is heavier when rowing by 4s and 6s so you don’t want to wail on the oar right away otherwise you won’t be able to hold on to the water and ultimately your strokes will be short and ineffective.

Example:

Stern 4 goes through the starting sequence (just the first five strokes). When finished, let it run, weight enough, and check it down.

Bow 4 ” “

Stern 6 ” “

Bow 6 ” “

All 8 ” “

Square blade starts

Goal is to complete the strokes. Can do the entire starting sequence straight through or do each stroke individually as with the stroke-by-stroke start drill. Best to start off stroke-by-stroke and then progress to doing them straight through the further into the season/more experienced you get.

Striking a balance between speed + rhythm and position

Ultimately what you’re shooting for (as the coxswain) is striking the right balance between getting your crew off the line effectively and letting them know where they are relative to other crews.

How much time do we spend focusing on boat speed/rhythm and how much on when/how to communicate the crew’s position?

It depends on the team and skills of the coxswain. If it’s the early part of the season or your coxswain is a novice, focus solely on execution. This may evolve throughout the season though.

Example: At the beginning of the season, Stanford coxswains don’t tell positions until they lengthen to base so everyone can focus on nuances of each phase of the start. By NCAAs the coxswains will communicate as much info as they feel is relevant at the time but the focus remains on the execution of each phase of the start.

Managing the transition strokes

The goal when transitioning from your starting pace to base pace is to maintain boat speed and keep the intensity on while getting the rating down to a more sustainable number. One of the most important parts of managing the transition strokes efficiently and effectively is to set them up and call them consistently. Find a set of calls that work for you, your crew, and what you’re trying to accomplish and then stick with it.

The “traditional” thing to do when calling transition strokes was to lengthen in one beat but now it’s becoming more common to transition over 3-5 strokes depending on how much the rate is coming down. A good habit for coxswains to get into is to say the rate as you’re lengthening, especially early on in the season. (This isn’t as necessary as the season progresses but ultimately it’s dependent on what the crew wants/needs. Personally I think it’s something that’s important to do regardless of what part of the season you’re in but it all goes back to what will help the crew the most.)

Good calls for this part of the start are “push the spacing” or “push the puddles” because it’s something the rowers can both feel and see.

Practice the transitional cues during practice so when anxiety takes over (during their first big race, at the national championships, etc.) you can use those calls as a fall back that they can rely on to be part of your plan in order to get everyone focused in on the same thing and moving/transitioning together.

Make it clear to the crew that they have to establish a solid base rhythm before the coxswain tells them where they are, that way they’re not tempted to rush the transition to base just to find out where they are. It’s important for the coxswain to reinforce and make sure they get to a sustainable base rhythm that mimics what you’ve practiced and worked on so the crew’s not distracted. You’ve got to establish the rhythm before relaying information, not the other way around because otherwise it becomes about the other crew and the people in your boat/their rowing gets frantic.

What should you look for when looking for a “solid base rhythm”?

When you practice your base rate during practice the rowers would know to a certain extent how it should feel based on the coach and coxswain’s feedback. This includes hitting a certain split (i.e. your “sweet spot” when everything just seems to naturally fall into place and come together), feeling like you’re able to get to full slide (coxswains, this is where it’s important to communicate with your stern pair so you can find out if this is happening or not), the stroke is leading the rhythm and everyone else is following and supporting it (again, talk with your stroke…), each end of the stroke is clean, and the rhythm has that “swing” feel to it rather than a “back and forth” rhythm.

Image via // @ryanjnicholsonphoto

Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 27

By readyallrow December 23, 2014

Chelsea Lucas 2008 Junior World Championships Team USA W8+ Grand Final

If this recording doesn’t give you goosebumps, check your pulse. This is one of the best recordings out there because it checks all the boxes – execution of the race plan, tone of voice, communication with the crew, etc. She does such a good job of telling them their location on the other crews throughout the race, specifically where they are seat-wise. The rowers could be blindfolded the entire race and still know exactly where they are – that’s what you want!

