As any coxswain will tell you, their job can be a handful: steering the shell, lining up the boats, listening to the coach, running the drills, refereeing disputes between the stern pair and the rest of the boat . . . you get the idea. And the job is literally a handful--or, truth be told, armful--when it comes time to launch: all of a sudden, you have to carry the coxbox, a speed coach, maybe a tool kit, probably some tape and, once the rowers figure out that you can still--somehow--carry a water bottle or two to boot, then you’re lugging enough water to make that weight you might carry on race day look pretty paltry.
What’s a cox to do? Well, since longer arms or a shopping cart are not realistic options, here’s a hack that came from a coxswain who was really using her head, er, hood: The Survival Suit Carry-All.
That’s right: just pull on your survival suit--or, as we heard coxswains at one place call them, ”super suits”--and put its hood to good use by filling it with all the stuff your arms, and pockets, and crook of neck, and balancing on head, can’t handle.
As you can see, water bottles fit particularly well and, as long as one of your rowers unloads you before you sit down, there is no reason not to use that hood-space to carry some of the extra stuff that your crew needs but can’t carry once they are “hands-on” the boat.
So, as it gets colder out there and turns into survival suit season, maybe you can use this hack to be an even more, well, super, super-suited coxswain.
Are you a coxswain with a cool trick or two to make the gig easier? Share your tips--and hacks--in the comments below.
We heard about this trick from a loyal reader who knows a good hack when he sees one, so if you have a great rowing hack to suggest, Send it to us!