miss novice coxswain over here.

-just doing my best not to crash the boat or piss off my rowers by getting in the way, learning something new every practice. one day I'm going to cox the 1V.

[theworstcoxswain]

Hi! I'm the new(ish) varsity cox at my university and I've been chosen to cox our boats at CUs this year in British Columbia! This will be my 4th season coxing but I'm TERRIFIED because i'm the only coxie on the team with experience which is why I was chosen: by default. i'm worried that I'm going to let my crew down and was wondering if you had any tips or tricks to pass along? Thanks!

hey anon! first of all: that's fantastic, congratulations! my first tip is honestly to enjoy it- that's a super opportunity and you should be proud of yourself for being chosen, whether by 'default' or not (trust me, I've seen coxes with way more experience be passed over for a 'rising star,' or someone who was just so naturally good at it that they made up for their novice status).

Unfortunately, the only time I've coxed in Canada was during Masters Nationals two summers ago, so i can't give you any specific tips for the course. But honestly, if this is your 4th season coxing I think you've had plenty of experience and time to just let what I call 'crew sense' sink in. If you just think back to where you were when you first started coxing (or even where the novices are now), you just pick up so much almost subconsciously that I think you'll find you'll do much better than you think. At the end of the day, there are good coxes, great coxes, and elite coxes, but the difference between the three is a lot slimmer in practical things than, say, the difference between good and elite rowers. There's only so straight a course you can steer, after all, and that's the most important part. 

If you have any calls you want to work on specifically not forgetting, I'd scribble them on a post-it note or something you can stick next to your cox box and start integrating them in during practice until they're a part of your everyday rotation. Obviously ask your rowers what they're looking for and browse through other coxes' recordings, etc stuff I'm sure you already know, but I also like looking through other athletes' speeches, quotes, and the like to try and find stuff that'll really hit home.

As for letting your crew down, at the end of the day it's their decision how hard they'll train and how hard they'll pull when the time comes. if you've been chosen to cox this boat, the coaches believe you're worthy of them, and vice versa. i stress out about this ALL. THE. TIME. and one thing I do that helps is go the gym (or for a run, but if you're in Canada I'm assuming you're pretty chilly rn) and close my eyes and visualize the absolute worst that could go wrong-- T-boning another boat, impaling a sculler (no joke, that happened at the Charles the other year), steering a course twice as long as the original-- while going absolutely ham on the treadmill (or elliptical, or bike, or erg, of course). I don't know why, but at the end of a session like that I always feel a lot better-- like obviously you're not going to create a six-boat pile up, or anything crazy. I would advise not talking to anyone in your boat specifically about your worry unless you know for sure you have a solid relationship and they do trust you as a cox, just because the rowers will pick up on your tension and be jumpy as hell up the slide. 

Hope that helps, and I'm sure you'll do fine! Have fun!

[theworstcoxswain]

-on athletic finishes

I've had a lot of guys brush me off when I correct their posture--like, they kinda give me this look, "come on now, really? It's the finish." Which is exactly the reason I hate calling it the finish. Rowers have this tendency to think that it's called the finish because the stroke's finished. 

IT'S NOT.

It's the finish of the drive--which is not at all the same thing as the finish of the stroke. Especially male rowers want to focus on the drive as the most important part of the stroke, when in fact I would argue that if anything, you should spend the least attention to the drive. 

All the body prep, getting in position, setting your blade up for a strong drive happens when? During the recovery. And when does your recovery start? At the release. In other words, if your finish is substandard--if you're slouching, for instance--you're setting yourself up for failure on the drive.

Something I've noticed a lot with my novice rowers is that when they slouch at the finish, their hands automatically lower into their lap. Then when they're compressing towards the catch, they have to compensate by tensing their outside shoulder to raise their hands to get over the knees in this awkward circular motion of their arms.

Now, the reason coaches and coxswains tell rowers to think of straight lines during rowing is that when you start moving your handle in a circle, every part of your stroke becomes inefficient. 

During the recovery, your blade skies like crazy (my coach calls it waving to your parents), so that when you come up to the catch, your blade isn't in a good position for direct entry at all--in fact it's at completely the opposite. If you simply unweight the handle like you're supposed to, your catch timing's going to be late, so you have to forcefully lift the handle into the catch--which not only results in a sloppy catch, but also results in digging, more often than not. It's very difficult to only lift the handle until the blade is buried. Generally speaking, a rower who lifts the handle into the catch keeps lifting until about an extra foot of oar is also underwater.

