Tag: racing

HOCR: Race plan “hacks”

Coxing Racing

HOCR: Race plan “hacks”

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Previously: Getting to the starting line || Steering through the bridges || Landmarks along the course || Steering around the turns || Race plans || My general race plan || Yaz Farooq’s coxswain clinic

Since this was my first time racing HOCR and my crew had some very specific things they wanted to hear during the race, I figured it’d be better safe than sorry to just write it down so I could glance at it if necessary. In hindsight I definitely psyched myself out and wrote down way too much stuff but it didn’t take me any effort to glance at it during the race so it wasn’t something that concerned me. If you’re not an experienced coxswain (and even if you are…) I don’t recommend writing down this much – a quarter of this would suffice – because I can easily see people becoming reliant on it and getting distracted.

So, what’s on there? The one to the left of my cox box had miscellaneous calls that related to specific things we’d been working on during practice, the one below my cox box had crew-specific calls, and the one to the left had my actual “plan” that detailed where I wanted to take power bursts along the course and what each one was for.

During the race I think I only glanced down at it maybe … four or five times max, and that was usually as we were entering or exiting a congested area. I had a way better grip on the race plan and calls than I gave myself credit for as I was making this, which is probably what led to me overcompensating a bit, but I still think it’s a worthwhile thing to do if you’re not confident in remembering the race plan or there’s a couple calls that you really want to make sure you incorporate. Just don’t go overboard and plaster your entire seat with Post-its … one will get the job done.

Image via // Boston Magazine

Novice Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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Hi, I’m going to HOCR this weekend and unlike everyone, I am not excited, only extremely nervous. Basically, I don’t deserve to be in my boat. The other 3 girls are way better and have years of experience and I started only this spring and I didn’t row during the summer. I’m only in the boat because our club is so small that we are only 5 girls and one has been injured since August. My technique isn’t good either. Any advice to how to row with people better than you? I’m so scared I will mess everything up…

Attitude is everything. If you think you’re gonna have a good time, you’re gonna have a good time. If you think you’re gonna have a shitty time, you’re gonna have a shitty time. This is a situation where “control the controllables” couldn’t be more applicable. You can’t control the size of your team, you can’t control the fact that one of your teammates is injured, and you can’t control the fact that you’ve rowed for less time than everyone else but you can control your attitude and how well you row those 3.2 miles. You only started rowing what, six months ago? Your technique isn’t going to be perfect but if you put the effort in and focus on taking one good stroke at a time, you’ll do fine.

Related: Words

If you’re that person in the boat that spends the next three days focusing on all the “bad” things though, your teammates are gonna get pretty pissed at you really fast. Don’t do that. When you go out for practice, try to do something a little bit better than you did the day before and build up some confidence in your stroke (and yourself). When you race, row the best race you can and come off the water knowing you couldn’t have done any better.

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 13

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain Recordings, pt. 13

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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.

Navigating the starting chute at a head race

Coxing How To Racing

Navigating the starting chute at a head race

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The start of a head race is different than the start of a sprint race because you’re rowing into it instead of starting from a dead stop. Most regattas will have the crews hanging out, sort of, in a waiting area a few hundred meters above the starting line before calling them down by bow numbers. As you row into the waiting area, you’ll want to find crews with the bow numbers immediately ahead of and behind yours and situate yourself between them. From here, you’ll want to use use your bow pair or bow four to slowly move you up the queue with the other crews.

Most larger regattas have what’s called a “chute” right before the starting line. (Smaller races might just do one single file line.) This is what everyone in the waiting area is funneled into before they cross the line one by one.

As you come into the chute, odd numbered bow numbers will line up on one side and even numbered ones on the other. Where you should go is marked by three buoys — a red one, a yellow one, and a green one. At HOCR, the odd numbered crews will line up between the red and yellow buoy (red = port) and the even numbered crews will line up between the yellow and green buoy (green = starboard).

By this point you should be rowing all eight, slightly above paddle pressure. You’ll row down towards the line in a staggered pattern and then cross at 10–15 second intervals. There will be officials on the water telling you to ease off or go to full pressure depending on how close you are to the crew in front of you. They’ll definitely tell you when to go to full pressure but if you start too early they’ll tell you to back off so you aren’t too close to the crew ahead of you when you start. By the time you cross the starting line you want to be at full pressure and at least 2–3 strokes into your starting 20 or whatever you do at the start of your race. At this point, you’ll hear an official say “on the course!”, which you should then communicate to your crew.

