Tag: technique

Coxing Novice Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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I rowed for three seasons and I have been asked to help cox a crew for a race thing in the beginning of September. A lot of the people haven’t rowed much/before and we are allowed 12 on-water sessions before the race. The coach has said that I need to coach more since I can sometimes see more from the coxswain seat than they can see from the coach’s boat, except I’m not experienced enough with coxing to know what to look for other than obvious timing issues etc. Do you have any tips?

First thing I’d do is go talk to your coach about what she specifically wants you to look for. Ask for two or three things and then talk with her about what you should be noticing about each of them and what it looks like when it’s right vs. wrong. Bring a notebook so you can write down what she says instead of trying to remember everything. (Trust me, you’re not going to remember, especially if you’ve never coxed before.)

Second thing is to talk to your coxswain or other coxswains at your club and ask them about some of the basic things they look for. If they say something different than what your coach said, ask them the same follow up questions you asked your coach about what you should notice, what it should look like, etc.

Related: So, what did you see?

My suggestions of things to look for are timing at the catch, like you said, catch angles, and how clean the finishes are.

Timing

This is the easiest thing to notice as it’s fairly obvious when someone is catching before or after the stroke. Instead of making an ambiguous call like “watch the timing” to the entire boat, be specific about what needs to happen and who needs to do it. “Bow pair, you’re a little early, let’s match the hands away to stern six and swing together…” or “4, you’re half a stroke late, get the body set a bit sooner on the next one…”. Make sure that if they get off with their timing to wait at the finish and come in on the next stroke instead of waiting at the catch or the middle of the slide, which some novices will do. (Why the finish instead of the catch? Because the boat is more stable when people are at the finish and less stable when they’re compressed at the catch, so it’s less likely to throw off the set of the boat if someone comes in at the finish.)

Catch angles

It can be hard to diagnose the bodies when you can’t see them, especially as a novice coxswain, but looking at the catch angles is a good alternative. You want everyone’s angles to be relatively the same and matching the angles of stern pair to ensure that they’re fully compressed and maximizing their leg drive. If a rower isn’t fully compressed the shaft of the oar will be more perpendicular to the boat whereas if they’re over compressed their oar will be more parallel to the boat in comparison to the stroke’s oar. You might have to turn your head to look at stern pair’s oars since it’s easy to look directly over them and only see bow 6’s. If you see someone either going too far or not far enough, you can point it out by reminding them to get to where their knees are over their ankles and no further.

Clean finishes

If the finishes aren’t clean and people are washing out you’ll see a lot of white water splashing forward, almost like a mini tidal wave. It’ll also be kinda noisy. If the blades are buried too deep on the drive they might get stuck at the finish, especially if the boat isn’t set, which could lead to a rower catching a crab. If you see someone washing out, tell them to accelerate the blade through the water (meaning the stroke should get stronger as you approach the finish), hold the blade in for the entire stroke instead of tapping the hands down before you’re all the way to the finish, and pull all the way into their body before tapping down (thumbs should just brush their stomach before the hands go away). Before you start rowing make sure you remind everyone to bury the blades too. If someone’s blade is only buried halfway instead of entirely when they go to take a stroke they’ll wash out.

Don’t try to look for everything the next time you go out with your boat. Pick one or two things to focus on during practice, then the next practice pick two more things, and then two more after that. Once you’ve got an idea of what everything should look like, start to focus on all of it in the practices leading up to your race. If you get overwhelmed, go back to just watching one or two things. Don’t just watch whatever you think is the easiest to spot though because that won’t help you or the rowers. Make an effort to look for all the little details that you might not otherwise notice. Take notes on what you see either when you’re not rowing or once you get off the water and review them the next day before you go out. Communicate with your coach too about what you’re seeing, if you have questions, etc.

