The folks at the Chicago Rowing Union submitted this cool trick as a Photo of the Day, but the row2k Hack Department thinks it deserves full Rowing Hack status: the Shoe 'Mounted' Bow Number.

The comment included with the photo was "making due" and that really is at the heart of any good Rowing Hack, so well played, CRU.

In a pinch or, probably more accurately, when in a shell that is, ahem, 'experienced' enough (i.e. old) that maybe it doesn't have a working bow number clip anymore, this hack with a shoe would definitely do the trick---particularly in a bow loader where the coxswain could keep an eye or hand on it.

CRU President Simone Azure came up with this idea: it was just the necessity of needing a bow number for the small Dirty Dozen regatta at their home base, the Dammrich Boat House in Skokie--and a spare shoe--that proved the mother of this invention.

We've looked at hacks before for keeping your bow number secure, and even a few hacks on alternative uses for old bow numbers--as bow lights and rigging tools--but this is the first great idea we've seen if you get stuck using a boat that is missing a way to mount the bow card altogether.

And, really, why leave a shoe on the dock when it could be doing something useful during the row?

Do you have a cool workaround for 'making do' that has helped you in a pinch? If so, share your ideas--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.