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Before Christmas, we asked for volunteers to review the Good Coxswain Guide series of booklets.  Written by Andrew O'Brien they form a great library resource for anyone who coxes or who coaches coxswains.

Here are the first three book reviews and our grateful thanks to Sudbury Rowing Club and Vesta Rowing Club whose members took time out to write these.

They are now available for sale in the Shop as electronic e-books . Each one costs £6 or £65 for the full set with a free bonus Log Book to record progress.

My name is Ellie Adams (photographed above), I am 11 years old and I am a cox and sculler at Sudbury Rowing Club.  I have been asked to check out some of your coxing guidebooks by a member at the club.  I have read two or three of them and I think they are good, they give you lots of information and are very helpful, especially all the pictures and diagrams. I think that lots of coxes like me should use these books to improve their skills.  I also like the way the books are split into different categories, this is helpful at the club as it allows as to borrow different books at one time.  I thought that the 'log book' was a good idea to record all of your outings as a cox with different crews and boats; therefore you can know what to improve on next time you are out. I think Sudbury Rowing Club will find these books very useful and will use them often.
 
Thank you for letting me try these books out.
 
Ellie Adams
Sudbury Rowing Club - Junior Squad
 
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Like many other clubs we have seen an increase in people wanting to learn to row over the last 12-18 months which has led to a growth in our junior and novice squads.  This has provided us a whole new audience to teach about the skills of coxing and has meant that as a club we have had to think again about how to train coxes.  
 
Having recently read 'The Good Coxswain' series of books I think they will be a positive step for us to helping find and nurture the potential in our new coxes.  The books are split into categories (1 - 12) so it is possible to focus on one element of coxing skills at a time.  Each book contains a guide detailing what is covered in that section, a glossary of terms (very important as sometimes we forget that we use a different language rowing!) and the informative text is accompanied by diagrams and pictures which help to explain the subject to all ages and experience levels.  The books also have tips and quotes from coxswains, rowers and coaches which help to make it more real to the reader.  These books are written in a way that explains things to those new to coxing, both junior and adult, but also contain tips and information that a more experienced cox can use as a refresher when they need it.
 
As a club we have recently trialled our own coxing course but we can now organise the content of the course to align with the categories of the. books to reinforce.  The fact that the books are in separate sections will also allow them the sections of interest to be 'borrowed' or used for a quick refresher whenever needed.
 
The final book (no. 12) in the series covers the difficult and sometimes overlooked area of how to coach the cox.  Coaches are used to coaching the rowers in the boat but when dealing with new and novice coxes the advice in here really focuses your mind on how to release the potential in your cox.
 
The 'log book' is such a simple idea I do wonder why we never thought of it ourselves but I think it is a good way of getting the cox more involved in their development and it will help document their coxing CV if we ever need to supply it (for coxing the tideway for example).
 
I also own 'The Down and Dirty Guide to Coxing' , which is another reference book I would recommend to coxes, but 'The Good Coxswain' series for me does have a distinct advantage for those of us in the UK as it uses the same terms as us (i.e. bowside and strokeside)!
 
Katherine Cass
Sudbury Rowing Club - Vice Captain, Learn to Row Coach   

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I decided to start coxing in December 2008. Unlike most coxswains, I had no previous rowing experience, so starting out felt really quite intimidating. There is such a huge amount to try and learn. Once you have basic steering skills, there’s rowing language. When you know your bowside from strokeside, you need to start fine tuning calls, work on timing of calls, annunciation, sharpening your steering and all this whilst keeping your crew safe on the Tideway and trying to tweak their rowing technique.

The majority of my existing coxswain experience has come from learning ‘on the job’, talking to other coxes and listening to the after outing sum up. I desperately wanted as much reading material as I could get to help with rowing terms and basic skills. Whilst information is on the internet, it’s few and far between. So when I saw Rowperfect had started to stock books which were for coxes, my inner rowing geek jumped for joy.

The Good Coxswain Guide Books are designed to be a handy source of information. Their aim is to cover complete basics of coxing for novice coxes to simplified explanations of drills etc for senior coxes. The guide books are also a resource for coaches who would like direction on how to coach coxes. They come in booklet form so they can be easily used as a quick reference. Separated into 12 different sections, they address core coxing topics, without all the jargon.

For someone who is thinking about becoming a cox or has just started, these booklets are invaluable. They explain everything from getting the boat out of the boathouse/shed to what the different components in a boat are called and what they do. I certainly found the section on creating a race plan useful (booklet number 9) and I am always on the lookout for tips to improve my landings (as is my Bowman!). What I also thought was a good aspect, is the section on how you can still be useful and an integral part of the crew when land training. To quote the first booklet, ‘I knew how to do it, I just didn’t know why’ was exactly my attitude and these booklets explain the Hows, Whats, Wheres and Whys succinctly. Each booklet has a glossary section and then a summary to reinstate what you should’ve learned.