Masters Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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I have been rowing starboard and mostly 7 seat recently in a women’s masters 8+ and for the last two practices they’ve had me stroking, which I really disliked. Granted we’re all pretty new to rowing, and there are some definite strength/power issues with teammates, but every time I’m in stroke seat I feel like I just can’t get my oar out of the water fast enough. I’m literally hitting my legs over and over, and sometimes I feel like there’s nowhere for my oar to go when I try to take a decent stroke. I rarely, if ever, seem to have this problem rowing starboard, or in my usual 7 seat. Last practice was fantastic, and then I’m stroking and its a mess. Is it a boat set issue, or is it just me? Even on simple pick drills I’m having a difficult time getting the oar out of the water cleanly in stroke seat. One of our coaches just told me to tap down more and the other said it was a boat set issue..How can I fix this? I’m confused. Help!

Oh come on, that’s just lazy coaching. I think it’s the rigging. Have you checked the spacers to see where they’re positioned? If you haven’t got enough on the bottom then that might be why you’re having a hard time getting the blade out of the water. You’d be pulling into your lap which would be why you can’t tap down anymore. How is your coach not seeing that? If there are too many on the bottom then you’d have a hard time getting it in at the catch. I’d look to see where they’re at and then based on the issue you’re having adjust from there. Ask your coaches about that too … like, actually say “what if I tried adjusting the spacers” and then see what they say.

It partially is a boat set issue because, if I’m right, you’re being forced to pull in too low. That’s gonna throw it over to your side which will exacerbate the issue of you not being able to get your blade out. Plus you’ve got seven other inexperienced rowers who all have their own weird technique quirks going on that are contributing to the boat being off set. Set issues are never caused by one thing but sometimes you’ve gotta look past the obvious stuff to figure out what the problem is. Check your spacers the next time you go out and see if adjusting them helps. If not, bug the hell out of your coach(es) until they give you something better than “tap down more” or “set the boat”.

Oh, and if you really don’t like stroking, tell them that. Just say that it’s difficult to focus on rowing well and establishing a rhythm that everyone can follow and that you’re more comfortable rowing in 7-seat, especially since starboard is your natural side. There’s no sense in repeatedly rowing on a side where things are constantly going poorly because that’s how bad technique and bad habits develop. You start changing how you row to compensate for whatever’s going on. Talk to your coaches, explain why it’s frustrating, and again, see what they say.

Coxing Drills Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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I’m a HS coxie, and I’ve been a long time fan of your blog. I’ve been training during the summer and recently my boat has transformed from a coxed 4+ to a coxed 4x+. One of our members has summer school so we’re out on the water fairly early, ~30 minutes before most of the coach boats come out. What are some useful drills for some guys who are transitioning from sweeping to sculling? These guys have done both but it’s obviously a bit of a change. Right now, we’ve been doing fairly basic stuff, SS with a few pause drills, square blade, etc. Any ones that you think could really help shape up the crew? I’d appreciate any advice that you could give. Thanks a lot and keep at what you’re doing!

Your coaches are OK with you going out 30 minutes early without them?

Pause drills are definitely a great thing to do. Try to vary where you do them since each one hits a different technical point depending on where the pause is (hands away, bodies over, 1/4 slide, 1/2 slide, and 3/4 slide). Have the guys focus on their posture at each position and think “am I really at 1/4 slide, did I go too far or not far enough”, etc. Go through each pair (stern, middle, bow) before working your way up to all four. Here’s how I’d do it:

3-5 regular strokes to get the boat moving

10 strokes pausing at hands away

5 regular strokes

Repeat 10 pause, 5 regular until you’re all the way through the drill then pick it up from the beginning with middle pair.

When you’re through with the pairs go to all four and pause at the major points – arms away, bodies over, and half slide. Do 5 pauses and 10 regular strokes (reverse of earlier).