Then with all that added drag on the blade, no matter how hard you pull? You'll still be creating an immense extra drag on the speed of the boat. So if it feels like you're pulling and pulling and not going any faster, this could be something to stop and think about. Are you sitting up into athletic finishes, with your elbows down and your hands coming up to your sternum? 

[theworstcoxswain]

-notice the flat outside shoulder; it's not bunching up past his ear (read: there is daylight between his earlobe and the top of his shoulder) and extending awkwardly out to the side, which happens when you break your arms too soon/tense unnecessarily. In other words, he came out of the catch with his legs and not his upper body. His chest is still tall and facing upright, not hunched over.

See how relaxed his outside hand is, as well: the famous "death grip" isn't present here, which cuts down on blisters as well as muscle fatigue. The thumb is hooked around instead of gripping tightly. If anything, the hand could be a touch more over the handle, but the amount of force here is pretty solid. His inside hand does look a tad overly tight, though.

[fleshwthoutblood]

[theworstcoxswain]

classic rower-coxswain photodynamics

[iwantcupcakes]

Robert Downey Jr., on having confidence in yourself (x).

[theworstcoxswain]

a coxswain's attitude in four gifs. robert downey jr wins again.

seriously though, guys. unless you suddenly can't remember which side of the buoy you're supposed to be on, never show weakness. rowers are sharks and they will pounce. side note: asking for advice is not the same as showing weakness.

[theworstcoxswain]

-power tens.

Power tens are possibly the most famous coxswain call. It's one of the first things rowers always think of and is a pretty standard fallback for any coxswain, novice or Olympian.

A power ten is a sequence of ten strokes that you count out (at the CATCH, when you count strokes you always count them just at the entry point. It helps to maintain a rhythm and lets the rowers know which stroke you're referring to). It's traditionally supposed to be ten really really really really hard strokes, where the rower can give that little extra because he or she knows there're only ten and they're holding on to your voice.

Do NOT simply count 1, 2, 3, ...10. That's not motivational at all. If someone started yelling numbers in your ear, would you care at all? In the middle of the next picture is an example of a power ten (the whole thing is also composed of good race calls.)

Of course, you wouldn't say "we've gained a seat," if you hadn't. There're plenty of other things you can say in the middle. I tend to fall back on "PUSH" at least once because it's such a versatile and easy call.

---

I also think that saying, "power ten here," is pretty sloppy. Power ten for what? Obviously if it's part of your race plan, such as a power ten at the 1000m to shift into a slightly higher rate, that's one thing. It does help to say something like, "All right guys, coming up on that 1000m mark, let's take a power ten right here to attack that last 1000m, that's ONE, putting it away, TWO, killing this middle stretch, THREE...." and so on.

I also like to take ten to focus on technique because rowers, especially novices, tend to fall apart sometimes during races. Catches, rushing the slide, engaging the legs, posture, etc., all are good examples. For instance, if I noticed that my rowers were all catching at 8 different times, I'd say something like, 

 Alright guys, getting in time here, together, let's refocus in here. We're gonna take a ten to get out catches together, that's ONE, together, TWO, together, THREE, quick and clean, FOUR, that's it, FIVE, quick hands away, SIX, getting that blade squared, SEVEN, blade in then go, EIGHT, together, NINE, attack those catches, TEN, looking good, let's keep that up. 

Don't be afraid to repeat calls from time to time. If your rowers aren't catching together, feel free to repeat together until they want to stab you. I will repeat "Catch, send... catch, send... catch, send..." until their blades start entering the water together. If I have to say it 18 times, I will. If you're taking a power ten for legs, for instance, I'd say legs maybe three or four times. Tone is what's key here. Half your rowers won't even remember your exact words.

Any specificity for a power ten works, really. "Let's take a ten to show ___ what we're made of," for instance. "Ten here to take them DOWN." A very common one is to fend off a move made by another crew. "___'s trying to walk on us here, they're trying to make a move, that's not their move to make. Give me a ten to hold them off right here, that's ONE!" 

