Looking for one last project before race season? Well, if you host races, then take a look at the refinements Rowing Hacker Greg Rossolimo made to the PVC Aligner Sight hack he first shared back in 2014.

"While tinkering with different camera gear and rigs for filming my boats while coaching, I realized that I could upgrade my old alignment sight with better equipment," says Greg, who gets good use out of this hack all spring with the crews he coaches at the Pomfret School.

"Thanks to social media, the spread of HD cameras, and improvements in video, high-quality camera rigging gear has trickled down to become easily accessible and relatively affordable."

Using that camera rigging gear, Greg built the frame out of two 17-inch carbon fiber vertical rods and two horizontal camera cage "cheese plate" bars that attach to the 15mm diameter rods. The cheese plate provides easy fixing points for the bars that hold the alignment string, and allows add-ons like the bubble levels and inexpensive crossbow sight Greg found online.

The full rig, complete with iPhone mount and a GoPro

This approach makes the 2.0 version of Greg's hack a lot more stable, and offers a greater field of view with more accuracy. While not quite as cheap as the original--which just uses PVC, some string and that old bit of cassette tape as a tell-tale for the wind--the new set-up looks way slicker and makes it a lot easier to mount an iPhone or GoPro.

Rigging it up with a camera means you can film or even live-stream the start of the race...or give yourself photo-finish capability at the other end of the course if you make yourself a second sight for the finish line.

Like his first PVC model, Greg makes the sight more accurate by running a loop of elastic cord (or two) to frame the actual center line that he aligns with the poles on the far shore. The loop helps narrow your view and gives you a way to get the boats close to alignment before you make the final adjustments for the start.

The Sight in action, bringing some crews to the line. You can see how the red and the white loops frame the green center string.

"A basic version of this sight can be made for under $100," according to Greg. "The PVC version and this one are based on one I saw while rowing at Brown: at Narragansett Boat Club, the finish line sight was made of copper tubing frame with vertical wire marking the finish line."

While Greg's new sight looks high-tech, he assures us it still involved a lot of hacking to find and blend all the parts together.

"Everything here was bought off camera gear sites that are familiar to most people (Amazon, B&H, and similar), and at hardware stores, craft stores, and I even used some old bicycle parts."

Greg mounts the rig on a tripod and lines everything up on the professional survey marks they added to Pomfret's home course on Quassett Lake--a project that proved way easier when, like the rowing hack pro he is, Greg took care of it in the winter, with the lake iced-over.

Check out the parts list Greg shared below if you'd like to add this Rowing Hack to your Race Day set-up.

Note how the center line can run straight through the two forward rods (an earlier version made use of two old bike headset spaces, as seen in the first photo, up top)

Do you have a Rowing Hack that you use to help things run smoother on your 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 Greg did and we will feature your idea in a future column.

Alignment Sight Hack Parts List

All available through Amazon unless noted otherwise, but B&H Photo or even a good local photo gear shop should have similar camera gear.

Main Parts: This is the minimal setup and could be bolted directly to a tripod. Basic build cost ~$104, but could be done cheaper.

• Frame sides: 2 x 17-inch 15mm Carbon Fiber Rod
• Frame top & bottom: 2 x Camvate Aluminum 15mm Rod Adapter
• Forward rods: 2 x Niceyrig 12-in 15mm Carbon Fiber Rods
• 2 x Camvate 15mm Single Rod Clamp w/Unthreaded Mounting Points [to attach forward rods]
• 1-mm White stringing elastic cord (from Michael’s or your local craft store)

Recommended optional & accessory parts:

• Red elastic cord (from Michael’s or your local craft store)
• Neon green nylon no-stretch beading cord (from Michael’s or your local craft store)
• 2 x Camvate Base Cheese Plate
• 2 x Camvate 15mm Single Rod Clamps (for tips of forward rods)
• Bubble Level: T Level Cross Check Bubble Level
• Small hot-shoe / cold-shoe bubble level
• Smallrig Camera Top Handle Grip, for a DSLR cage
• Neewer 50mm Quick Release plate ARCA Swiss standard (Tripod/monopod adaptor)
• Alstar 1x40RD Reflex Red-Green Dot Sight Lighted Scope Mount
• 70mm NATO rail (for attaching scope/camera/mic etc.)
• Smallrig Camera Mount Clamp with Ballhead (for holding GoPro)
• Smallrig iPhone video rig, with:
  • 12-inch 15mm carbon fiber rod (to hold iPhone in video rig)
  • Smallrig 15mm Rod Clamp Rail Connector (to attach iPhone rig rod to frame)
  • Niceyrig Quick Release NATOR Lock Clamp (to connect iPhone rig to 15mm rod)