Make sure you really emphasize during the in-between regular strokes what you just worked on – getting the hands away smoothly and at the same speed as the boat, early body prep, starting the slide together, making sure you’ve still got room to come up when at 1/2 slide, etc. This should be done at a comfortable stroke rate too. Not too fast obviously, but not too slow either. 18-20 is good. I would imagine that you could easily use up the entire 30ish minutes doing this drill but if you have some extra time row by all four continuously and work on putting together everything you were working on. Talk to the guys and find out what they’re having trouble with, if anything, and make a note to focus on that the next time you go out. Remind them to not just go through the motions with this drill – consciously think about every single stroke.

A stationary drill you can do is catch placement drills, which will help them work on putting all their blades in the water together in addition to helping them move the wheels of the slide together. Start at the finish, you say “go”, they come up to the catch and drop their blades in without taking a stroke. Pause for a second then have them relax and come back to the finish. I’d start off with pairs again, do this until you’ve had at least 10 good catches and then move on to the next pair, followed by all four. Remember, there’s a difference between 10 good catches and 10 total catches. 10 good catches teaches you not to settle for anything less than your best. It might get frustrating at times but that’s OK. When they’re coming into the catch, I like to tell my crews to really exaggerate the “plop” sound so that they can all hear their blades going in. I find that helps them hold each other and themselves more accountable. Remind them also that they’re not lifting the blade into the water, they’re just unweighting the hands.

Related: What are stationary drills? How can there be drills if the rowers aren’t rowing? What are some examples?

Feet out is another great thing to do. It’s not a sculling specific drill but it’ll help you focus on keeping the connection all the way through the finish and release, supporting the stroke with your core, keeping pressure out against both pins, etc. I would do your usual warmup with feet out and then go straight into all four continuous for 5-10 minutes with a couple added 10s or 20s at 18-20spm. My eight does our warmup with feet out every day and I’ve seen a lot of positive changes come out of it.

The last drill that comes to mind is the first inch (also known as top-quarter) drill. There are a couple of different variations and ways you can do this but the one I like to do is a progression drill starting with the first inch, going to the top quarter, top half, and then finally taking full strokes. You start at the catch, blades buried, and then take really short, choppy (but clean) strokes, making sure you’ve got a really solid connection with the stretchers. Do 5-10 of those before lengthening out and repeating the same thing on the top quarter of the slide, followed by the top half, and then finally with full slide strokes.

This is good because it works on the connection, quick catches, clean releases, timing, and a ton of other things. When I do this I tend to not count out the number of strokes either. I leave it up to the rowers because it forces them to pay attention and not zone out. It drives me nuts when they do drills on autopilot. I’ve never done this drill with scullers before but I think it’d be useful to do to help them get acquainted with having two oars now instead of just one, amongst the other obvious stuff. This is another drill I’d start off doing by pairs before transitioning to all four.

Communicate with them and talk about what you’re all doing well and what needs work. What do they think needs work (and why) and what do you think needs work. Present that to your coach and say “this is what we’ve been doing, we’ve all noticed this getting better but something we noticed is that we sometimes have trouble with ____” and then ask what drills they’d suggest to work on that.

If you’ve only got 30 minutes, make sure you use that time effectively. Don’t try to cram in a ton of drills or anything like that. Do one drill each day and then use whatever extra time you have to do steady state with feet out until your coaches get there. Focus on using your time wisely instead of trying to do everything. Do the drill and reinforce what it taught during the steady state. If you do pause drills for 20 minutes and are able to do 10 minutes of steady state, use 2 minutes each to focus on keeping the hands quick around the turn, getting the body prepped before the slides move, staying controlled on the recovery, having quick, solid, together catches, and then finish it off by dropping the rate a couple beats (14-16spm maybe) and rowing at 100%. The strokes should feel long, relaxed, and connected.

Something you can do too to help with boat “cohesiveness” is to get everyone breathing together. Have you ever seen a crew rowing together at those powerful, low rates and they’re all exhaling together at the catch and it sounds like a train’s coming through? There’s a relaxing intensity to it that lends itself well to maintaining the focus and rhythm.