Once they get out of the start and settle into their base rhythm she shifts her down to a more relaxed tone (still intense, still focused, just a little more chill) but at 2:07 you can sense it starting to shift back up before she hits you with that next level of intensity at 2:14. She demonstrates a lot of vocal control through those first two minutes, which is definitely something worth practicing since that can be a hard part of the race for coxswains to maintain their composure in. As they start walking through crews she continues to do a really good job of telling them they’re moving and by how much with each stroke.

At 3:09 she calls for five to use the hips and then says “hips five, hips four…”, which is a good example of what I’ve talked about in the past with regards to knowing when during the stroke to say the numbers (if you say them). “Hips” is obviously a front end call since you’re engaging your hips at the catch as your press through the drive, thus it wouldn’t make sense to stick with the regular convention of calling the numbers at the catch, which is why she flips to calling them at the finish. Also, notice how all of her calls are “let’s”, “we”, etc.?

Another thing I’ve talked about a lot recently is motivational calls. “Make them remember this” at 3:51 is a great example of a good motivational call. (Her tone building into that call is flawless too.) Notice too how they’re progressively walking through Germany and up on Romania? She’s constantly telling them their position, which is also hugely motivating, especially in races that are tight like this one is. Even though there isn’t video of this race, you, the person listening, should still easily be able to plot out where the United States, Germany, Romania, etc. are based entirely on the positional updates she’s giving her boat. If you can get excited about where they started vs. where they’re at now just based off of listening to her calls, imagine what it’s like for the rowers who are actually in the boat. They don’t have to worry about where they’re at or what’s going on around them, all they’ve gotta do is focus on one thing, which is moving the boat and that is one of the most motivating things a coxswain can do for their crew.

We gotta talk about 4:44 too … if that isn’t the most motivating, most savage fucking call you’ve ever heard, what is?? There’s a reason why you hear so many coxswains nowadays use that and say it the exact same way.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll realize that between the start of the race and 5:10 they went from being 4 seats down on Romania to 5.5 seats up, which makes her call of “we’re 500m away from a world championship” at 5:10 so much more epic. Another example of a brutally motivational call. This is one of the ones you keep in your back pocket though for the big races – we’re talking grand finals at IRAs, last 250m at Henley, etc.

The ending is crazy frantic but it’s the right kind of frantic. It’s energetic, it’s electric, it’s just … hard to put into words. If you’ve been in a race like this then you know you can’t really describe it because even though you’re 100% in the moment as it’s all happening, as soon as you come off the water you’re like … what just happened??? Anyways, this is just a great recording and one of the very few that falls under the “gold standard” umbrella. Definitely a lot to be taken away from it and incorporated into your own coxing.

Other calls I liked:

“Lay it on…”

“Let’s close this gap, baby…”

“Stand up!“

“This one’s gonna be close guys, time to sit up and show ’em who we are…”

Steve Young USA Men’s 8+ Practice

This is a super short recording from inside the USA men’s 8+ during one of their steady state practices in the lead up to the 2013 World Cup. Right off the bat I love the “find that confident finish” call and how he immediately responds to the coach telling them to go to 3/4 pressure. How he builds into that 18 – “three quarter press 18, we’ll come up one beat … on this one” – is exactly how you wanna call a shift in rate, not just in terms of response time between when the coach calls it and when you actually do it but also in how he communicates it. Very succinct, no extraneous words, just where they’re at and where they wanna go.

The other call I like is the “long arm stretch” call near the end. I think that’s a good basic call to make to remind the rowers to get the arms out first before swinging over with the bodies.

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

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow November 18, 2014

Hi, this is a great resource, thanks for devoting so much time to it. I’m coxing a 5km head race in the UK in a couple of weeks. I’ve raced it before, and am feeling quite confident. One thing I’m unsure of is how best to call the end of a power twenty. Our race plan is to push for twenty at the end of each kilometre. I don’t want to call down pressure at the end of the push, to avoid a sharp drop off in boatspeed, but neither do I want not to call anything, and have my crew pushing for longer than the twenty I’ve asked for. Any help you could offer would be great – thanks!

