This weekend instead of going to Boston for HOCR, I’m headed to St. Louis to put on a 2-day coxswain clinic for the St. Louis Rowing Club.  Look for a re-cap next week.

Good luck to all the coxies steering the Charles.  Drive it like you stole it!

St. Louis coxies, watch out!  I’m coming to make you coxwain machines.

-mwhip+

On July 18 and 19 The 9th Seat got to go up to Alaska to run a clinic for the three club teams that row up there.  The Kenai Crewsers, Anchorage Rowing Association and Alaska Midnight Sun Rowing Club came together for a two day coxswain clinic that was partly sponsored by the Northwest Rowing Council.

The first day started with a lecture about steering and spatial awareness and coach to cox interaction.  We then went straight to the lake to work on the topics the coxswains just learned.  The on-the-water session were very valuable to ingrain the lessons talked about during the lecture.

The next day was more on-the-water training and boat handling drills.  We worked on backing into stake boats and adjusting your point when locked on to a stake boat. How to start and stop even while multi tasking drills and listening to coaches commands.

I enjoyed my time in Alaska but thought it was too short.  I definitely would go go back and for longer so that I could explore more of what Alaska has to offer.  Some members of Anchorage Rowing Club are currently in Australia for a Master’s regatta.  I wish them luck and hope they remember to steer straight!

–mwhip+

Steering around buoys.

Last weekend I went to Lake Stevens to give a coxswain clinic for the coxswains of Lake Stevens, Orcas Island, and Bainbridge Island.  All in all there were 10 coxswains from the three rowing clubs.  

We started the day out with a small lecture covering the basics of steering, organizing practice and your role on race day.  Then came my favorite part: on-the-water training.  We took the classroom lecture out onto the water with the help of the Junior rowers of Lake Stevens filling out two 4+’s and a 4x+.  The coxswains worked on transitions, steering, counting, starting and stopping even all while being 5 feet apart.  

There was a strong cross wind on the lake that day that made it very challenging for the coxswains to keep the boats together at first.  Their learning curves were high that day and they rose to the occasion and quickly learned how to work together and execute what I needed them to execute.  What I was most proud was the fact that they stopped being victims of the wind and stopped waiting for me to give them directions by taking initiative to keep the boats together after short power pieces and stopping together and even.  

We ended the coxing session with an educational docking session.  With the wind pushing them to port, the coxswains had to gauge where to begin their approach and deal with the wind while docking.  At the end of the day, all boats made it safely to the dock with a couple of re-docks…they had to make it to the dock with no assistance:)  

To all the coxies who came out that day, Thank You and I hope you leave a comment below and share your thoughts about the day.

Next up for The 9th Seat is a Master’s rowing camp at Pocock this coming weekend!  The 9th Seat is an equal opportunity company and does not discriminate against members of the rowing community who don’t sit in the 9th seat !