Coming across the line, you should already have your starting sequence figured out (and have practiced it many times) so that should be fairly self-explanatory. I called the five to build into full pressure when the officials on the water told us to bring it up and then we usually crossed the line somewhere around the second or third stroke into our high 20. From there it’s coxing as usual.

I think it’s important to not say a lot before the race because there’s going to be a lot going on and many things for you to be listening and paying attention to, which can be difficult to do if you’re trying to actively cox the crew or carry on a conversation. Same goes for the rowers. Things happen fast in the chute and it’s imperative for the rowers to be ready to go as soon as the officials/coxswain call for it.

Image via // Rowing Upriver
How to Pass Crews During a Head Race

Coxing How To Q&A Racing

How to Pass Crews During a Head Race

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Previously: Steer an eight/four || Call a pick drill and reverse pick drill ||  Avoid getting sick || Make improvement as a novice || Protect your voice

I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about this at any great length but I figured it’d be a good topic to get out there since we’re starting to get into head race season. Passing another crew requires you to be a bit of a maverick, depending on the situation. It’s not something you should be figuring out how to do as you do it though because deciding what the best course of action is requires a lot of decision making in a very short period of time. When your mind is going a mile a minute you don’t want to be trying to figure out all this stuff in the middle of the race.

The first thing you’ve got to do before passing a crew is assess the situation and figure out how many crews are ahead of you and how close you are to bridges or any other kind of potential obstruction. If there is a lot of traffic up ahead or there’s a chance you won’t have completed your pass before you reach the bridge, it might be best to hold off until crews spread out or you’re through the bridge. It sounds counter-intuitive but from a safety perspective, holding back is always preferable to a collision. No coach who has their priorities straight will tell you otherwise.

From there, when you do go to make your pass, and sticking with the idea of what is safer in the long run, you’ve got to decide if taking a slightly wider course off the better line is preferable to taking the better line and potentially being involved in a collision that could cost you even more time. This is where having studied the course beforehand can work in your favor. If you’re on a river with a lot of curves – the Charles, for example – it’s less about how you come out of the turns and more about how you go in. Even if the faster line around a turn to port is to hug the buoys, if you’re passing someone and know that the next turn is to starboard, it would be advisable, if it’s safe, to pass the crew on the outside, that way you’ll be on the buoys around the next turn.

Related: HOCR: Steering around the turns

One thing to remember if you decide to pass on the inside is that if the next turn is fairly sharp and in close proximity to the last one, you’ll either have to be really good at steering or you’ll have to have the crew adjust their power to bring you around, which has the potential to add seconds to your time. 60ft long boats don’t turn on a dime, which is something a lot of novices don’t realize, so knowing the best way to move your shell around a tight turn is something you should have figured out before you race. That way if such a situation arises where you’re going around a tight turn, either because you chose it or were forced into it, you’ll know how to do it smoothly and with as little added time as possible.

Related: Yaz Farooq’s HOCR coxswain clinic

The last thing you’ve got to consider is whether you want to increase the stroke rate to get by the other crew or if you want to keep it the same. You can take it up a beat or so if you want but it’s not usually necessary and if you’re constantly changing your speed you run the risk of running out of gas and not having enough energy to maintain your pace through the end of the race. If you’re passing someone, your strokes are  already more powerful and your boat is generating more speed so all you need to do is find an open lane to glide into.

If there’s a crew behind you that’s threatening to pass, increasing the stroke rate might be a good idea if you think your crew can sustain it. If there are crews that are packed together in front of the one you’re trying to pass, you might want to pass them at your base pace and then settle in where you can, either with or behind the pack in front. If you think you can pass another crew, that’s a calculated risk you’ll have to make a decision on as it’s happening based on the information you have on hand. You should also be watching the crew you’re passing to see if and how they counter your move. They might take the stroke rate up to hold you off, which might mean that instead of cruising by them, you might need to take the rate up for a couple strokes too.