My suggestion is to not aim to call a “power” 20 at the end of each kilometer, rather call it for something and don’t necessarily make everything 20 strokes. During HOCR this year, which is also about 5km, I only called one 20 and it was at the start of the last kilometer.

At this point it’s very rare that I actually call something for straight power but when I do I remind them to maintain this as soon as we finish the burst, usually in the form of “yea that’s it, now let’s maintain it, we’re sitting at 1:46 right now, stay on it with the legs and accelerate through the water…” and then I go right into calling a couple strokes for acceleration, giving them position updates, and coxing them like normal. It’s not like I’m calling the end of the burst and then completely falling off with my calls, tone, volume, etc. If you do that then yea, there will be a sharp drop off in speed but if you maintain your voice and immediately jump into like what I said up above then you’re more likely to, you know, actually maintain whatever you just did. If the crew is falling off with pressure immediately after then a) you’re not doing your job, b) their endurance is awful, and c) someone needs to clue them in on the concepts of pacing and flying-and-dying.

As far as having your crew pushing for longer than the twenty you asked for … the phrasing of that is bugging me. I really can’t put my finger on which exactly of the five reasons I’ve come up with for why it’s bugging me but there’s something about how you said that that’s just … off. I’m probably/definitely over-analyzing this but just keep in mind that they should be pushing themselves regardless of what you’re saying and you shouldn’t be calling them up or down. Whenever coxswains say stuff like that I imagine them coxing the race like they’re on a roller coaster, going up and down with the pressure and their voice and whatever else and it makes me wonder how they can possibly think that that’s effective.

If you continuously call for 20s to push (and I’m going with the standard definition of pushing in this context to mean “more pressure”) then you will be coxing a roller coaster race and it’s not effective because the crew will likely do what I said before, which is fly and die each time. If you give each burst a specific purpose, limit the number of 20s you use and instead incorporate in some 5s, 10s, etc., and remind them to maintain whatever feels good during those bursts then you’ll be able to have a much more efficient and evenly-paced race.

College Coxing High School Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 24

By readyallrow September 16, 2014

Resilient Rowing 2013 Head of the Charles Youth 8+ Crash

This is just a short clip of one of the men’s youth eights from 2013. I’m mainly sharing it because none of the other videos showed a crash and the whole point of HOCR is to see which youth eight is going to have the best crash. (That is the point of the regatta … right?)

At 2:04 when he says “I can’t get through, coxswain, yield…” I guar. an. tee you that no one past his like, 7-seat heard that. If you want another crew to yield you need to and yell loud and project. your. voice. Don’t assume that just because you’re talking into a microphone that anyone outside your boat can here you. I honestly think that if he’d just stayed directly behind Duxbury and then had the starboards hit it hard they would have been fine and not collided but youth eights = inexperience so there’s not much you can do. The “fuck you Duxbury” comment though from one of the rowers was pretty unnecessary and definitely would have/should have earned a penalty if an official had heard it.

Middlebury College 2013 Head of the Charles Men’s Collegiate 8+

The start of this piece was pretty sloppy in terms of telling them when to build, where they’re at on the build, etc. I also feel like I would have been confused as a rower because they did two builds … one way before the start and right right before the start. Their stroke rate was a little wonky too. I think the build was supposed to be to a 33 but they were at a 31 and then did a “build” under the bridge to get to a 33 … but then a few strokes later she said “32, good”. It was just all over the place and not as “on point” as it should have been.

As far as when to build, you’ve kinda gotta base your pressure off of the crews in front of you. You don’t want to get closer than a length of open but you don’t want to fall back more than that either (because that’s just more ground you’ll have to make up on the course) so you’ve really got to be paying attention to that while you’re in the chute. You want to be at full pressure by the time you hit the upstream corner of the BU dock since the starting line is the middle of the dock so you should start your build as your bowball passes the last group of trees on the shoreline before the boathouse – to give a reference point in the video it’d be around the 23-24 second mark. Another reference point is the buoy with the yellow flag on it off of the starboard side at 0:24.