My only criticism is that, for coxes who have steered more races and outings than they’ve had hot meals (granted a bad analogy – we are after all – always trying to make weight!!), the booklets would be quite redundant. Certainly adding further booklets to the series which concentrate on more advanced topics would be a superb idea.

To summarise, I found the booklets useful and enjoyable to read. They simplify ‘rowing speak’ without being patronising and all booklets have diagrams and/or tables to explain things further. I’d recommend owning them and I’ll certainly continue glancing at them from time to time to brush up my knowledge.

Celeste Boruvka, Vesta Rowing Club Coxswain

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The Good Coxswain Guides are a series of 12 booklets developed specifically for coaching and training coxswains.

We have been given three complete printed sets as review copies for Rowperfect's customers to test out.  We intend selling them as electronic e-books (pdf) and so these are a really nice opportunity for a club to get hold of a full printed set of booklets.

If you would like to review them, please email us saying why you'd like to review them and which people in your club would help with the review.  Would you like electronic or printed versions of the booklets?

 You will have two weeks to read and review them and we'll publish your work here on the website and in the online shop.

The booklet titles are:-

• The cox and the boat
• Steering the boat
• Using the voice
• Preparation for the water
• Launching and landing the boat
• Responsibilities on the water
• The coxswain as coach
• Race day - preparation
• Starting and racing
• Safety on the water
• Further drills for the cox as coach
• Coaching the coxswain
• Logbook of personal records- outings, race plans, self-assessment

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Eton College has had great success in school rowing over recent years, winning all before them in 2009– including UK Schools Head, the National Schools Regatta, Henley Royal and Head of the Charles (Boston USA).

Alex Henshilwood, who coached these crews, used the Coxmate SCT and has written the following article about his experience:

“Eton’s top crews have used the Coxmate system in training and competition since 2006. I take it for granted that the system will amplify the coxswain’s voice, and provide generic time and stroke rate data like other units do.

However, where the Coxmate excels is in its ability to provide accurate boat speed from GPS, and to log the information for download to a PC.

This has a number of advantages.

Firstly, I can extrapolate prognostic times to provide boat speeds for various training rates and intensities. This is a very good way of measuring progress throughout the training period, and for keeping school athletes honest should they fail to generate the right boat speed. This idea is nothing new, but by using the real time speed function on the Coxmate the coxswain can inform the crew immediately, stroke by stroke if need be, if the right times are not being generated.

It doesn’t take long to see an improvement in boat speed. Provided your prognostics are accurate, when the crew hits the right speeds in training then confidence levels increase.

One of our training locations is un-buoyed, still water. Being able to measure distance pieces and get accurate speeds over these distances is excellent.

Working to boat speed as a key measurement also teaches the athlete about their own physical limits leading onto the second key function of the Coxmate: helping to establish a race plan and seeing if the crew can execute it effectively. Training data provides key information about boat speeds, but measuring an entire race puts the coach right inside the boat. Rather than subjectively guessing when the boat slowed or increased in pace, the coach can show the athletes and reinforce what went well whilst pinpointing when things went awry.

Furthermore, this can often be linked to a specific period in the race when the rowing was better/worse (the Coxmate can show you this too). When faced with objective data it is hard to argue against it which then provides a greater clarity of purpose for all in the crew.

I often download data from my Coxmates to my laptop in order to evaluate heats prior to tweaking the strategy for finals. Key questions like “did the rate stay too high for too long?”, or “did the sprint finish actually increase boat speed”? can be answered accurately and addressed in the next race.

When a plan is successful and the race won, printing out the data, displaying it at the boatshed for all to see how a particular crew triumphed is a great way to praise, motivate and encourage the whole club.

Eton College’s first eight had a perfect season this year. The crew recorded consecutive wins at the Head of the Charles (Boston, USA), the Schools’ Head, National Schools’ Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta in the 2009 season. The Coxmate systems used in training and racing provided an advantage that nobody could match, and we will use them again in the new season.”

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Peter Hodson is visiting the UK and we took the opportunity to catch up on some of the finer details of his Coxmate range of products.

