News

Currently we have Coxmate units out on trial with a wide range of clubs, schools and a university.  Anyone who would like to try a Coxmate for themselves, please get in touch.

Bristol University Boat Club (coming back after the HORR).  They chose the GPS and SCT unit to test.  Simon Wilson is our contact there.

St Paul's School BC - trying an SCT with Impeller for an 8 thanks to Ben Reed who we met at the ARA coaching conference.

St Edwards School BC - trying an SCT with impeller for an 8.  Alistair Stuart has led this since he used the SCT when he worked at Eton College with Alex Henshilwood.

Dennis O'Neill, coach for Agecroft RC, is testing the SCT with the software.  He just sent me their first race saved onto a pdf and I've asked his permission to publish it here for you to read.

Stuart Andrews, coach for Evesham RC who we also met at the ARA coaching conference has the SCT, impeller and software on trial.   

We are also selling quite a few wiring looms to clubs buying Swift boats.  At present they don't come with speaker looms - but these are reasonably easy to fit yourself.  We provide the full kit, and suggestions on how you can maintain your sealed waterproof compartments using sealing gromits.   

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Reading University Boat Club first borrowed and then bought a Coxmate SC.  Their Captain, Simon Barbour, wrote this about their trial.

Coxmate SC Review

There was some money in our budget for a new cox amplifier this year, and with the knowledge that we would be focusing on an eight for Henley from early on in the season, we decided to look into getting a device that the cox could use to gain feedback on speed from, and use to help improve the boat. Research narrowed down our options to three different equipment packages we could look at. The first was The Coxmate SC, with a mounting system and Impeller (rrp £545+£147 for the kit and impeller, however at the time of writing due to a sale we got the whole lot for £597). Our second option was an NK Cox Box (the cox vox was an option, but we needed an amplifier that could be swapped between boats and still provide a rate readout), Speedcoach Gold and a PC interface (we needed PC upload features for data analysis) – total package price £605. Our final option was similar to option 2, but using Rowdata’s cox box, which retails at the same price as the Cox Box.

    Immediately, the Coxmate SC seemed the most suitable for our needs, with inbuilt PC interface and software, and a more extensive display than the Speedcoach that included Cover, and Speed Ratio, as well as the standard speed measurements. I made contact with Rebecca Caroe at Coxmate UK, and she was very helpful, even loaning us a unit with wiring kit to test for two weeks for free. As a University student, something for nothing is always greatly appreciated, so I took her up on her offer.

    A day or two later, the Coxmate arrived – Rebecca had charged us nothing for delivery which was very impressive, as the Coxmate arrived in its own carry case, a sturdy blue plastic box, with foam compartments that keep the unit, microphone and all other features safe, and enables easy transport to regattas.

    We used the Coxmate to start with just like a standard cox box for a week or so – it was just before the Fours Head, so we were out in the boats we were doing for that. It worked very well, the connections held up fine against being transferred from boat to boat, and voice transmission was clear and crisp, with no crackles or hisses. It is worth pointing out at this point that it is fully compatible with existing NK wiring, so no changes needed to be made to any of our boats. The microphone came with a headband that was adjustable with Velcro rather than elastic, and was, according to our coxes, very comfortable.

    Following a successful run down the Tideway with our club’s S3 4+, we decided to mount the impeller, and test out the box’s ability for giving data readouts. This was where we met our first obstacle, which itself was not the fault of the box or the equipment. In order to give accurate readouts, particularly of Speed Ratio, the impeller needs to be mounted within 2 metres of the bow of the boat. However, our Empacher K85 8 is sealed from 3 metres in, so we had to mount it there. The kit was easy to install, however, and the wire was just the right length, accommodating our boat’s 6-seat split without any problem.

    Having mounted the kit, we looked ready to go. Then, disaster struck. We had left the Coxmate in the Cox’s seat, and none of us thought to take it out before lifting the boat to heads. An inevitable meeting of Coxmate and Floor followed, accompanied by much swearing. The drop was perhaps 7 or 8 feet, and had led to a whole row of pixels on being knocked out, and upon plugging the box in, we realised it must have broken an audio connection as the cox’s voice would only come out very faintly, even on full volume.

    I very sheepishly emailed Rebecca, explaining that we were still really interested in the product, and would happily pay for whatever repairs were necessary. She would hear nothing of it however, and took it back, repaired it for free, and had it back to us really quickly – from dropping the unit to getting it back repaired was a only a week. This was fantastic service beyond what I would consider the line of duty, and gave me great confidence that if we were to go ahead and invest in the product, we would not have to worry if there were any malfunctions.