Through the first two and a half minutes I’m already tuning out because all I’m hearing is the coxswain embracing her inner cheerleader and making a lot of “you can do it!”, “let’s go!”, “show them what you’ve got!”, “here we go!”, etc. calls. There’s also a lot of “build in two” calls to get the rate back up to a 33 because it keeps falling down to a 31.

The turn at Weeks could have been sharper – she had room – but she started it about three strokes too late. If you wait until you’re under the bridge to tell your starboards to power it up, you messed up. You’re going to end up taking the turn really wide and then having to snake back over to get a good line through Anderson, which ultimately adds unnecessary seconds and meters to your course.

When she says “don’t let them walk” at 9:45 … I mean, it’s going to happen. It is happening. Make the other crew work for it and focus on pressing together, maintaining your rhythm, holding a solid line, etc. Stop talking so much about the other boat though and focus on your own.

When she calls under 500m to go (from the Belmont dock to the finish line) at 15:20. It’s more like a little over 800m. Also, that is not what half a length of open looks like. A length and a half maybe but not half a length.

Ultimately his one wasn’t the best coxed and wasn’t the best steered. Of all the races you go to in the fall, HOCR is not the one you want to be a cheerleader at (unless you’re on land, in which case … cheer away). Have a plan, know your plan, and try not to make the same calls over and over throughout the race. Don’t spend so much time focusing on other crews either. Your head has to be on a swivel, obviously, but at the same time you’ve also gotta keep your head (and focus) in your own boat.

University of Wisconsin 2013 Head of the Charles Women’s Champ 8+

The audio is slightly out of sync with the strokes so don’t let that throw you off as you’re watching.

Right off the bat, I like how she calls the pressure up and perfectly times “half, three-quarter, full pressure, you’re on” with when their bow crosses the starting line. Something that caught my eye too that I wish she would have made a call for what 6-seat coming out early every stroke. Make sure you don’t get so focused on executing your race plan that you forget to check the blades and make little reminder calls when necessary. Obviously this is harder to do in a four but in an eight there’s no excuse.

At 2:16 she says “we’re right on the buoy line, starboard side…”, which is good for informational purposes but it can also be a strategic motivational call too. This is something I talked about with all of our coxswains when we went through their evaluations last week. Use your steering as quick little bursts of motivation for the rowers. If you’ve got a good line, your riding the buoy line, etc. tell them. Let them know that you’re nailing the course right now so let’s capitalize on that and focus on XYZ. If they know you’re taking care of your responsibilities as far as steering a good course goes, that’s one less thing they have to worry about and more focus they can give to just rowing their asses off. If I’ve learned anything from my own coxing experience and coaching coxswains for the last two and a half years, few things matter more to rowers than their coxswain’s ability to steer a good course. If you’re doing that, don’t be afraid to say so and use that to keep your rowers engaged and on their game.

If you’ve got a SpeedCoach, a call like “we’ve got a 1:58, we’re gonna push it to a 1:55…” is a great way to work the splits into your calls. Make sure you know what splits you’re going for throughout the race too. Holding a consistent split probably isn’t realistic for a lot of crew so know what parts of the course will be a little higher (i.e. the turns) and which parts you can really get after it (i.e. the straight shots through the Powerhouse and after Anderson).

Throughout the rest of this section before Magazine Beach she does an awesome job of telling her crew where they are on the other crew (“we’re walking”, “two lengths of open behind and closing”, etc.) and how they’re doing (“right on rate”, etc.). Keep an eye on her course throughout the whole race too – she nails it.

If you notice them starting to row it in a bit, just make a quick call like she did around 6:57ish (“blades in on this one, GO“) to sharpen things back up. Don’t waste 5-7 strokes by calling for 5 to get the blades in or something like that when you can sharpen it up on this one, particularly if you’re an experienced crew. If you’re a high school crew then go ahead and take a couple strokes to get that focus and sharpness back but college crews … you guys can get that on one stroke. I also liked her call at 7:12ish – “hold your fucking blades in now” or something like that. A coxswain after my own heart.

