Here's a new one, loyal readers... and this is the kind of hack you happen to find when you finally unpack from that Spring Break trip you abandoned in first throes of COVID. When the rowing hackers were pulling this set of riggers out, they noticed that some enterprising coxswain of the 'figure it out' school had come up with a pretty nifty hack on the fly: the Hair-Tie Height Spacer.

Now, this hack happened on a row so long ago that the true identity of this coxswain super-hacker may never be known, but this here was some genius thinking that - no doubt - got her stroke man to stop complaining about his rattly oarlock... and may have even saved practice altogether.

Why not just ask coach for a spare height washer? Well, there are some times when coach has run out of spares... and that is usually also the perfect time NOT to stop practice and ask for yet another height washer.

This is especially true if your coach just happens to be of that old school variety who used to just row at whatever height the rigger was set at and really can't be bothered with these new-fangled adjustable—and droppable, losable, breakable—height washers. (The coxswain's identity may be lost to time, but we are sure this is a pretty accurate transcription of said coaches view).

So, a hack that saves practice, makes the stroke seat happy, AND keeps coach from even realizing you lost a spacer let alone getting him all riled up again... that's a super hack, secret coxswain hacker!

Even if you are not a hair-tie wearing coxswain per se, you could easily acquire this little bit of elastic and leave it wrapped around one of your wrenches or clip it onto a coxswain version of the carabiner - try doing THAT with an adjustable height washer - and never have to ask for a replacement for that tiny piece of plastic that is, no doubt, still floating forlornly downstream, never to lift an oarlock again.

Have you hacked up a great idea in your coxswain seat?Share your tips--and hacks--in the comments below.

Have a great rowing hack to suggest for future inclusion here? Send it to us!