Coxing Novice Q&A Technique

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As a novice coxswain I still really struggle with the technical aspect of practices. This summer I joined a boat club and spent two weeks out on the water learning to row, hoping that the first-hand experience would help me understand how to fix some common problems. Now that I’m coxing again, I still get really confused when something is wrong with the set. I don’t know what other advice to give other than handle height suggestions and counting for catch-timing, especially when it doesn’t seem to be up or down to one side consistently (like rocking back and forth with every stroke). I was wondering what advice you would give to your rowers in a situation like this, and how you can recognize and remedy some common technical problems.

There are a lot of things that can mess with the set and all of them are exacerbated when the rowers you’re coxing are novices. The most common and obvious thing is handle heights and that tends to be what coaches point out the most, so it’s natural for that to be the go-to thing you call for when trying to get the boat to set up.

Calling for catch timing, even though it does cause the boat to go offset, doesn’t do anything to help with the set (at least in my experience) because it takes the focus away from one problem and puts it on another. People start rushing up the slide because they’re behind the count or sitting at the catch and waiting because they’re ahead of it. Any inkling of thought about handle heights goes out the window, which in turn can end up making the set even worse.

When the boat goes off set and I’m coxing, I usually…

Tell the side it’s down to to lift their hands. If that doesn’t work after a stroke or two I’ll tell the other side to lower their hands a bit.

Change how I say “set it up”. If you say “set the boat” too often it’ll start to lose it’s meaning and people will stop listening, so in addition to tell each side what to do I’ll say “stabilize it”, “level it out”, etc.

Remind them to adjust their handle heights only at the finish. Coming out of the turn at the finish is the only spot where their hands should move; too many people try to make adjustments in the middle of the stroke and that ends up throwing the boat way over to the other side (and pissing off the rowers who just had their fingers smashed on the gunnels).

Remind them to shape the finishes by pulling in to their targets and giving themselves room to tap down. So many people either pull into their laps and lift their hands up immediately after the finish or pull in too high and come away at the same height … and then wonder why the boat’s not set.

Make sure their weight is centered in the middle of the boat and that they’re not moving around unnecessarily while they’re sitting out.

Usually I’ll make general calls for technique and the bodies unless I hear the coach point out something specific, in which case I’ll try to focus my calls on that and incorporate the feedback they’re giving into my rotation of calls. For example, if they say something to 3-seat about getting the bodies set early so they’re not rocking over mid-recovery and diving down with the shoulders at the catch (resulting in their blade going up in the air, which leads to a litany of other issues), then I’ll make that (and 3-seat) the focus of my calls for a few strokes until the boat levels out.

As far as recognizing other general technique issues, that comes with experience, paying attention during practice, and hearing/seeing what your coach is pointing out.  If you hear them tell someone they’re washing out, look to that person’s oar and see if you can see it. (If you don’t understand what washing out is, for example, ask.) From there, listen to see what the change is that the coach wants them to make and then watch their blade to see if they actually make that change. See if you can spot the differences between before the change and after. Remember what the boat felt like during the “wrong” strokes so that in the future when the boat feels like that again you can look to see if anyone is washing out and then make the necessary corrections from there.

College Coxing Racing Video of the Week

Video of the Week: Harvard, Penn, and Navy

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This week’s video is a good opportunity for coxswains to learn what to do when there’s two separate pieces happening within one race. You’ll notice that after Mass Ave. Harvard’s got a solid length’s lead on the other two crews. If you’re the Navy or Penn coxswain, what do you do? You obviously don’t want to keep telling your crew that you’re a length or more down on Harvard and continue the increasingly futile attempts at chasing them down, so at that point you have to, in a sense, concede that race and focus on the one you can still win, which in this case would be the one between Navy and Penn.