At 7:31 she tells them that whoever is in front of them is “moving away” and she follows up with “…and we’re responding right now“. That is how you get your crew going. Telling them another crew is walking away from them isn’t a bad thing – you should do that – but THIS is how you follow it up so you can get competitive with that other boat again. She immediately calls for a five for something (I couldn’t hear what) and then finishes it off with “1:49, that’s what I’m talking about!”. Perfect perfect perfect.

Her line coming into Weeks is gooorrrgeousss. I also like how she preps her starboard side (“alright starboards, get ready…”) and then counts it down (“here we go … that’s 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 … on this one“) before bringing it around. She started her turn about three strokes too early, which is why she said she needed “even” for a couple but it didn’t hurt them at all – the overall execution and calls to the starboard side throughout the turn were pretty much flawless.

College coxswains, this is the A-standard. Hands down one of the best college HOCR races I’ve listened to.

Other calls I liked:

“Bigger fucking puddles…”

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

Coxing Racing Rowing

Race skills: All about Power 10s

By readyallrow May 8, 2014

As I’ve been talking to coxswains and listening to recordings I’ve been thinking that it’d be worthwhile to explain power tens in a bit more depth so you have a better idea of what they are, what they aren’t, what their purpose is, etc. Having this understanding will, hopefully, make them a more efficient part of your race plan/strategy as we head towards the peak of racing season.

What power 10s are

Power 10s are strategic bursts that you take during a race. 99.8% of the time they should be called for something if you want to achieve maximum effectiveness. Giving each one a purpose gives the rowers something to latch on to, for lack of a better term, whereas just calling a plain “power 10” isn’t likely to make them do anything different than they were before.

Power 10s are also one of (if not the) biggest misnomers in the sport of rowing. We call things “power 10s” even when they’re not strictly about power because there aren’t really any other words for them. I’ll also call them “bursts” if I’m taking a 5 or something short and sweet like that. I’ve actually been trying to get away from calling them “power” 10s and instead just say “gimme 10 for…”, “let’s take 5 for…”, “get ready for our 20 at 750m…”, etc. The reasoning for that is because when I take a 5 or 10 for leg drive (i.e. power) I don’t want the word “power” to be diluted because I use it for every other move/burst I take even when they have nothing to do with power.

What power 10s aren’t

Power 10s are not something you should just randomly call during a race because you think that’s what you’re supposed to do because you’ve heard other people do it. You’re less likely to get a response from your crew in terms of power, effort, etc. if you just yell “power 10” and start counting.

Does a power 10 have to be 10 strokes?

No. Obviously if you say “power 10” then you should call 10 strokes but you can do other variations too, like 5, 15, or 20. If you call anything more than ten strokes, make sure you’re separating them into chunks of ten rather than counting the whole thing sequentially – i.e. a 20 would be two sets of 10, counted out “…8, 9, 10, 1, 2, 3…” rather than “…8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13…”.

Similarly, a 15 (also known as a “5 and 10”) would be counted out as five strokes followed by ten strokes. Usually if I call something like this I’ll actually count the five strokes down as a way to build into the ten strokes, which I’ll count up like normal – i.e. “…3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3…”.

Do all of those have the same purpose/mean the same thing?

No. This is how I usually (not always but ~90% of the time) treat each burst:

5-stroke burst

I tend to call a 5-stroke burst for things related to technique (i.e. sharpening up the catches, holding the blades in through the finish, smooth/even power on the drive, body swing/length at both ends), posture (i.e. supporting the bodies, staying tall, relaxed upper body, eliminating the tension), internal focus (i.e. rowing our race, establishing/re-establishing the rhythm, individual responsibilities), or other miscellaneous things like breathing, commitment, legs, etc.

10-stroke burst

I call 10s when I want to take seats (no more than two, maybe three) or walk on another crew.

15-stroke burst

15s are the overlooked middle child of power bursts. I don’t call them very often but when I do it’s because I’m trying to kill two birds with one stone. Like I mentioned before, I almost always count the five strokes first (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) followed by the ten (1, 2, 3…) because I like the “prep/build” period that those five strokes give you.

The only time where I would do the opposite is coming into the sprint where you would typically build for a few strokes coming into it anyways. In that case I’d count the ten first followed by the five, which would act as the “five to build” where you’d be bringing the rate up.