1. Speed measurement on the HC - offers a choice of meters per second or 500 meter splits.  I asked Peter about how it averages and he confirmed that this is a one stroke measurement i.e. it is not an average.  
2. Instantaneous speed measurement on the SCT with the GPS is dependent on the frequency of GPS satellite signal updating.  This happens nominally every 1 second.  Therefore, if you are rating 30 strokes per minute you will get two samples per stroke.  If you are rating 20 then you will get three samples per stroke.  However when you are rating say 24 you will get between two and a half samples per stroke and so the speed reading will fluctuate depending on whether it got 3 or 2 readings during that stroke cycle. The average speed readings will not have this issue because the SCT averages from the start of the timer.
3. Screen contrast on HC - within the software is a temperature sensor that is used to set the voltage that sets the screen contrast.  Therefore in high temperatures contrast is maintained.
4. SRT+ the newly designed Coxmate for rate / time / voice has an easy-to-change battery. It is now sold in two versions: one with magnetic mount and one with a non-magnetic mount and this version comes with an adapter for NK flower pot holder. 
5. SCT & HC software now has improved printing graphical output.  It automatically shows grid lines on printouts.  Thanks to Agecroft's Denis O'Neill for this suggestion which has been implemented.

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Hiya
 I thought I'd write a review, send it to you and you could pass it on if it's helpful?

Coxmate SRT:

The crew all commented on the excellent sound quality - it was really clear sound, with little distortion at volume, and no fuzz or noise being sent down the speakers. The crew only usually give me volume feedback, so for them to have noticed and commented meant the clarity made a real difference for them. The volume was also easily loud enough without maxing out the volume control, which meant it had a good amplification - often with cox amplifiers, I have to turn them right up, and that leads to feedback and lots of distortion, along with annoying noises like the wind blowing across the microphone etc.

The coxmate was easy to use once I got past the small differences in operation from other amplifiers. The display was very clear, though I would have preferred to have been able to see time and rate and stroke-count all at once. I understand that newer models do have a multi-reading display, rather than relying on toggling during operation, which means the problem has already been fixed.

I thought the separation of charger socket and boat socket, and the different type of boat socket were great from a durability point of view.

The most common fault I have encountered in other units has been crossed wires in the charger/boat socket common in other amplifiers, caused by the beating such sockets usually take. Such sockets are often twisted on in charging stations and boats, are often dangled in the river when the boat is being lifted in or out, and are so frequently used that they suffer a lot of wear. Crossed wires lead to either complete malfunction, or a really annoying state where if you speak, the stroke count signal is noised out, and the count goes dead, which means you can never call the rate in a start because calling the start blanks the rate. The charger socket on a coxmate is not used in the boat, reducing wear there, and the boat socket has a longer 'guide' on it, meaning you don't twist the plug by mistake when you're trying to locate it on the socket.

Also, there is a nice space between the microphone socket and the boat socket. I have often had troubles, particularly in winter when wearing gloves, attaching a co-ax headset because my fingers are blocked by the charger/boat socket, particularly if it's plugged into a charger / boat.
I liked the headset. The mouthpiece stayed in the right place, and the elastic fitted well, was comfortable and looked smart.

Only problem - it's square and all our sockets are round. Square pegs, round holes - it's probably time to make new holes.

Thanks

Esther

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HORR over done and dusted in March - but it takes until May for the race reports to come though in print (RV ).

We couldn't resist printing more great quotes from Bill Barry the Tideway Scullers coach as recorded by Matthew Brown of Rowing and Regatta Magazine.

"Mission accomplished"

"I think we've shown that scullers are not only better scullers, but better rowers too"

"We always thought we could take 10 seconds out of anyone."

"[despite hitting a buoy at Putney]…But we won anyway, and that's what mattered."

"This is the end of a mission for me, a mission to get the best together and see what we could do."

"It's been enormous fun."

"My job was to retain their egos and divert their attention into the rhythm needed to row together."

"We've improved every day and this morning they were perfect."

Plus some lovely photos and interviews with Dulwich College coaches and visiting Italians from Canottieri Gavirate.

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Rowperfect has long tried to deliver three things to its customers:

• High quality products
• Value for money
• Excellent customer service

Like many firms the slowdown in the economy is expected to affect our business.  In addition, we buy some of our products from Australia and America and so there are changes in the currency exchange rates to consider as well.

The Economist magazine says

The downturn will accelerate the use of social media, such as blogs and social networking sites, by consumers looking for intelligence on firms and their products.  As trust in brands is eroded, people will place more value on recommendations from friends.  Social media make it harder for brands to pull the wool over consumers' eyes, but they also offer canny companies a powerful new channel through which to promote their wares and test new products and pricing strategies.

Marketers ignore the messages that emanate from these groups at their peril.  For one thing is clear: this recession has triggered a wholesale reapppraisal by shoppers of the value that their habitual brands deliver.  The winners will be those that adapt intellligently to the new reality.  The losers will be those who think they can win simply by telling consumers to "Want it!"

We are trying to offer you products across the range of athlete and coach needs from beginners to Olympians and so we want to tell you a bit about how we've adjusted our prices and our products to try and enable you, our customers, to get good quality rowing and sculling equipment at a fair price that will suit your needs.