Basically what I’m saying is that you have to recognize when you’re racing for first and when you’re racing for second. First place was established about 500m into the race but 2nd is still up for grabs, so the focus should shift towards the crew you still have a chance at beating. There’s some psychology behind this that you’ve got to wrestle with but ultimately you’ve got to recognize the situation and understand that you lost this battle but you can still win this other one, and then in the midst of all of the racing you’ve got to get your crew to buy into that within the span of 3-5 strokes.

In that same vein, if you’re the Harvard coxswain, what do you do? You’re not racing anyone anymore, so how do you keep your crew from getting complacent? Just as you have to work hard to keep them engaged when you’re a boat length down, you also have to work hard to keep them engaged when you’re a length up.

In one situation, you’re behind and you’ve got to claw your way back to the top. The rowers can’t see anyone behind you so they know they’re behind and that creeping feeling of “shit, we’re losing” is taking over. The bodies aren’t quitting yet but the minds are. You as the coxswain have to shut that voice up, eight, sometimes nine, times over. In the other situation, you’re ahead and the rowers can clearly see they’re ahead. This gives them an opportunity to think “well, we’re ahead, we clearly have the lead … let’s back off a bit, save some energy, and coast through the finish line”.

At regattas where you’re part of a progression and you’ve got to go through heats and semis before reaching the finals and you’ve established a solid lead during your heat, yea, you can back off a little. That’s on your call though, not theirs. Make sure that is established ahead of time. You want to save your energy and your best rowing for the final so backing off a bit in the heat once you’ve secured a spot in the semis or finals is fine. When you’re in a finals-only race like this one between Harvard, Penn, and Navy though, you should be going all out from start to finish. At the very least, it’s good practice.

If mid-race you find yourselves in a one-crew race you’ve got to assess the situation and figure out what you can do to still make the piece worth something. Yea you might win but what else did you get out of it? If you race all the way across the line instead of coasting across it, that gives you the opportunity to push your bodies so that when you are racing all the way to the end your bodies don’t prematurely give out with 200m to go because you haven’t been tested all season.

Coxing Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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One of my rowers get so much layback she looks as if she’s about to completely lay down! It’s affecting her timing with stroke seat, what would you suggest?

Tell her to stop. I know that’s the blunt and obvious answer but it really is what I say to rowers who layback like that. When they keep doing it after I’ve told them to stop I start telling them about all the ways they’re screwing up their low back (and abs, to an extent) and eventually that’s what gets them to quit. Have you talked with her outside the boat regarding her timing issues? Does she know that her timing isn’t with the rest of the boat’s? I’d tell her off the water and explain to her how her layback is playing a large part in that and ask her to work on it the next time you go out.

Her layback isn’t going to be something you’ll be able to see but you will be able to see what her timing is like. After practice talk with your coach and ask him how it looked today. Keep reminding her of both the timing and the layback. Say something to her about timing only when you notice it’s an issue but throw in a few “Jenny, sit up tall, support the stroke with the core…” calls just as a general reminder to her. This will get her thinking about it for a stroke or two and she’ll either remember to not layback too far or realize she is laying back too far and fix it by sitting up taller and only going back as far as she needs to.

Novice Q&A Rowing Technique

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In a week’s time I have my first (of three) 2km scull and 2km ergo trials. I’m really nervous about the scull because I only just got off floaties (floats that sit under the oar gates for stability) and now every stroke at the finish I’m having a lot of trouble getting my blades out cleanly and together. Like my left is always on time and clean but my right always lags and such gets a bit stuck? How do I combat this?

My guess is that it’s one of two things: one, it might be a timing/coordination thing since you said your left is on time and clean but your right isn’t or two, your set is off and you’re leaning to port, which would explain why the starboard oar comes out clean (plenty of room to tap down vs. no room). Something I’ve noticed with the kids I see going from the stable boats to the less stable racing shells is that they’re afraid to lay back because they’re afraid of becoming more parallel with the boat. Since they don’t lay back, they don’t give themselves any room to tap the blades down which results in them having really sloppy finishes. That, combined with questionable handle heights to begin with, usually results in one or both of the blades getting briefly stuck in the water.

