First of all….I do not under any circumstances say “stroke, stroke”! Secondly….I also do not sing “row, row, row your boat”. If I were to ever do either of those things there would most likely be be eight guys who are 6’6” tall, 215lbs ready to kick my butt once I got back to the dock!! No thank you!

My job can be broken down into 3 main components.

• Steer the boat straight – I have to control the 60ft long shell by using the rudder. I have a rope in each hand which is attached to the rudder behind me. If I want to go to port, I put my left hand forward, if I want to go to starboard, I put my right hand forward. Seems easy enough…try it. Once a 60ft shell starts moving on its course it is very easy to end up snaking back and forth out of control.

• Execute the Race Plan – As a crew we formulate a plan or strategy which we will use to win the race. This plan will allow the guys to work on a specific technical point to either keep the boat at full speed or to increase the boat speed. Examples include power legs, drive the finish, quick catch, accelerate your finish

• Motivate the Crew – I must keep the guys excited and aggressive but extremely focused. If you make it fun for the boys they will be more likely to go harder and find more energy that they did not think was there. There is nothing more motivating when you start to move ahead of another boat. Making the race exciting by using the boats around me is one way to keep them engaged.

The coxswain or cox has a very unique role to play in the Men’s Eight. I sit at the back of the boat (stern) in a very small space only as wide as my hips with my legs bent so that also means I am small in stature. I stand 5’4”tall and weigh 122lbs at the moment. That seems pretty light but on my frame it is pretty normal looking. (some international coxswains are either freakishly tall or extremely short, I like to think I am normal haha) That being said, I do have a weight restriction that I must adhere to for racing. Two hrs before my crew races I must “weigh in”. The minimum that I can weigh is 121.2lbs or 55kg. If I weigh less then I must either drink some water to get up to that or I must carry a sand bag to make up for the shortfall. If I have a sandbag then I must show it to the start line official and also show the finish line official. If I do not have it at either end then my crew is disqualified. IF I weigh 130lbs then I am just disadvantaging my crew by having them carrying an extra 8.8lbs down the 2km course.

I pretty much have it down to a science now. During the winter I weigh a max of 125/126lbs and then it slowly comes off by eating slightly less coupled with my stress level increasing as we come closer to racing helps as well. (more on my good and bad weight loss strategies in another blog to come)

In order to communicate with the guys effectively technology has come a long way to help out in this regard. Gone are the days when the cox had a cone literally strapped to their mouth and they did yell their faces off!! In the 80’s a company built something which is now known as the “Cox Box”. It is a device which is essentially an amplifier attached to 3 speakers in the boat. I can talk in a pretty normal voice and the guy in the bow of the boat who is about 45ft away from me can hear everything I say very clearly. The cox box also gives me some feedback about what we are doing on a display. It shows three things. Strokes per minute (stroke rate), time elapsed and number of strokes taken. This can be reset whenever I need to. (I will explain more about the technology we are using in another blog soon….it can get intense!)

When I am not in the Eight I am riding around in my coachs’ boat listening, watching, asking questions and ultimately learning more about how he wants us to row and the psychology that we must develop. Even though my coach Mike Spracklen and I have worked together for the better part of 8yrs there are still things that I am either reminded of from the past or I learn for the first time.

Personally I like to pride myself on trying to make my job as intricate as I can. I have to be observant and reactive to the needs of my guys both on and off the water. My focus is always based upon the premise “will this make us faster on the water”. If the answer is yes, then I must do it even if sometimes I don’t really want to.

Upcoming Dates

• June 25 – July 5 Pre-World Cup Training Camp – Erba Italy
• July 5 – July 10 World Cup#3 – Lucerne, Switzerland

Return to Canada

• August 13 – August 24 Pre-World Championship Camp – Erba, Italy
• August 24 – September 4 World Rowing Championships – Bled Slovenia
• Sept 4 – Sept 8 Pre-Olympic Venue Tour – London, England

Each year there is a World Cup Circuit which consists of 3 regattas. The circuit takes place exclusively in Europe most commonly in Munich, Lucerne and one other place. Traditionally the Canadian Team attends World Cup #3 which is almost always held in Lucerne. It is the final World Cup event prior to the World Championships so you get the best idea of where you stand against your competition and what you need to do before the biggest event of the season.

Because it is extremely costly to take the entire team over to Europe we will often either send a small group to the first World Cup in mid May or try and attend another regatta in conjunction with World Cup #3 or just focus all of our efforts on one regatta as we are going to do this year.

There are certainly issues with time change and jet lag so we always build a training camp into any overseas event so that we can make proper adjustments and perform at our absolute best. The Heavy Men’s Team has been going to Erba, Italy since back in 2002. We stay at the same great hotel every year and we are basically the only people who use the lake while we are there. I love it but my nerves always take a beating there as the environment becomes very focused on performance and I can always feel the pressure mounting as each day passes and the event you are tuning up for gets closer. (the stress and nerves help me lose weight even with the great Italian cooking!)

This season is very important because it is an Olympic Qualifying year. In rowing we use the World Championships as the regatta to clinch Olympic berths. As there are different Olympic boat classes each one has a different qualification rule in terms of the number of boats which are able to secure a spot. In my event, Men’s Eight, we must finish in the top 7. Essentially that means winning the B final or finishing anywhere in the A final at the 2011 World Championships. (six boat racing)

Last season I was not part of the team that finished a disappointing 7^th place. Sure, that would have qualified us for the Olympics had it been a qualifying year but not exactly the result the guys were looking for. The young crew definitely under-performed. This year we are aiming for a podium finish and show the world that Canada is back and ready to take a run at Olympic gold in 2012!