This guide is an early draft of content for our coxswain’s guide. It’s written for the coastal quads, but some will be relevant for using the Wieland too.
For each outing of a multi-seat boat, there should be a ‘Captain’ – The Captain is responsible for the care of the boat, it’s crew, and the safety of the outing.
The person steering the boat is known as the ‘coxswain’ or ‘cox’. The Captain will often cox, but sometimes the Captain might row for a while and let someone else cox. When the Captain is rowing, he/she is still responsible for the boat and crew, even when someone else is at the the helm.
To become a qualified Captain of a multi-seat boat, you should first become a certified rower. After you build experience in the multi-seat boats, gone out on multiple outings, the Boat Captain can anoint you as a qualified Captain.
Prep
Crew Briefing
Before you roll the boat down the dock, you should do a little briefing that will cover the plan for the day
- Have everyone introduce themselves – Experience, Desires for the row, Injuries, Restrictions
- Where will you row to.
- What are the conditions likely to be?
- Who will sit in which seat
- What time will you return
- What challenges are you likely to face
Crew assignment.
Put your most capable rower in the stroke seat. The next most capable at the bow, and your trainee rowers in the middle seats.
The stroke seat rower should have a clean reliable stroke for everyone else to follow. And it’s helpful to have someone competent at the bow to spot issues and communicate to trainees.
Review Commands
Ensure everyone knows the basic commands before launching:
- Which seat number they are.
- Who is the Bow Pair
- Who is the Stern Pair
- Weigh Enough
- Hold Water
- Which hand is Port
- Which hand is Starboard
Prep Boat
Each crew member should be responsible for their station:
- Make sure their seat slides properly.
- Footrests are set.
- Oars loaded correctly.
- PFD / Lifevest
The captain should review the boat
- PFD, Radio, Sound-maker
- Any damage?
- Sign boat out
- Hatches in?
- Stern plug in?
- Cox box
- Rudder
Steering
You can steer the rudder with your hands, or steer with your feet. There are two critical things to keep in mind with steering.
- The rudder only works while you have momentum.
When the boat is stopped, or drifting backwards, the rudder is no use and you’ll need to command the crew to change the course of the boat.
- Don’t oversteer.
The rudder only works up to 45 degrees to the course of travel. If you push the rudder too far over, it’ll act more like a brake than steering.
The bow pair can pull the boat into fresh water. I typically use the bow pair to row the boat away from the dock as their oars are free and they can build speed reliably. .
The stern pair can pivot the boat quickly at slow speeds or at a stop. If the boat gets trapped between the docks, the stroke or stern pair can pivot the boat very quickly to point it out.
If you find yourself in a pickle, your stroke is the most likely to fix it. A strong stroke can pivot the boat and maneuver the boat like a single.
Launching
Like an airplane, you’ll want to leave the dock into the wind/current, and return facing into the wind/current.
When you launch the boat from the dock, the stern will naturally drift downwind and down current (whichever is stronger). So your bow will naturally point in the best direction – 90% of the time you’ll be facing west towards the flag.
Have your bow seat row with one oar to pull the boat away from the dock, and then your bow pair can row together to get the boat out to safe water. I typically have only two of four rowers moving the boat gently out to the opening of the cove.
Outside of the cove is a good place to regroup and allow the crew to adjust their footrests. If you pause within the cove, be aware of current that can push you into obstacles quickly when you’re not paying attention.
Along the way, you are likely to cross paths with swimmers. You must not hit them. A whistle may help in getting their attention. Or shout ‘hello’. Remember to be courteous.
Landing
Coming back into the cove, you want to reduce the pace and keep a sharp eye out for swimmers.
You’ll want to approach the dock into wind and into current – whichever is stronger. 90% of the time this means approaching the dock from the east Thayer/Oprah, passing close by the SERC dock, and landing facing towards the flag. The wind and current helps slow the boat. If you were to come in downwind/down current, it can be very hard to slow the boat down to land softly, or avoid errant swimmers that might appear from the beach.
On approach, I usually have the bow pair drop out early, and let the stern pair control the boat. Less people means less mistakes and it allows the bow pair to focus on catching the dock, and for the speed to be kept low.
There’s a tendency for crew to try and second guess the cox on the approach. Allow the stroke help you, and have the bow person watch and be ready to catch dock, but the middle seats need to have their head in the boat listening for your instructions.