And I mean, use your judgment. This is your crew. If it looks like the boat is struggling and they need a motivational burst to get their shit together, call a power ten. If your rower is on the erg and his split keeps dropping or he's coming up on the 1500m mark and he looks tired, call a power ten. Ultimately, it's a very versatile tool. You can wield it however you want.

---

People also take power fives for shorter bursts. If you're using the power strokes to build up to your final sprint, for instance, you can use either a five or a ten. Power fifteens and twenties also exist-- generally these are at the beginning of a race, right after your start sequence, when you take fifteen or twenty high strokes (these you count out like power tens) before shifting into your base race pace.

(that's kinda fun to say. Base race pace. Bet you can't say that six times fast.)

On these: CAUTION: DO NOT COUNT OVER TEN. Do not count over ten. Do not count over ten. Nothing will piss off a seasoned rower faster than, "...9, give it to me here, 10, full pressure, 11, all you've got, 12..."

Treat power twenties like two power ten's back to back. Something like, "NINE, big legs, TEN, ten more here, that's ONE, off we go..."

Same with power fifteens, except instead of ten more here it would be five. Honestly? These are so much fun to call, and so easy, too, compared to the rest of the stuff you have to call. Have fun with them, but don't overuse them-- if you're on your fifth power ten of a race, your rowers aren't going to care what numbers you're yelling in your mic, they're so done with your shit.

[up2in2]

When coach says to "eat your competition for breakfast"

[theworstcoxswain]

-it's the derp crew! featuring...

Troll!Bow

erhmagerdhelp!Threetard

Shit just got real!Stroke

and Y U NO CATCH TOGETHER!Coxswain.

[theworstcoxswain]

-on the feather vs. on the square

This is just one thing that coach never really explained to us coxswains, probably because if you're a rower this comes naturally to you. So here's the breakdown:

When the blade is squared up, it is perpendicular to the water.

If you're rowing on the square, the blade remains perpendicular to the water the entire time. The oar just goes up and and across and back in the water, without rotating at all. This is not common on the water and is generally only used for drills. 

It's just not very efficient. If you think about it, we're using the blades as leverage against the water. We push water backwards (towards the stern) so that we go forwards (to the bow). Now, if something is gliding across the water, what's the fastest way (bar crashing) to check its momentum? Sticking something in the water, right? Because if you just stick your blade in the water, perpendicular, and hold it there, the water's going to catch your blade and drag you to a stop. That's why we check it down/hold water to stop the boat quickly. 

On the other hand, the blade has to be perpendicular to the water in order to move the most water, and thereby the boat. That's why quick, clean catches are so vital. More on that later. So the idea is to keep the blade perpendicular to the water when it goes in at the catch but have it parallel to the water for a smooth exit on its way out at the finish. 

That's where feathering comes in. It's literally just the opposite of squaring: instead of turning the blade perpendicular to the water, you turn it parallel. This is done at the finish, right when the blade is coming out of the water.

If you feather your blade too soon, you're cutting your drive (and thus your power) short; if you feather your blade too late, you're causing drag on the boat. Ideally, you should start feathering your blade when it's about three-quarters out of the water. That way when it emerges, it will be fully parallel to the water.

So during the recovery, as you're getting back in position for the catch, your blade is parallel over the water. But you want your blade to be squared before it enters the water for maximum power, remember? (Also, try sticking your blade in the water while it's parallel to the water. You can't.) So the blade is squared before the catch.

There's some leeway on when to square the blade. A mistake that many novice rowers make is to forget to square the blade until they reach the catch. Then they just kinda hang out there with their arms reaching out behind them while they square the blade and then enter the water. Two things can happen then: either they're late to the catch because while they were busy squaring their blade, the other rowers were already entering the water; or, to give themselves extra time to do this, they've rushed the recovery.

Either way, it slows the boat down. A good rule of thumb is to square the blade as your hands pass your knees on the recovery.

---

Tl;dr: when rowing on the square, you keep your blade squared at all times. This is relatively inefficient and usually done only during drills on during tank sessions.

When rowing on the feather, you feather your blade at the finish and square it on the recovery before the catch. This is how you row during races and most of the time you're on the water.

yes, I'm hilarious, I know.