Another thing you’ve got to factor in is whether or not the crew in front of you is a rival. A normal crew will do their best to hold you off but a rival will make it their mission to make sure that your bowball doesn’t get past theirs. Be prepared for this and know how to counter it.

General passing rules – these should be announced by the regatta official(s) at the coaches and coxswains meeting so don’t skip that. Different regattas have different rules, especially at head races. Some might allow you to pass under a bridge, others might penalize you for doing it. You won’t know unless you go. I’d also recommend not assuming you know the rules just because you’ve been there before. You never know when they might change them.

When passing, your bow must be pointed towards the side you intend to pass on by the time you are within at least one length of open water on the crew you’re passing. The crew that’s being passed should be fully out of the way by the time the passing crew is within half a length of open.

When you are passing, you should yell out “coxswain, move to starboard/port” to the crew in front of you. Most coxswains will acknowledge you (do this by raising your hand, like normal) and immediately move over but some will be less accommodating. This can be attributed to two things: a) they can’t hear you, which is sometimes understandable or b) they’re purposely doing that because they think it’ll make you give up on trying to pass them. All you have to do in situations like this is yell again to move over. Your bow (wo)men can help you out here by yelling at them to move too. People in bow, don’t wait for your coxswain to tell you to do this. If you can hear them repeatedly telling someone to move, just look over and repeat what they’re saying. If you have to tell at them again to move, threaten them with a penalty. They will get penalized for not moving out of the way because it’s considered unsportsmanlike conduct. At HOCR it’s a 60 second penalty the first time, 2 minutes the second time, and an automatic DQ for the third time.

If you are being passed, move. Communicate with your stroke before the race (or bow if you’re in a 4+) and tell them that if there’s a crew coming up on you, they must tell you. It doesn’t need to be some big long conversation between the two of you either. That’s part of the reason why I think a lot of the rowers don’t tell their coxswain what’s going on behind the because they think they need to say “hey, there’s a boat passing us on starboard” and they don’t want to waste that much energy or oxygen, but in reality all they need to do is say “starboard” or “port”. I know your lungs are on fire but I think you can manage to squeak out a one or two syllable word. Help your coxswain out. If your crew gets penalized for not yielding, it’s just as much your fault as it is the coxswain’s.

Try to avoid passing under bridges when you can. Know the rules as to what bridges you’re allowed to pass under and which ones you aren’t if there are multiple ones along the course. Don’t be that coxswain that thinks it’s a good idea to go three wide under Weeks (shout out to the coxswain who messed up my turn last year by being that person…ya jerk).

I’ll try to find more videos of this if I can but I came across this one while writing this and thought it was a good example of a coxswain telling a crew to move repeatedly (Michigan) and the crew being passed not moving (Dartmouth), leading to a collision before Eliot. Michigan was able to recover quickly but you can see it really stalled Dartmouth. If you’ve got time, definitely check out the whole video but the part I’m referring to starts around 20:00 and the collision around 21:45.

One other quick thing to note, you can hear somebody say “you had room!”, someone else say “fuck you”, and someone else say “fucking” something (it’s kinda hard to hear). I get that situations like that are irritating but you’ve got to be careful about spouting off on other crews like that because you can also get an unsportsmanlike penalty even if steering-wise you did everything correct. I’m lucky I didn’t get a penalty last year for yelling “are you fucking kidding me” to the coxswain who thought going three-wide under Weeks was do-able because there were three officials standing on Weeks watching the whole thing unfold. (I was the only one of the three crews to not be penalized so yay for that.) In the heat of the moment it’s understandable but ask yourself if it’s worth a penalty if an official hears you.

Racing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Inside the 1999 World Cup USA M8+

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I can’t embed this week’s VOTW so you’ll have to go here to watch it. It’s an archived video from World Rowing of the 1999 USA M8+ that raced in the A-final at the 1999 World Cup in St. Catherine’s. Make sure you read the interview below the video too but do it either before or after watching the video, not during.

The first thing I thought when watching the start was “holy shit“. The only way to describe the USA’s start was nothing more than downright furious power. Watch 1:48-1:54 to see what I mean.

