Coaches, rowers, and club leaders all come up with the best way to handle and take care of their shells. Taking shells in and out of the boathouse can be a challenging task for a new coxswain.

Three-part commands seem to work the best for me and my crew.

The first part is the action. I need to clearly tell the rowers what we are about to do. If I am with a crew that I do not usually cox for or novices/learn-to-rowers who are learning how we do things, I explain how we are going to take the boat to the water before any of the lifting begins.

The second part is the “ready” part. Sometimes, I notice myself moving through the ready part too fast and it sounds like “readyup” or “readydown.” I do my best to take a short pause and/or look around after I ask, “Ready?” The consequences of moving the boat too fast while even one person is not holding the boat or is not in the right position are too big!

Here are some of the calls I have to use to take the boats down:

“Up an inch” – “Ready?” – “Up”

“Ready to walk it out” – “Ready?” – “Walk”

“One arm across, up and overheads” – “Ready?” – “Up”