20-stroke burst

20s are strictly for making big moves on another crew or walking on/through the field. These should be used sparingly during a sprint race (once is sufficient, twice is enough, three is too many) but you can usually get away with maybe three or so during your average-length head race.

How do you count out each one?

This is mostly a personal preference thing with some input from the rowers on what they like best. This is what I was taught and also what makes the most sense to me so it’s what I do and teach. During a normal 10 or 20 during a race, I count up (1, 2, 3…). If I’m building into the sprint or prepping them for a big move/shift, I count down (5, 4, 3…). If I’m counting down the last [however many strokes] to the finish line I count down (10, 9, 8…). If I’m calling something “in two” I count up (1, 2…). Occasionally I’ll say “in two … in one…” but normally if I’m not just saying “on this one” I count up.

How do you call each one?

Again, this is mostly a personal preference thing but this is how I try to call them in race situations. During practice you can be a bit more lax if you want unless you’re doing a piece or something simulating your race, in which case you’d want to call them like you do during a race. This helps familiarize the crew with how you do things so there are no surprises on race day.

5-stroke burst

“Aaron, blade in right at the front end, direct to the water. Let’s take 5 to sharpen ’em up together, ready, now. Sharp, send … sharp, send … sharp, yea Aaron … together … sharp, yea there we go! Grab the water and send…”

10-stroke burst

“Alright, two seats down on UVA, I got Adrienne on their 3-seat. Let’s take ten to get even, get it on the legs and through the water … on this one. Power through, power through YEA TIGERS, 3 walking, 4 1 seat down, 5 here we go, jump send, jump half a seat, 8 reel ’em in, 9 big legs, 10 EVEN! Sitting coxswain-to-coxswain, stay solid with the legs and move now…”

15-stroke burst

“Coming up to the bridge, 400m to go, let’s sit up, take a deep breath, and get ready to take 15 into our sprint – first 10 for commitment on the legs, last 5 to build the rate up – ready to go in 3, in 2, in one, COMMITTTTTT … 1 together, 2 drive it down, 3 send it out, 4 send it out, legs keep the length, legs BOWBALL, legs push ’em back, 8 ready to build 9 we move together, 10 here we go, NOW on the legs, together 34.5, together 35, punish them 36, last 250 breathe … go now!”

20-stroke burst

“Sitting in second, 8 seats up on Cal, 3 seats down on Stanford coming into the third 500. Let’s get our minds ready for the 1000, shift that focus internal and get ready to move. We’re taking seats – no mercy. Ready to go in 3 … in 2 … in 1, get on it and ATTACK! Gimme that bow ball, 2 yea Tigers, 3 chaaa, 4 chaaa, jump send ’em back, jump send ’em back, 7 BOWBALLLLL, 8 finish them, ready to move we’re one seat down, up 2 to get even, HERE WE GO NOW, send it out, 2 walking, 3 YEA, 4 half a seat, get it yea, EVEN yea, stay on it send, leeegs send it, 9 half a seat up, 10 YEA TIGERS! One seat of open on Cal, got the stroke of Stanford. Sharp with the catches, our bow ball stays in front. Stride it out to base … on this one, length and power, length and power…”

Where and how often should you call for a burst?

Read the post linked at the beginning on where to call them (there’s a bit of strategy definition in there too) and the post linked below for some thoughts on frequency. If you twisted my arm and made me give you a number of how many bursts you should take over the course of 2000m, my gut reaction would be to say a max eight. That includes one 20 (your “big” move), two or three 10s, a couple of focus 5s, and whatever build you do into your sprint (if you do one).

For 1500m, I’d say six total (one 20, a couple 10s, and maybe one or two 5s) would be sufficient. You don’t want to burn your crew out by calling ten after ten after ten and you most especially do NOT want to that coxswain that counts every single stroke of the entire race.

The bottom line is to call and use these bursts responsibly. Rowers, don’t be afraid to talk to your coxswain too if you have concerns over their use of them since feedback on stuff like this is much appreciated.