Also watch the two coxswains at the front of the screen between 2:19-2:25. See how the GBR coxswain in lane 6 (closest to the screen) is sitting down low and isn’t being jerked around by the movements of the boat? Now compare that to the RUS coxswain in lane 5; notice how he’s sitting straight up and is mimicking a bobble head with his upper body and torso movements? That’s how you get lines of bruises all along your back. You can’t feel how the boat’s moving if you’re letting your body be thrown around with the ebb and flow of the shell.

I liked what the commentator said at 4:09 about crews who aspire to overturn the United States. He said that they have to stay in touch otherwise they’ll be in real trouble. That’s so true, regardless of whether you’re fighting for 1st or 5th. Where they’ll be in trouble isn’t necessarily physically either, it’s mentally. If you give a crew a chance to break you, they’re gonna do it and mentally you will be weaker for it, which is why maintaining contact and then feeding off of that as you climb back to the front is so important.

6:10, “this is the first time a British crew has been in a winning position since 1912…” Haha, what?? Seriously?!

7:49, I love how after big races Pete jumps out of his seat and gives his stroke the biggest hug ever. It’s not a wimpy bro hug either, it’s a solid hug. Love it.

Something that stuck out to me that Bryan Volpenheim (bow in this crew) said in the interview below the video is this: “Power to me is technique. If you are able to put in the power at this part of the race (the finish) then that’s technique.”

And finally, my favorite part of the video, 11:43 … something Pete and I have in common is that no one will ever question our role in the boat. We’re that short.

Coxing How To Q&A Racing

Question of the Day

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

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

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

Coxswain recordings, pt. 12

College Coxing Racing Recordings

Coxswain recordings, pt. 12

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Hobart University 2011 Head of the Charles Men’s Collegiate 8+

I like how she starts out the piece with “let’s get us moving”. Notice how coming out of the bridges she’s hugging the buoy line? That’s how you wanna do it.

At 1:19, she tells them where Notre Dame is and that’s where they started but it’s not going to be where they finish – that’s a good call to make to give your crew something to work torwards in the early parts of the race instead of going out and just rowing. Pick a boat in front of you, put a target on their back, and go after them. Notice how she’s still hugging the buoys pretty tightly as they start coming around the turn? She’s taking a great course. Remember, your oars can go over the buoys but the hull can’t.

The twelve seconds of “hook, send” from 1:54-2:06 was a little excessive. Normally you don’t want to say the same thing more than two or three times in a row because after that you get tuned out. The over-repetiveness of some of her calls was already driving me crazy and then I realized they’re only at Riverside. It seems like the only thing she’s comfortable saying are calls with “hook” in them. If you’re listening to your audio and notice a similar pattern, take that as a sign that you need to broaden your vocabulary. Your calls should be varied enough that you aren’t saying the same exact thing every 2-3 strokes.

I like that around 5:48 she tells them that she wants to stay up on the boat behind them because she wants the line on Weeks – that’s definitely something you need to communicate with your crew coming into the turns, especially Weeks and Eliot. In order for you to have the cleanest and sharpest line, you’ve got to either hold off the crew that has the potential to pass you until you’re at least through the bridge or make your move now so that you can pass the crew in front of you before you get to the bridge (as opposed to trying to do it under the bridge).

Her course coming into Weeks is great and she does a good job telling the crew exactly what she needs them to do while giving them a bit of confidence (“you guys are going to make this boat fly”) as they get closer to the bridge. I would definitely recommend watching her turn several times through because she nailed it.

At 9:38, “little headwind, swing deep” is a good call. Being able to read the wind and telling the crews how to respond to it is a sign of good coxswain because it shows you’ve got a good technical understanding of the stroke.

Post-Anderson it would have been a good idea to tell them where they are on the crews in front of them. She made a bold statement early on in the race about Notre Dame but hasn’t said anything about them since. Regardless of whether you’ve gained on them or they’ve walked away, you should be letting them know where they are on the competition. They can see the crews following them but they can’t see the crews you’re chasing. Even if you’re out there solo and you’ve got the whole course to yourself, tell them that and then take a move to take advantage of your incredibly lucky situation.

