Before the sun came up, a party bus rolled into the designated parking lot and picked up sleepy parents, rowers, coxswains, and coaches and drove them through the dark to the race venue. I coxed our advanced women’s 8+ at Head of the Port last weekend. Before the race, I was helping control boat traffic near one of the launch areas. My new club here in Sacramento was the host of this regatta, and everyone pitched in to make it a smooth one for all of the visiting crews.

It is time for some reflection on my coxing.

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?

Yes, I explained my plan to the crew multiple times throughout the training and before the race. It helped that our lineup practiced quite a few times together, which allowed me to practice applying the race plan.

I learned about the crosswind at the staging area at the coxswains meeting and planned for it when I got closer. It freaking felt like 15 mph, and I was grateful that my rowing coach was in charge of controlling the warm up/staging area. Always nice to see a familiar face.

During the race, I had to make sure that we stayed on pace despite the wind and water condition and was impressed with the rowers’ reaction throughout the race. I didn’t miss a single marker and was able to do a breathing 5+power 5 at each marker as planned.

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

I steered like a boss! Dude, it felt so awesome to have a great line the entire race. Once we made the turn into the basin, I reminded the rowers that I was intentionally away from the shore to have a straight shot to the bridge. During practice, we almost always follow the shore for safety, so I didn’t want them to feel confused or think that we were unnecessarily taking a longer course in case they forgot. I had to yield once between 2K and 3K, and I kept very little room between my boat and the boat that I was yielding to.

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

The ratio calls dramatically improved the feel of the boat. My rowers like to know their splits and stroke rate often, so I gave them a status update at each marker and also when they were starting to fall behind. They responded with power every time they heard a split that they didn’t like, and I immediately let them know that they were back on track so that they could keep the momentum.

Here’s an excerpt from the email I got from one of the rowers in the boat. I am including it because… If I could I would keep this feeling in a plastic jar, bust it out whenever someone’s acting hard.

I felt like I always knew where we were, what we had left to do, and what we should be thinking about in the moment. I thought you did a great job of keeping us focused when there were other boats around and when the water was rough. I was able to make decisions as a rower (breathing, handle heights, hands away quickly, how I entered the water….) and was able to leave any thought of strategy, steering, or general race approach to you.

Thanks for being really great at what you do.