Dreher

We have worked with Dreher to build a new type of sculling oar that fits between the fixed length scull (£270) and the carbon adjustable (£399).  This is called the "Club Scull" (£350) and is both adjustable and will suit most athletes after they have learnt to scull and are training in club crew boats. The range of spoon / handle options is limited. The blade design is the same as the carbon adjustables.  The club sculls are made in 100% carbon with no fibreglass.  The price is also very competitive at £349.  And at the top of the range the Aero scull is a new aerofoil shaft design for elite and veteran athletes seeking incremental boat speed from an aerodynamic design.

Coxmate

Taking advantage of the Australian dollar exchange rate not having changed much against the Pound, we are trying to keep the price of all Coxmates unchanged.  The range now includes coxless boat speed / rate / time measurement with Coxmate HC (£167) as well as the coxed boat range of AA (voice) £196, SRT (time / rate) £270 and SCT (speed ) £588.  We are shortly going to reveal an improved SRT with a larger display screen - at the same price as the old model.

Additionally we've added the rate-only Cadence watch (£59.99) which is a lower price product for rowers and scullers who want to know ratings in an easy-to-use model that isn't tied to use in a boat with wires.

Please take time to read the customer reviews that are on our shop.  Each product has at the bottom of the page a button "Write Review" and if you want to add your views to the ones already there, please do.  

We are already getting increased enquiries from clubs who've never bought our products before.  They have used internet search to research prices for rowing and sculling equipment.  We offer a demonstration trial to those who want to check how these brands work in practice and we find that around 90% of people who try Dreher and Coxmate buy the trial unit.

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Tideway Scullers School coach Bill Barry has dreamed up a fabulous crew to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the club entering crews to the Head of the River Race.   The club was formed by top scullers who competed against each other for national squad places and traditionally formed an eight for the Head out of the top 8 fastest single scullers.

Taking this as his inspiration, Bill has chosen a crew from the fastest 7 scullers in the World at last year's Beijing Olympic Games.

His crew will be:

Cox - Ali Williams

Stroke Iztok Čop , Slovenia

7 Ondřej Synek , Czech Republic

6 Olaf Tufte , Norway

5 Mahe Drysdale , New Zealand

4 Marcel Hacker , Germany

3 Lassi Karonen , Sweden

2 Alan Campbell , Great Britain

Bow Tim Mayens , Belgium

Rowperfect UK was approached to support the crew and will be providing Dreher Apex Sweeps and a Coxmate SCT with GPS for the race.  We hope to publish the race data and split times / speeds / distance moved per stroke afterwards as a record of the event.

Beijing Olympics 1x results

1		Norway	Olaf Tufte	6:59.83
2		Czech Republic	Ondrej Synek	7:00.63
3		New Zealand	Mahe Drysdale	7:01.56
4		Belgium	Tim Maeyens	7:03.40
5		Great Britain	Alan Campbell	7:04.47
6		Sweden	Lassi Karonen	7:07.64

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Welcome to the Rowperfect newsletter

We have two new products to show off - Dreher Aero sculls and Oars.  Leading oar designer, Jim Dreher again leads innovation by creating an aerofoil shaft.

Duncan Holland reports from the New Zealand Coaches Conference where Mike Spraklen was guest speaker and we suggest ways to teach novices how to cox safely and quickly.

The winner of our competition from the last newsletter for Mark de Rond's book is Mike Knowles of Tideway Scullers.

And we'll shortly be sending you some suggestions about Christmas presents you may want to give or buy.

Happy rowing!

Grant Craies and Rebecca Caroe

The Dreher Aero is a new design for carbon oars and sculls.  The result is the first oar that attempts to overcome air resistance on the oar shaft and blade in the recovery phase.  The result - a shaft shaped like an aerofoil. Follow link for photos and specifications

We also have more photos of the new Rowperfect Indoor Sculler shown in Boston, USA at the Head of the Charles.

Read Duncan Holland's report on the NZ coaches conference.

Olympic cox, Adrian Ellison, replies to our questions on teaching coxing to beginners.

New products in the Rowperfect Shop

Rowing Voice e-Magazine - produced by Rachel Quarrell and Chris Dodd, this independent rowing magazine covers news, features and fabulous photography from around the world.  Buy a subscription for yourself.

Miniature trophy oars in your club colours.

2009 FISA Rowing Calendar

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Coxmate now offers the Coxmate SRT and SCT with both standard connectors and magnetic connectors. Now you can choose which system best suits your needs.

The standard system best suits clubs that are often changing boats using the same units.

The magnetic connection system best suits clubs that use the same unit in the same boats.

Coxmate also offers gasket kits and extra magnets for current units that may need an additional help in sticking the unit to the plate.

Please get in touch if you want an upgrade for your Coxmate. 

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