Coming around Eliot she calls for the starboards to give her pressure for three strokes but then ends up needing pressure from them for about 10. It’s always better to overestimate how many strokes it’ll take to do something than to underestimate it because as you can hear, there’s a momentary second of panic in her voice where I bet she was thinking “shit, we’re not going to make it”. In situations like that if you have to keep calling for pressure from one side, help them out by calling the other side down. Other than that she did a great job coming through the bridge. Coming around the Belmont dock you can see how close the hull is to the buoys, which means she set herself up really well for that final turn. One thing that she does particularly well during the race, other than steering, is telling them where they are on the course. I think she pointed out a fair amount of the landmarks, as well as some really important meter-marks. Make sure you look at a map before hand and know where all those things are.

At 15:12 she says she’s got the point for the finish line which is a great thing for the rowers to hear because it means there’s no more steering, they’re in the home stretch, and the ONLY thing all five or nine of you are focused on is driving towards the line. In the end here though, especially within the last 20, you have to stop with the technique calls. This is where all your calls should be about where they are, where the other crews are, how far they are from the line, and any other motivational things you can think of. Hot take here but after Eliot, the technique is either going to be there or it isn’t, and if it’s not it’s going to be really hard for you or them to fix it at this point. This is where all your calls should be about where they are, where the other crews are, how far they are from the line, and any other motivational things you can think of.

Overall I’d say this was pretty good. I would have liked to have heard more variety in her calls but I think she makes up for it (only a little bit though) with her awesome course.

FIT 2011 Head of the Charles Men’s Champ 8+

This coxswain starts out relatively calm but is still sharp (so sharp) and intense with her calls. At 2:51 she does a good job of telling her crew that they’re about to pass MIT and she’s moving to the outside. It might seem insignificant but that’s a good thing to tell your crew (see what I said about using your steering as motivation up above), despite her move here being a little early considering they were still behind them through the Powerhouse. Remember though, you don’t have to pass on the outside. If you want the inside line, the coxswain of the crew you’re passing has to give it up.

I like her call at 7:14 – “it’s time to move through them” to let them know you’re both sitting on each other and it’s time for us to make a move. Same goes for the “I’m taking Weeks before them” call at 7:56.

Coming through the turn, the angle definitely could have been sharper and that’s mostly on the ports to help the starboards out there by backing off so they can bring it around while the coxswain is on the rudder. Ports. I beg of you. When your coxswain says “ease off”, “back off”, etc. DO IT.

At 15:55, she called that shift well – the build into it was calm and then the call for “we’re going for it” was a great way to start the final stretch. I also liked the “now we move” call a little bit later. Overall, well coxed, well steered.

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

Understanding what the buoys mean

Coxing Racing Rowing

Understanding what the buoys mean

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Fall season is just getting started and before you know it it’ll be time to start racing which means buoys … buoys everywhere. Buoys in all sorts of different colors scattered all over the place. If you’re unfamiliar with what they stand for then it can be easy to become confused and/or disoriented when trying to figure out where to go on your way to the starting line or worse, when you’re on the course.

RED buoys should always be on your port side (meaning the boat should be to the right of the buoy).

GREEN buoys should always be on your starboard side (meaning the boat should be to the left of the buoy).

YELLOW (or sometimes orange) buoys are used to indicate some kind of potential hazard, such as a log submerged under the surface of the water, a sand bar, etc. and can be on the left or the right. As they pop up you just have to adjust as necessary. In my experience they’ve also been used to mark stakeboat turns on the race course during head races.

WHITE buoys are used to outline the course, although they’re more commonly used during sprint season to mark the lanes than during head race season. Head of the Charles uses them though to separate the travel lanes and the race course.

Typically at the coaches and coxswains meeting the regatta officials will go over any buoys on the course with you and tell you what they mean but for the most part they should follow the nautical definitions fairly closely.

During sprint season, buoyed courses are set up using the Albano buoy system, which is the marking of the race course with parallel lines of buoys. The first time this was done was at the 1960 Summer Olympics on Lake Albano in Italy, where the rowing events were held. The course is, as we know, 2000m long with six 13.5m wide lanes that are separated by seven lines of buoys that are set 10-15m apart. For the first 100m and last 250m of most courses the buoys are red whereas the other 1650m are white.

Image via // @tristanshipsides