This is from series that British Rowing did leading up to Rio and focuses on the two coxswains, Phelan Hill and Zoe de Toledo. They talk about the coxswain’s role on the team and in the boat, developing boat feel so they can coach the crew when their coach isn’t around, the things they’re observing about the rowers on any given day, their temperaments, dealing with the “what do you do” and “you’re just here for a free ride” banter, etc.
Tag: rowing people
What makes a good coxswain recording
This is a short clip from a talk that Marcus gave during the Sparks winter camp last December on coxswain recordings. In it he talks about how just because you have a good recording doesn’t mean you’re a good coxswain (#preach) and the three things USJNT coach Laura Simon listens for when she’s evaluating the audio sent in by prospective coxswains.
These three things are not groundbreaking, they’re not innovative, and they’re not hard to do. If you’re looking for ways to improve your audio, this should be your starting point because they are, as Marcus said, “the bare minimum” of things most people want to hear.
Talk by Penn ’15 Coxswain Lou Lombardi
Today’s post is some audio of a talk that former Penn coxswain Lou Lombardi gave during the Sparks camp that Penn hosted back in August. He talked about his experience as a coxswain, his lowest point in the sport, what he took away from that experience (namely that he didn’t set himself up to succeed and the changes he made as a result), and what he learned as part of the coxed pair that placed 5th at this year’s world championships . He offers up a lot of great advice in here, especially for coxswains, so definitely give it a listen. It’s a little over 11 minutes long.
Video of the Week: “So long, Huskies!”
I didn’t know who Alan Shealy was before I watched this video but the fact that it started with Patton’s Speech and ended with an interview with Harry Parker (that was shot just a few weeks before he died) got me interested in who he was and what his relationship with rowing was. After some Googling I found out that he’s a seven-time national team member, a two-time Olympian, and a three-time IRA national champion, in addition to being the stroke of the infamous “Rude and Smooth” crew in 1974 and 1975.
This paragraph from this article in Sports Illustrated made me laugh too. I can’t imagine anyone being able to get away with this nowadays…
“And the familiar cocky voice was that of Harvard’s Alan Shealy—brilliant at stroke, profane (though less so than last year) and Washington’s pet hate. To the forlorn Huskies, the posh trappings of Harvard rowing and the abrasive Shealy were symbols of decadence that had been fuel for the fire that possessed them. All week they had taken turns stoking the blaze.
And Shealy, enjoying himself, played them like a puppet master. Two days before the big race, during a coxswains’ race, he sat aboard a moving launch and manned Harvard’s funnelator, a powerful sling devised for launching water balloons, and one of them squarely hit a Husky cox.”
Or this (from this New York Times article)…
“The Huskies from Washington know Shealy well. In a dual regatta at Seattle last June, Shealy yelled out, “So long, Huskies,” as Harvard took command at 500 meters and rowed away.”
Video of the Week: Behind the scenes of “The Boys of ’36”
Back in August PBS aired their documentary on the crew from The Boys in the Boat that they shot in Seattle with some of the UW guys. This video is a quick behind-the-scenes clip that shows the guys talking about what it was like rowing in a wooden hull with the spoon blades and in the much shorter half-slide style that was common back then.
HOCR: Setting up for Weeks
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 || Race plan “hacks” || The course in meters || Weeks, Lowell House, and “the turning tree”
Two years ago Pete Cipollone was on the Rowing Illustrated podcast talking about how to take the Weeks turn. I’ve talked about Weeks before in a previous post but if you’re looking for some last minute tips, here’s a few from the guy who’s won HOCR seven times and whose course record still stands (13:58.9, set in 1997 if you’re curious).
Related: Pete Cipollone’s 1997 HOCR Recording
Setting yourself for the turn is easier than you think, provided you give yourself plenty of room to execute it and position yourself in the middle of the course coming down the Powerhouse stretch. Despite what you’ve probably heard from your coach about staying tight to the buoys, this is one spot (of many, tbh) where you don’t want or need to do that. If you’re confident in your rudder system and the strength of your bow and 3-seat then you can hug them a little tighter but the “ideal” position is about a full boat length off the buoys.
Related: Taking the Weeks turn with the Carl Douglas “Aerowfin”
There are two ways to know if you’ve nailed the turn – the first is if you’re done steering before you hit the bridge. If you’re going through the bridge at an angle and you’re pretty much completely off the rudder already, you nailed it. The other visual cue is if your port side’s blades miss the abutment by a foot or less. I’ve talked about this before but for me personally, I know that when I have the momentary feeling of “oh shit I’m gonna hit the bridge”, that’s how I know we’re right where we need to be.
Related: Weeks, Lowell House, and “the turning tree”
The last part of managing the turn is thinking ahead to Anderson, which you should be doing before you even enter Weeks. Coming out of the turn, provided you started it early enough and are done steering before you go through the bridge, you want to be pointed straight ahead at the outside abutment of Anderson Bridge (the one between the Boston arch that contains the traveling lane and the center racing arch).
Related: Steering through the bridges
A lot of coxswains, particularly those who are racing at HOCR for the first time, have a tendency to wait too long to start their turns which then throws them super wide coming through Weeks, which then means they’ve gotta do an S-curve to get back into position to be lined up for Anderson. You can save yourself a lot of stress and steering by thinking a bridge or two ahead so that you’ve got plenty of time to get set up and make adjustments to your course if necessary if there’s other crews in your way.