Image via // @ryanjnicholsonphoto

Coxing Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

By readyallrow November 12, 2013

I read an article by Pete Cipollone and he said coxswains should say “I don’t know” instead of bluffing. In yesterday’s race, I couldn’t see the finish buoys around a large curve and I told my rowers I didn’t know how far was left. This really frustrated my stroke who shouted at me after the race and told me I should’ve made something up. After we docked, rowers in the other 4+ complained their coxswain gave a misleading distance. Was I right to say I didn’t know or should I have bluffed?

So just to preface this, I do think that it’s necessary for coxswains to be comfortable saying “I don’t know” when they truly do not know the answer to something. If you can’t ask your coach for insight or clarification at that moment then it’s your responsibility to say “I don’t know but I’ll figure it out after practice” and the report back the following day. I would expect your stroke seat or whoever asked the original question to hold you accountable to that too. If my boat asked me something that I didn’t know I’d typically wait until we took a water break and then ask our coach if he could explain whatever it was we were talking about that wasn’t clear.

However, this only applies at practice. During a race, if you say “I don’t know” the trust your rowers (and coach) have in you can and probably will plummet since it’s expected for you to know this stuff. I can understand why your stroke was frustrated. As a coach, I would have been irritated too. Personally, I think you should have bluffed but this only works when you’re properly prepared. This involves knowing the course, knowing the overall distance, and being aware of your surroundings. If you’re not it can be tough and you might end up giving a misleading distance, similarly to that other coxswain. This is one of the reasons why I constantly stress studying the course ahead of time, learning the landmarks, etc.

Knowing the total length of the course and where the individual mile markers are can allow you to guesstimate how much you have left based on where you’re currently at. Yes, it involves some quick math but it’s really not that hard (and that’s coming from someone whose math abilities are comparable to that of a rock’s). For example, the Charles course is 3 miles long. During the race there are mile markers between River St. and Western Ave. and right after Newell Boathouse that denote 1 mile down and 2 miles down, respectively. If you’re unfamiliar with the course but at least know where the mile markers are, you can always tell your crew where you’re at.

Related: HOCR: The course in meters

Say you’ve just passed Weeks and your stroke says “where are we”? You already passed the 1 mile marker, you know that the the 2 mile marker is somewhere near Anderson, and that Weeks is roughly in middle. A quick guesstimation let’s you assume that you’re about a mile and a half in. Knowing that the course is just over 3 miles long also leads you to conclude that you’re halfway through the race. This allows you to tell your crew that you’re coming into the second half of the race or that you’ve got 1.5 miles down. Don’t say anything about 1.5 miles left because that’s just mean. During head races I don’t say anything about the distance we have left until we hit the last mile or 1000 meters.

Another thing you can do if you don’t know the distance you have left is tell them the time. This requires you to roughly know your crew’s 5k time (or whatever the applicable distance is). It also requires you to start the timer on your cox box at the start of the race. If you forget to do that then you’re kind of out of luck unless you’ve got a watch and happen to catch the time as you cross the line. If you know that your boat’s time last week was 17:44 for 5000m (roughly 6 minutes per mile) and you’re currently at 15:34, then you can guesstimate that you’re probably close to 2.5 miles in and have roughly half a mile left to go.

In addition to prepping yourself ahead of time, you should also make sure you’re not ignoring what’s happening outside the boat in favor of spitting out the race plan like a robot. If you’re doing this then you’re neglecting one of the crucial rules of coxing which is to always be aware of your surroundings. If you pay attention to what’s around you and think back to the course map that they went over during the coach-and-coxswain’s meeting (or that you looked at on your own), you should be able to find some landmarks that give you a clue as to your location.

Bottom line, there’s no excuse for saying “I don’t know” during a race. It’s unlikely that they expect you to give them an exact distance but it does have to be in the ballpark. They’re going to know (and feel) the difference between half a mile and a mile. It’s the same as saying “last 20” during a 2k three different times – if you do it, don’t be shocked if your crew is pissed once you get off the water.