[theworstcoxswain]

-yet another analysis of Olympic rowing, this time of a pair. More specifically, the "Kiwi Pair" from New Zealand, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who won the 2011 FISA Crew of the Year. This one's shorter, less than eight minutes. GOD HIS ACCENT THOUGH

[theworstcoxswain]

-when talking to somebody who's never done crew:

[theworstcoxswain]

-novice rowers during any piece in the history of time, ever.

[theworstcoxswain]

erg data: translating and recording

It's hard to get exact data for individual rowers on the water. Unless a pair is so badly mismatched that the boat is being clearly pulled around to one side or another, the only way to really tell who's more efficient at moving water is seat racing, which is itself rather questionable (more on that later). Even with seat racing, all you and your coach learn is who is faster. 

With ergs, though, you can get individual data on power, time, splits, etc. That's why erg tests (though not as important as seat races) are such a big deal. A rower's 2k time is what he sends out to college coaches to get recruited. During winter training, your coach is going to want as much individual data on each rower as he can get--and your rowers will probably be very interested to see how they're doing, too.

The things you'll want to write down:

Time:

Pretty self-evident. Keep in mind that times on ergs are almost always going to be slower than times on the boat because it's only one guy against an unforgiving machine as opposed to eight guys pulling together, especially if you have a nice little tailwind or current helping you along.

Also what the erg doesn't take into account is, to some extent, technique, but mostly weight. Heavier guys have an advantage here because they're generally going to have more power. If that power isn't enough to justify their extra weight in the boat, though, they're going to slow the boat down. I've provided a nice little calculator here to show the weight adjustment ratio, but every coach does something different. Mine goes off the 165 lightweight limit. 

---

Split:

How much time a rower takes to cover however much distance the erg is set up for. The normal distance is /500m and is what most standards are based off of. For instance, an average split of 1:45 for a 2k will be a 7 minute time flat. 

This is very important. You will always write down the average split. Sometimes, if your coach is as detail-oriented as mine, he or she's going to want you to write down the average split per certain distances. For a 2k, for instance, if you have the machine set up to take the split every 400m, you're going to have 5 average splits, one for each fifth of the 2k.

 It can be useful to know to see how your rower does--does he pull with fairly consistent pressure all the way through? (ideally, yes.) Does he start out strong and then peter out? (NO DON'T DO THAT) Or does he speed up at the end? (a little bit here is good because it mimics the sprint you'll do during the last 400m of an actual race. If he speeds up more than 4 splits though, it could mean that he's not pulling hard enough in the beginning.)

---

Rate:

Just the same as on your cox box, how many strokes the rower's taking per minute. On a 2k test, the novice rower's rate should be somewhere around 28-30. Any slower and he's not getting maximum power; any faster and he's probably--though not definitely--rushing his slide. 

---

Watts:

Unit of measurement for power expended. Basically, how much pressure the rower's getting on the drive. It doesn't get as much attention as the split, but if anything it's a more accurate indicator of how well a rower does. Splits can lie--you can have terrible technique and still pull a high split if you're super athletic. It's much harder to produce high wattage without good technique because at least 70% of your power comes from your leg drive (or it should, anyway. I don't care how big your guns are, your legs are still bigger). If you open your back/break your arms too early, shoot your tail, etc., your watts will go down.

---

---

So to actually get to the memory, first off, go to the home screen (if it's still alive, just hit back. If the screen's dead, hit buttons until it turns on.) It should look either like this:

in which case, obviously select memory--or it will look like this (this is the way mine looks):

in this case, hit More Options (not Information, which seems counterintuitive, I know). Memory should be on the next screen that appears. 

What will then appear is a list of all the workouts that have been completed on that erg. It's chronologically backwards--so the first workout is the most recent one done, then the second workout is the next to last workout done, and so forth. Use the 2nd and 3rd side buttons, next to the up and down triangles, to select the workout necessary and then hit the 1st side button to expand on it. You should then see a screen like this:

So there you have time, meter, split, and stroke rate. Notice how the first line is boxed in? That's either the total (for time and meters) or the average (for split, watt, and rate) for the entire workout. The lines underneath are the data for each part, however it was split up. So this workout was by distance, 6000m, and the erg was set up to take data every 1200 meters. 

To get watts, just hit the Change Units button in the far left bottom corner and instead of the splits you'll get watts.

