Notes:

Goals of coxswain clinic

• Demystify coxing

• Identify priorities, especially for novice coxswains

• Discuss how to make practices more effective

• Will not talk about racing, but can point those interested to helpful resources

Preparation at home before outing

• When temperatures are low: layer up!

• When windy or rainy: waterproof layers/ponchos

• When sunny: sunglasses/cap because glare off the water can be blinding

• Always bring a water bottle

Preparation at boathouse before outing

• Get fully charged MITRC cox box

• Get tool bag (screwdrivers, adjustable wrenches, spacers, duct tape, etc.)

• Get battery for stern and bow boat lights (when needed)

• Review the river traffic patterns, including permissive arches on upstream and downstream routes

Getting the boat out of the boathouse and onto the water

• Give clear, decisive commands so that everyone acts in unison

• After every command, especially when moving expensive equipment, say “ready…(pause)…go!”

• As a rower, you know exactly what you need to do

• As a coxswain, you will need to break down the sequence of intuitive motions into a series of discrete, succinct calls (visualize step-by-step before outing)

  • Hands on the rack

  • Pull out the rack

  • Hands on the gunwales

  • Lift the boat one inch

  • Walk out into the aisle, etc.

• Safety of the boat:

  • Remind rowers to watch the riggers and avoid collisions with other hanging or resting objects in the boathouse

  • Stay near the stern and keep an eye on the skeg

• Specify which dock and which side of the dock to take

Getting into the boat

• Dock is most common location to capsize, especially when there are no blades flat on the water stabilizing the boat

• Goal 1: plug in equipment and check for functionality

  • Attach the cox box and check volume in the bow

  • Attach the battery and check/ask for help checking stern/bow lights

• Goal 2: give commands so that everyone can get into the boat safely

  • Ask port/starboard rowers to get oars/oarlocks

  • Make sure non-dockside oars are shipped out and flat on the water before anyone gets into the boat

  • Ask rowers who will be operating those oars to get into the boat

  • Then ask rowers who will be operating dockside oars to get in

  • Last of all, the coxswain gets into the boat

• Ask for a countdown from bow to make sure everyone in the boat is ready to leave the dock before pushing off!

Priorities on the water, in order of importance (roughly speaking)

• Safety

• Steering

• Speech

Safety on the water

• You, the coxswain, are in control of your boat

• If you believe that a course of action is unsafe, even if asked by a crew member or a coach, do not take it

• Be aware of surroundings and your position on the river

  • Stationary objects: other docks and boathouses, bridge abutments, floating and submerged branches, shallow banks

  • Moving objects: other boats, launches, kayaks, flocks of animals

• If you approach a slower-moving boat or a slowly-moving launch

  • Overtake if you have room (not about to go under a narrow bridge)

  • Drop out pairs of rowers or go to pause drills

• If you slow down, check to see that there are no boats coming up behind you unexpectedly (communicate with stroke seat)

• Be aware of what is behind your blind spot (where stroke sits)

• When in doubt, STOP ROWING

• Gentle deceleration: weigh enough…and drop

• Quicker deceleration: weigh enough, check it down

• Sudden deceleration, used only in case of emergency (boat damage or rower injury): weigh enough and hold water NOW!!

Steering

• If you’re new to coxing, concentrate on safety and steering; DO NOT feel compelled to talk continually to fill up the void

• Mechanics of steering

  • Each hand wraps around the wooden toggle or the knot, and pinkie around the gunwale for added stability

  • To turn right, move your right hand forward away from you

  • Steer on drive or recovery? No consensus.

    • If on the drive: less disruptive to set, but causes more drag

    • Be hyperaware of how your steering is affecting the boat, then adjust accordingly

  • Always a delay between rudder string movement and boat response

    • Faster boat: faster rudder response

    • Slower boat: slower rudder response, ask crew to help steer

  • E.g. When you spin the boat from dead stop!

