Cal Berkeley 2001 Pac 10 Championships

I tend to think that likening coxswains to jockeys is kind of a lazy (and not totally representative) comparison but this is the first recording I’ve listened to where the visual I have in my head is of the coxswain just whipping his racehorse(s) the whole way down the course to make sure their nose is in front at the end. I know this in your face, brute-ish style of coxing isn’t for everyone but I love it. His style is very crisp, powerful, and determined – you can hear that when he’s talking to the individuals in the boat (which he does frequently) and when he’s making calls for “the Bears”.

Information-wise, you hear him give consistent updates on the time and splits, in addition to the specific time when he’s going to call their next move. I hadn’t heard that before listening to this recording and thought it was an interesting strategy – it’s basically just a different (better?) way of saying “in two”.

The other thing I liked was his tone in the lead-up to their moves. 2:20 is a good example of this. He’s very measured in his tone, the calls are simple, and then at 2:28 you can almost feel the surge in power when he says “NOW!“.

Other calls I liked:

“Quick and light…”

“Sit up tall, breathe deep…”

“Bears are gonna move…”

“5 more, break ’em…”

“Coming into the last 15, this one’s gonna hurt ’em, kill ’em now…“

Ohio State University Women’s 2V8+ and V8+ 2013 NCAA Championships

There’s not a ton of audio to listen to in this video (it contains clips from the 2V8+ and Varsity 8+ races) but one thing I wanted to point out is the clip at 2:41 when she says “Ohio State Buckeyes are out in the lead! We are out … in … the lead.”. It’s a super simple call but the way she says it is confident as fuck. I also like the call at 3:18 – “they’re making moves back, they will get nothing out of us…”.

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