So in this case, you'd want to arrange the data set by meters and have it set up something like this:

Rower A:_erg no.__1200m____2400m___3600m___4800m___6000m___total

____split:_______1:24.5_____1:25.0____1:24.2____1:22.6___1:21.7___1:23.6

____time:________3:22.9____3:24.1____3:22.3___3:18.4____3:16.3__16:44.0

____rate:_________41______40_________41______41_______46_____41

This is by no means how you have to take down data, I just find it easier to do it this way.

[theworstcoxswain]

-stroke analysis of the men's eight finals in 2012. It's a bit long but definitely worth watching if you have the time; the coach breaks down the stroke by freeze frames and analyses it pretty in-depth. Obviously if you're a novice rower or coxing a novice boat you wouldn't confuse them further with this stuff, but it's always good to know what you're really aiming for. Bonus: this guy has a killer accent.

[theworstcoxswain]

-SO GUESS WHAT GUYS

...

today one of the guys in the 3V got sick (which isn't something I should be glad of, I know) and so the novice recruit coxswain TOOK HIS PLACE (she rowed in high school) so guess who got to cox?!

I WAS SO EXCITED.

it was like all of my hard work going over calls and techniques at night and showing up to practice every single day even though I was only spending two hours in the launch with coach and carrying oars and shoes and mats and derigging and rolling straps and preparing food for the parent's tent HAD ALL PAID OFF.

...

Obviously, it wasn't the best coxing I've ever done--new line up, first time on the water in over 2 weeks, new course (we just moved back to our normal boathouse and I hadn't been)--but it wasn't too bad! Coach said I did great, the rowers kinda laughed at my calls-- I have a tendency to say "GO!" really quickly and I guess my voice gets high-pitched when I do that-- but overall? SO MUCH BETTER THAN LAST TIME.

I didn't talk as much as I'd wanted, but my steering was decent and just OH MY GOD YOU GUYS I GOT ON THE WATER AGAIN. I don't even care if it's sad that I'm this excited about something that most coxswains take for granted, this was just what I needed as encouragement.

P.S. also side note? The other coxswain was not the worst rower in the boat. ahahaha 3V problems.

[theworstcoxswain]

-what my rowers think will happen if I eat the day of a race

[theworstcoxswain]

pro tip from a novice: wear a watch.

My cheap shitty watch that I got from Wal-mart is currently at the bottom of the ICW which is sad because a) it lit up in seven different colours, which is pretty cool I think and b) I'm not going to get the chance to get a new one for a while.

But.

Watches are key. With a watch, you can always tell coach what time it is and remind him to start heading in when practice is supposed to be over (sometimes coaches get carried away by the perfect backsplashes and then by the time you get off the bus dinner's already over). With a watch, you don't have to rely on the cox box to time all your 30 second and 1 minute pieces. With a watch, actually, you can technically figure out the stroke rate for yourself. With a watch, you can call tank sessions (more on that later) and body circuits, workouts, align everyone's erg starts, and so much more. 

Most importantly, with a watch you can time the beginning of the race. When the starter calls attention, GO, you have 100 m to call equipment breakage (actual equipment breakage, like a broken oar, not open oarlocks or crabs. That's all on your rowers). In certain regattas, though, they go by time--the first 30 seconds of a race, say. And in that case, it's vital to have a watch so you can say, "Look! That backstay snapped in half at the 28th second, it still counts!"

Also, your rowers will tend to assume that you either do or should have the answers to everything. And honestly, you really should. Every question you can't answer is a little bit of a failure (within reason. Don't do their orgo homework for them). Something like the time is a little thing you can know to reinforce the knowledge that you are god and they should listen to your every word.

A few options:

One: about 5 dollars, has the necessary stopwatch function, waterproof, alarm. Comes in other colours if you're not a huge fan of blue.

Two: a bit pricier, about 25 dollars. Casio. Has light, 5 year battery life, water resistant for up to 50m, and a more accurate stopwatch. 

Three: About 15 dollars. I like the pink myself, but it comes in other colours. It's resin, so it won't chafe much. Has the date, stopwatch, countdown timer, backlight, etc. My personal favourite. 

I couldn't find the one that lit up in all the colours of the rainbow </3