I definitely wanted to do a short self-evaluation before my memories from the race slowly disappear from my brain. I seem to have some short-term memory issues lately.

This race will always remain special in my heart as it was my first official coxing event.

Our Novice 4+ came in first on raw time and got second after the handicap was applied. It was everyone’s first official head race ever (I had done Row for the Cure in 2012).

In the future, I will be able to do a more thorough evaluation and hopefully not forget to record at the beginning of the race, but for now, I am relying on the questions posted on this awesome blog I spend so much time on called Ready All Row.

I was writing the first question down on my coxswain notebook when I realized I really didn’t have the energy to do a lot of physical writing especially after tonight’s erg practice (The 30-minute steady piece was both exhilarating and soul-sucking).

Did you execute the race plan effectively and if you had to deviate from it, did you do so in a way that was easily understood by the crew?

I came up with my own plan for this one after gathering thoughts from the rowers, coaches and more experienced coxswains. I divided the race into 5 sections: Start to the 3,000m marker, 3,000m marker to 2,000m marker, 2,000m marker to 1,000m marker, 1,000 marker to last 200, and last 200m to the finish line.

The start was  great as our focus was making sure the release timing was all good to go for the rest of the race. I saw the 3,000 marker pretty easily, but the skeg caught some branches, and I had to steer more than desired to get the branches out of the skeg. Good thing it happened during our practice row the day before, and I came up with 5 different plans for all possible scenarios. Couldn’t find the 2,000m marker so that part was a little blurry.

We wanted to sprint the last 200m, but it was hard for me to tell where the good starting point was. I felt like I called the sprint too early though some rowers told me it was fine.

Did you work towards and/or achieve your personal goals for that day?

My personal goal was good steering and getting branches out of the skeg by using the rudder instead of stopping the boat, so my humble goals were achieved! I think following the buoy line the whole race helped me stay on the course as straight as possible.

Did you make technical corrections that contributed to an increase in boat speed?

This is hard to tell. I was in a bowloader. At this point, though, even if I was watching the rowers, I am not sure if I would have been able to tell. I called to match the handle heights when the set was an issue, and I felt an improvement throughout the race. I told rowers I’d be quiet for a few strokes, so they could listen to their catches instead of me trying to figure out for 10 minutes what’s going on with them. Even experienced rowers in our team like these quiet calls once in a while, so I am going to use them in the future, too.

Next up, San Diego Fall Classic!