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 13

By readyallrow October 8, 2013

Purdue University 2012 SIRAS Women’s Varsity 8+

The race starts around 2:40. Right off the bat, the only thing I noticed when I was actually watching the video (vs. just listening to it) is how the stroke seat is looking a solid 90 degrees to her left the entire race. Her rowing is pretty unimpressive too – she’s missing a ton of water at the catch because she’s rowing it in nearly every stroke. Even though the coxing was pretty good, I just couldn’t get past this. You have to be paying attention to the bladework and call the rowers out on that (especially when it’s your stroke/stern pair). She does say something at 4:41 about getting the heads in the boat but a couple strokes later the stroke is looking out of the boat again.

At 6:20, I liked how she started the second ten of that twenty with “10 to start off the third 500”. Since that’s usually the hardest part of the race, phrasing it that way kinda gives you a renewed sense of focus and motivation to make those strokes good.

Make sure when you’re saying finish/recovery calls, you’re not calling them at the catch (and vice-versa). She did this with the “send it” call at 6:45. It’s fine to say something like “send it now” with the “send it” part at the catch and the “now” emphasized at the finish but just saying “send it” at the catch is incorrect.

When she calls paddle at the end I was nervous because from it doesn’t look like their bow ball was through the line yet. Even if you hear the horn you should always, always, always row through the line, meaning you don’t call paddle until YOU, the coxswain, are through the line. It’s extra security, just in case.

Other calls I liked:

“Move this boat…”, with regards to keeping the heads in the boat

Purdue University 2013 Men’s Lightweight 8+ vs. Notre Dame JV8+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=zEIWL8p280E&NR=1

This coxswain actually emailed me this video a couple months ago to listen to so below is some of what I sent her.

“Overall, this was really good. Your aggression was good but I could see what you meant about it not being as intense had you been in a closer race. When I first started coxing and had leads like that with my boats, I let my intensity come down a little too. After a couple of races I shifted how I did things and instead of “cruising” the rest of the way I completely stopped paying attention to the other boats and focused solely on my crew. Even though you’re beating the other boats handedly doesn’t mean any of the intensity has to go away. If anything, you almost want to get more intense to keep the rowers in it. They can CLEARLY see they’re beating the other crews so it’s easy for them to start to power down but it’s up to you to make sure they stay at 100%.

It’s not so much about “proving” you can win, it’s more about the psychological mindset that it puts the rowers (and us, to an extent) in. If they know that all they have to do is get ahead before you ease off of them, that is what they’ll start to look forward to each race. If you can keep the intensity and aggression in your voice for the whole 2000m they’ll continue to push for the whole 2000m. It’s all psychological. When it comes down to that one race where you have a crew that’s pushing you down the entire course, you’ll be better prepared to fight them off if you can mentally go 2000m instead of 750m or 1500m. Make sense? Obviously there are exceptions, like if you’re in a qualifying race and all you’ve got to do is place to advance. At that point you want to conserve some energy so you can go all out during the final. If you’ve got a lead on a crew like you did during this race, it’s OK to back off a little as long as you don’t completely turn the gas off and let the other crew(s) come back on you. When that happens it turns into a frantic situation that results in the rowers expending more energy than they otherwise would have needed to.”

At 1:23 they take a 10 after the start, which is an odd/unnecessary move (literally and figuratively). If you notice you’re even with another crew and you want to make a move, use the settle to walk. After the start (high stroke rate and settle) you want to give the rowers a chance to get into their rhythm. If you go straight from the start into a power 10, especially one that doesn’t have a direct end goal, it makes things slightly frantic again and doesn’t give them a chance to actually settle into the rhythm they just tried to establish.

When she tells them at 1:58 that Notre Dame had moved over a lane, that would have been a good point to take a 10 or 20 to capitalize on their coxswain’s steering error. Coxing is the ultimate form of psychological warfare – when another coxswain gives you the opportunity to take advantage of their mistakes, take it.

Jumping ahead to the end of the race, when she says “last few strokes” they actually took 17 before they crossed the line. If you say “last few” they’re most likely going to assume that means 5 or less. Try and be specific. If you don’t know how many strokes are left, guess, but don’t say something general like “last few”.

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