• Strategies behind steering

  • Steering a straight course

    • Pick a point on the horizon to aim for

    • Make constant small adjustments to avoid zigzag course

    • Be aware of external factors that make steering difficult

      • Wind

      • Current

      • Uneven pressure

  • Steering around a turn/corner

    • On shallow turns, use primarily the rudder

    • On sharp corners, go on the rudder AND ask for added pressure on one side or shorter slide on the other side

      • Weeks footbridge

      • Inside, downstream lane around the big bend

    • Due to delay between rudder use and boat response, as a novice remember…

      • To start steering before you think it is necessary

      • That if you are still on the rudder after the boat is correctly pointed, you will likely oversteer (zigzag course)

    • Different boats respond differently: get a feel for your boat

  • Spinning the boat

    • Done when you need to reverse directions

    • 180° turn or two 90° turns

    • If space is abundant, ask the inside to hold water, outside to row

    • If space is limited and the boat needs to spin in place, ask one side to row and other side to back: call out each stroke and expect the rowers to follow your command

Speech

• Listen to the coach and write down the practice plan if necessary

• Do not interrupt the coach unless issues of safety arise

• Do NOT be afraid of silence, especially if you’re steering a tough part of river

• Commands

  • How to make calls

    • Which rowers?

    • Starting at which part of the stroke?

    • Pressure, rating, amount of slide, square/feather blades

  • If starting from a stop, always say “Ready…(pause)…go!”

  • If making command while rowing, call out ‘1’ and ‘2’ at the catch of the two strokes preceding the expected change

    • E.g. “In 2 we go on the feather, that’s 1…2…(change happens)”

  • Speak with a sense of rhythm, matching the timing with specific parts of the stroke in a consistent way

• Motivation

  • Will become more intuitive when working with the same lineup of rowers over an extended period of time

  • Most important during high-intensity pieces and races

• Coaching

  • Listen to what the coach says and call it out yourself the next time you observe the error

  • Coxswains can see and thus infer a lot!

    • Timing of catch, timing of release

    • Blade depth during drive

    • Distance between feathered blade and water during recovery

  • KEY: determine which technical flaws might be causing observed blade aberrations

  • Point out to individual rowers/seats if you notice a problem, especially if recurrent, AND suggest a solution

    • “Bow seat, you’re early at the catch, please slow down and control the slide”

    • “Six seat, you’re digging, lower your hands on the drive”

    • “Four seat, you’re skying, hold your hands a tad higher on the recovery”

    • “Three seat, you’re late at the release, try accelerating your hands into the finish”

  • During long, continuous rows, ask the crew as a WHOLE to focus on one technical aspect for 5-10 strokes at a time

  • Wait several strokes for change/improvement to occur, then give feedback, whether good or bad

• Fixing the set

  • No one likes to row in a boat that’s not set

  • Think about an imperfect set as an opportunity to

    • Improve individual rowing technique

    • Foster a more uniform rowing style

    • Increase the run of the boat

  • Coxswain can help diagnose set problems

  • Rowers are responsible for listening to the coxswain and for making the necessary adjustments to fix the set

  • KEY: know the technical framework of a good rowing stroke inside out

  • During which part of the stroke is the boat unstable?

    • On the drive nearing the release:

      • Uneven depth of blades?

      • Consistent hand height at the finish?

      • Good body posture?

      • Finish timing?

      • Feathering out of the water?

    • On the recovery:

      • Are hands moving out level?

      • Are knees locked down until the bodies are over?

      • Are rowers matching body swing by keeping their eyes on the neck of the person in front?

      • Are rowers controlling the slide uniformly?

      • Are rowers keeping body weight over the midline until they rotate outward for the catch?

      • Are arms, bodies, and shoulders moving as one unit up the slide?

      • Are shoulders stable/is outside shoulder up when approaching the catch?

    • At the catch:

      • Are rowers dropping their hands, causing further instability in the shoulders and backs, while reaching out for the catch?

      • Instead, rotate from the hips/waist

Docking the boat

• As you approach the dock, reduce speed!!

• Drop down to stern pair by the end of the stone wall

• Ask bow or 2 seat to add in to assist with steering

  • Slow boatspeed: need help of rowers to steer

• Decide which dock is available and start half a boat-width away from dock

• Make sure that the corner of the dock is always in sight!!

• Stop rowing 15-20 meters before dock and allow boat to drift alongside dock

• Make sure that someone is on the dock to help pull the oar in

• (There are more advanced maneuvers involving seven seat or stroke to help change the angle of the boat, feel free to ask me or coaches afterward)

• Sequence of events getting out of the boat

  • Coxswain gets out first

  • Then, rowers with dockside blades (non-dockside blades still flat on the water for added boat stability)

  • Finally, rowers with non-dockside blades

Summary

• Priorities: Safety, Steering, Speech

• Be decisive and clear

• When in doubt, weigh enough

• Coxing will make you a better rower!