My suggestion would be to work on some release drills. Sit at the finish (laying back, sitting up tall, supported with the core), get your set, and then bob the oars up and down – all you’re doing is tapping down. This is obviously done on the square. Don’t go at a frantic pace but don’t go so slow that you’re losing your set on every stroke. Make sure you’re moving your hands at the same time, pushing the oars into the pins, and maintaining that pressure against the oarlocks. When you’re tapping down, occasionally look out at your oars to see how far you actually need to press down with your hands to release the blades from the water. If the blade isn’t at least an inch or two above the water, tap down more. Make sure you’re releasing them smoothly and not yanking or jerking the handles in and down. Once you’re comfortable with this, move on to the pick drill while continuing to work on the finishes. I’d do this on the square a few times before switching to doing it on the feather. Another drill you could do is work on the delayed feather drill. This one works to ensure that you’re coming out of the water square before feathering your blade (possibly another reason why it’s getting stuck, especially if the boat is offset). When you do this drill, you tap down and go to hands away on the square, then feather between hands away and bodies over, then square up again at 1/2 slide.

One final important thing that you’re going to need to work on is finding your balance and keeping the hands level throughout the entirety of the stroke. You don’t necessarily need to be balancing the oars off the water at any point other than the release just yet but the boat itself needs to be level. A couple weeks ago I heard some of the pre-elite scullers on the Charles being coached and something their coach said might help – I’m not sure if it actually works so scullers out there, feel free to correct me. He said that a “foolproof” way of keeping your boat set is to always have the knuckles of your right hand touching your left wrist. I didn’t hear the explanation but from thinking about it my assumption is that it would help you to keep your hands together and work on the timing to ensure they’re moving together.

How To Q&A Rowing Technique

Question of the Day

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Tips on how to correct posture while rowing? Apparently I slouch a lot around the catch!

It all starts at the finish. Well, sort of. It’s kind of like the chicken-egg thing … which comes first? Finishes are affected by catches and catches are affected by finishes, but where does the problem actually start?

At the finish you’ve got to make sure you’re laying back while sitting up tall. The next most important thing after that is swinging while maintaining a straight back. Keep the core solid, almost as if you’re preparing to be punched at any second, without hunching the shoulders or stiffening the upper body. Make sure that you’re moving in the proper sequence – arms, back, legs – and not letting your butt slide under your shoulders. This is a huge reason why a lot of people slouch at the finish. Your shoulders should always be ahead of your butt. If you get to half slide and stop moving your shoulders but continue to move your butt, your body is going to go from being at a 55(ish) degree angle to being at 90 degrees, which you obviously don’t want and will cause you to curve your lower back, sink into your hips, and open your back early on the ensuing catch. Your stroke will also be very short. Focus on keeping your head and chin up and level – memorize every intricate detail of the back of the person’s head in front of you. This also tends to help with keeping your back straight because if your eyes are down, everything else tends to follow, but if your eyes are up, everything tends to stay up and supported (including the handle).

If your core isn’t well developed, sitting up tall and avoiding the slouch will probably be difficult for you. Having abs or any kind of 6 pack doesn’t count as having a strong core so don’t let your hot rower’s bod fool you into thinking your core is strong just because you’re ripped. Planks and side-planks are great core developers so if you find you’re still having issues sitting up at the catch after you’ve worked on the basic technique stuff I’d definitely recommend adding some planks into your pre-row warmup/on-land workouts.

Coxing How To Novice Q&A Technique

Question of the Day

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I just got picked to cox the four that we are sending to our regional championship regatta after only having two weeks practice (apparently my coach thinks I’m doing something right haha). Anyway, the guys in my boat always ask for more technical calls and I don’t know how to make them when I can’t watch them row. Any suggestions? Thanks!

