Once you are locked on to the stakeboats, a number of things will happen -- rather quickly -- in preparation for the start. The first is that the coxswain must get -- and keep -- the boat pointed. A good point can give your crew the equivalent of a length up on the field by avoiding extra distance steered, drag from the rudder, uneven set and other disadvantages which come when the boat isn't pointed. Always, when maneuvering, the coxswain should have his or her hand raised to indicate that the boat is not ready. It is a good idea for the bow seat also to raise a hand for extra visibility. In bow-loaded fours -- in which the coxswain's hand may be invisible to the starting official -- the coxswain should tell the stroke and or bow to raise a hand as well. No matter what kind of shell you are coxing, coxswains should always tell their crew over the mic, "my hand is up; my hand is down."

When your hand is up, you must actually be executing a maneuver. Starting officials will sometimes penalize a boat if the coxswain's hand is up and nothing is happening. If nothing else, it can cause delays and makes you look indecisive.

(There is a semi-famous story -- and an example of coxswain pre-start nervousness. One of my fellow coxswains was locked on and had his hand up. The starter yelled over, "Why is your hand up if you're not maneuvering?" to which my friend replied, quite steadily and seriously, "Because I'm about to be sick. Sir." And promptly was.)

To give better leverage, and to avoid pulling the boat out of the stakeboat holder's hands, the boat is pointed by a maneuver called Passing the Oar (nomenclature may vary among programs or coaches; other descriptions include "scull it around" or the more prosaic "two take bow's oar and tap it..."). Bow or Two Seat passes their oar to the person in front of them, who reaches back and rows with short strokes sideways to move the bow over. (It is good to practice this once or twice before your first race so that everyone can get a feel for the timing.) Be sure to wait a second or so after you see the oar come back to normal position before putting your hand down again; you want to give your rowers time to reposition themselves.

Have the appropriate rower pass the oar and keep rowing until the bow has an extra angle to windward so that you can count how long it takes the wind to blow your bow back to the straight line. (Timing the start.) Giving yourself time to test this is a good reason to get your boat locked on to the stakeboats quickly. Knowing how many seconds it takes to come back to neutral is useful if the wind conditions force the starter to go to a countdown start and you have to anticipate.

While getting your point, go down the final "pre-flight checklist" with your rowers. "Check your wingnuts and oarlock keepers; empty your water bottles; check that your slides are clear." Remind them to breathe, to clear the carbon dioxide from the warmup from their lungs. Say all these things in a calm, focused voice. Even if you yourself are feeling pre-race jitters too (and you will be) you must not let it be audible in your voice. Your rowers already have enough excitement and adrenaline building in anticipation; you want to keep the boat as non-frantic as possible and ready to explode coolly and cleanly off the start. Remind them of any conditions they need to be aware of in the first five or so strokes, e.g. "They'll be gusts off the starboard bow; brace into them off the start."

Check to make sure all your blades are fully-buried. Your rowers should be looking straight to the stern, and thus may not be aware of their blade depth. At the same time, wedge yourself back into the coxswain's seat, lean forward slightly into your posture, and tense your back muscles so that the initial surge of the boat does not cause your body to jerk around and upset the balance of the boat. (Coxswains have a "sit ready" posture too.) Do not tense your abdomen -- doing so will make your voice thin and constrained at the moment you most want depth and power from it.

Keep your crew informed of what is going on. It takes the edge off impatience and helps resist any tendency to look around. If there is another boat still backing in, let them know. You don't want them sitting ready at full tension, expecting the race to go off any second, if there is still some time before things get sorted out. A quiet, calm -- non-distracting -- commentary from the coxswain helps their focus and (in my experience) takes the edge off of pre-start jitters. "Lane five is still backing in...all boats locked on...we have alignment...two hands are up...all hands are down..." etc., Some of this may be audible from the starting officials, sometimes not. The other purpose this serves is to get your rowers focused on your voice so that they will be naturally tuned to the thread of it in the sudden noise and other coxswain's shouting which will occur right off the start.

Depending on weather conditions and the starting officials' habits, the time between "We have alignment," and "Attention. Go." can be very short, or there may be a delay if boats drift off point and coxswains have their hands up. It is always best to assume that when you hear "alignment" that the very next thing will be the starting commands.