If you happen to be watching a lot of football over the Thanksgiving holiday this week, you might be interested to know that there is a great rowing hack at work out on the field.

Turns out that the play-calling wristband sported by pretty much every quarterback also makes a great coxswain accessory, according to one veteran Rowing Hacker. Meet the Coxswain Wrist-Band.

Think about it: who needs quick-to-spot info in a waterproof sleeve that won't get in the way of that athlete's most important job? Sure, could be a quarterback throwing passes, but sounds more like a coxswain steering in the driver's seat to us.

This hack in use at the 2024 Long Beach Christmas Regatta

Tom Perry, a long-time boatman, thought so, too, and he used to get them gratis from the football equipment guys in his athletic department.

"I gave these to any coxswain that would take it," Tom told us. "They could write out the warm-up, workout, opponents, or race day schedule.

"Put it on a notecard and slip it into the wrist gizmo. No dropping stuff in the boat, no forgetting warm-up/workout info."

If you don't have generous football staffers who understand the budgeting disparity between rowing and their sport, like Tom did, you can always get them online pretty easily. Just search for Quarterback Playbook Wristband or the name we like best: Football Wrist Coach.

Proof that Tom's trick is a good hack? We've spotted wristband-equipped coxswains out in the wild and have also seen this hack at work at Beach Sprints, as seen in the picture up at the top.

The Beach Sprint coaches and boat handlers use the "wrist gizmos" to keep track of foot stretcher placement and height adjustments for each athlete when quickly setting up the shared equipment during racing sessions, but the idea is the same: re-purposing a bit of football gear to make a rowing task easier.

The Beach Sprints version of this hack in Wales at the 2022 Championships

While this might not actually be the greatest Hack that Tom has shared with our loyal readers (see: Truck-Powered Course Removal), we think it is pretty handy, and probably more universally useful. So if you are a coach, or a coxswain with some cheat codes you'd like to handy in the boat, add this Hack in your Race Day kit.

Do you have a clever bit of coxing gear that you use out on the race course? 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 like Tom did and we will feature your idea in a future column.

This hack would've come in handy for this coxswain, for sure.