I assume you’re in a bow loader? Record them! That’s my number one piece of advice for anyone coxing bow loaders. Have your coach or someone riding in the launch record them during practice one day (like, 30 seconds or so here and there throughout the row) and then give you the footage to (preferably) go over with your coach after you get off the water.

Even though you can’t directly see what they’re doing you can still get an idea of what their tendencies are by watching the video. Stroke’s thing might be squaring up late, 3 might need to get his hands matched to the boat speed a little quicker, etc. If you can spot those things on the video you can use them as calls during practice, even just as a reminder call when you’re not sure what else to say. The rowers will be forced to think about it for a stroke or two, which means they’ll either realize they’re doing it and then make the change or think about it and remind themselves to either keep doing or not do whatever specific thing you’re telling them about.

Another thing you can do on your own is really learn about each part of the stroke, the drills you do, etc. and learn what all of the technical intricacies are. During the stroke, what should the bodies look like at hands away, 1/2 slide, the catch, the finish, etc. When you do cut the cake, what’s the purpose, what’s it working on, how’s it done, what must the rowers do in order to execute it properly, etc. When the rowers are tired, what do they have to do with their bodies to stay supported throughout the stroke? ALL of those tiny, miniscule bits of information that you can pull out of each of those things is a technical call you can use.

And my other number one piece of advice when dealing with rowers – ask them what they want. If they’re asking you for technical calls there’s a good chance that there is something specific they want to hear, even if it’s something seemingly insignificant, like reminding them to keep their eyes and chins up. Talk to each rower individually and find out what calls they want to hear and then as a crew, what do they want to hear. They’re your best source of information so don’t hesitate to use them.

Q&A Rowing Technique

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The Kiwi pair does this really incredible thing where they take their oars out of the water SO FREAKING CLEANLY and I am having such a hard time trying to do it, I can never tell if I’m throwing water around when I feather my blade and IDK if you know what I’m getting at but yeah help?

I watched a couple videos of them rowing just to see what their strokes looked like and to see if I could point something out that they were doing differently but I couldn’t really find anything. I think they’re just really good rowers who have excellent technique and years of experience on their side.

One of the best ways to tell if you’re throwing water around is to listen for it (it’s really noticeable compared to the normal sound of the water) or have someone in the launch tell you. It’s easiest to see it from the side but your coxswain might be able to tell too so have them watch as well. If you can get your coach or someone riding along during practice to record you rowing for a minute or two, you can look at that and review your technique. In order to have a good stroke you’ve got to start with a clean recovery, which means that your posture has to be up tall and solid through the core so that the handle and oar is supported all the way through the water. If you sink into your hips or start slumping over towards the end of the drive there’s no way you can maintain pressure on the oar, which will cause you to have a sloppy release. You’ve also got to be cognizant of where your hands are and what they’re doing.

Posture is critical here as well because it order to finish the stroke and draw in high, you’ve got to be sitting up tall and laying back. If you’re laying back too far, that will prevent you from tapping down properly, so laying back no farther than the 11 o’clock position is important. Tapping down is probably the most important part of the ‘finish and release” part of the stroke (hopefully for obvious reasons). You can’t start the recovery or feather the blade until it’s out of the water so it’s important to make sure you’re drawing in high enough and laying back far enough that you’re providing yourself with plenty of room to get the blade out of the water.

One of the things that drives me crazy is when you tell someone to tap down (repeatedly, ad nauseum) and they don’t change anything but continuously say “I am!”. We wouldn’t be telling you to tap down if you were already doing it so humor us and do something different. Your hands should literally be moving from rib-level down towards your quads. It’s something you’ve got to consciously think about doing until you’ve got it engrained in your muscle memory (which won’t happen quickly).

One drill that can help you work on finishing cleaning and feathering without throwing water around is the delayed feather drill. You can see video of it below. It teaches you to get the blade all the way out of the water before feathering so that you avoid feathering under the water, washing out, etc.