Looking for a slicker way to strap down your shells? Try this Hack--The Strap Trick--which Yorktown Crew's Tolsun Waddle showed Filippi a few weeks back, who then shared this video:

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The video is the fastest way to grok the trick, but Coach Waddle sent in these step-by-step pics on the how-to for this one:

Step 1: make loop with your strap by threading the bitter end of the strap through the buckle

Waddle, the Head Coach and Program Director at Yorktown, learned he could strap boats this way while coaching Thompsons Boat Center, but it is a trick he adapted from his rock climbing days.

"It came about from my climbing background," Waddle says, "which I started doing as a kid in Bolivia years before I started rowing. The type of climbing I did is called trad climbing, which requires placing anchors in rock. Sometimes you have to run a sling around a chockstone without being in an ideal position and so you have to think about how to make the best of that position.

Step 2: throw the cloth end of that loop over the boat--note how you can still be standing on the ground for this maneuver for all but the highest of racks

"Same thing with boats on a trailer," he says. "The typical strapping method is relatively high-effort, whereas this one is a third of the work."

"The problem to solve is how to get a closed loop around a rack arm that is blocked by a boat. The way many folks do this is by climbing around on the racks to get over or around the boat, but this solution is just to get the boat out of the way."

Step 3: reach across and pull the loop of the strap towards you

With Waddle's trick, the looped end is just heavy enough to easily go over the shell so you can grab it and pull it to you. As a bonus, the metal buckle--the one part of the strap that can damage an expensive and scratch-able shell--stays in your hand and away from the boat.

Step 4: loop that closed end around the end of the rack, with the logo on the strap facing outwards, to avoid a twisted strap job

"The main reason I like this method," says Waddle, "aside from me not having to climb very high to strap a boat, is that it keeps rowers off the top of a boat trailer or outdoor rack.

Step 5/6: boosting the shell up just an inch or so, pull the buckle end of the strap towards you...

"Having a junior athlete thread a strap around a hull while their feet are 8 or 9 feet off the ground is a little harrowing; it's much more comfortable to have their feet be like 2 or 3 feet off the ground at most."

We have it in good authority that this trick might already be catching on: after all, working smarter and not harder is the Rowing Hacker way.

...this will pull the looped end under the shell and into position on the inside. Then, just take out the slack and tighten the strap down as you normally would.

Do you have a trick that makes loading your trailer simpler and even a bit safer? If so, share your tips--and hacks--in the comments below.

If you have a great rowing hack to suggest for future inclusion, then please send it to us and we will feature your idea in a future column.