    With the unit carefully carried down to the water, we were now ready to test it out with its full capabilities running, and it certainly did not disappoint. It took our cox a while to get to grips with working it, naturally with so many more features than the NK Box, it was not immediately as clear how to work it, but she picked it up in time. Furthermore, the real time feedback on our performance was really useful to us as a crew. Our cox quickly adapted the information she was receiving into her calls, so we would get things such as “Cover’s at 16.5 (metres), let’s accelerate the finishes and get that out to 17”, or “Speed’s at 6.3 (m/s), I want a 10 stroke push to bring that up”. Having the feedback facing the cox, rather than the stroke man, as we had previously had when using Speedcoaches, allowed us to make much better use of the data.

    Off the water, the PC data analysis programme was really useful – by comparing data from pieces done by the first and second eights, we could get direct comparisons between the two of them. The data is taken so regularly that you can break down the different areas of the stroke – for example the seconds were losing speed to the firsts around the front end; so we knew that was an area that needed work on with them. Only having the one unit, we had to get the boats out at different times doing the same pieces to do comparisons, but we would definitely look into getting a second Coxmate if the money becomes available, for true side-by-side analysis.     It is worth pointing out that we used the Coxmate for relative analysis between outings, and due to us mounting the impeller further back than it should have been, its readouts may not have been correct – we supposedly reached 7m/s in some pieces, which we calculated would have got us through 2k in under world record time! However, like the Speedcoach, it can easily be calibrated if you have a fixed length piece of water you can paddle over – we may well do this on training camp this year, but for relative analysis from outing to outing the fact that all the units may be not be fully accurate does not really make much difference.

We were very pleased with the Coxmate, and more than happy to pay Rebecca for the unit once our trial came to an end. One further thing I should note is that the unit comes with an interface and a cable for attaching a 2-way radio to it, so that coaches can communicate directly with the crew using it. We don’t have any radios, so couldn’t test this feature, however it seems a very useful addition, particularly if your coach is very quiet (rare, but possible!), or you club doesn’t have fantastic megaphones.

Overall, I would highly recommend a Coxmate SC to anyone who wants to gain real time feedback on their crew’s performance, it contains more features than any of the competition, and is definitely worth the financial outlay compared to a standard Cox Box.

See a review of the Coxmate SCT here (bottom of page)

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We have had an enquiry from Heather Oaten

I am thinking of getting some Magik gates but I am a bit concerned about the wear on my Dreher sculls.  Currently the collars are wearing smooth where they sit in the gates, obviously I have checked the gates are not too tight! Will the Magik gates perpetuate the wear and is there anything I can do to stop the wear?  I have not noticed wear to the same extent with Concept II sculls but I would rather use the  Drehers.  Thanks, Heather

My reply to her question was

The wear on the sleeve is completely normal.  Most scullers expect to have to re-sleeve every 1-2 years particularly if they use the sculls a lot (as you do).

Concept 2 make their sleeves from similar material to us and theirs will wear in a similar way.  Croker, do not use the same material and customers report that their sleeves wear noticeably faster under normal use than the other two brands. 

Regarding the Magik Gates, I have had a good look at the Cambridge University Boat Club ones which are now over a year old and they row their boats about 8 times a week for 7 months of the year.  Speaking to their coaches, they say that the gates themselves did wear a bit when they were first installed BUT that after that time the wear on the gates and collars has not progressed and is now what they would call 'normal' i.e. the same as using other gates.

My view is that the tension arm putting pressure onto the sleeve creates the initial wear in a slightly different pattern than for other gates but that there is no need for you to be concerned that you'll be "wearing out" your lovely Drehers by installing Magik gates.
 

Can anyone help Heather with their own experience of using black collars (the large ones) or white collars (the small old design one) with MK1 oarlocks?

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I had the pleasure of testing the Coxmate SCT in the last Four’s Head and I was really impressed with it!

After unpacking the unit, everything was easy: installing the magnetic mounting plate and the GPS sensor , attaching the Coxmate to the existing speaker harness of the boat and starting to use it (even without having read the instructions!) did not prove too difficult a task.

I particularly appreciated the magnetic mounting system: once the mounting plate is fixed in a suitable position on the boat and all the cables are connected, all that is left to do is just drop the main unit onto the magnetic mounting base. No cables need to be connected each time! Once mounted, the Coxmate is very easy to use: the Menu that allows you to access all the functionalities and settings of the unit is very intuitive and very simple. So it is just a matter of few minutes to have the Coxmate up and running.

But it is on the water when the real advantages of the Coxmate become evident: the amount of information that is available is unbelievable when compared to the data provided by ‘normal’ cox-boxes. Apart from the rating, the elapsed time and the stroke count, the Coxmate supplies the cox with very useful data such as the travelled distance, the speed, the cover and the average speed (other Coxmate models give the possibility to check the speed ratio too).

During the race, it was especially helpful to know the speed and the cover, two aspects that I would only be able to estimate using my experience. And this is probably one of the main advantages of the Coxmate as it gives objective data which can easily be interpreted by anyone and particularly by a novice cox. I was able to give more detailed feedback to my crew in terms of how much distance was left, the splits they were doing and the distance covered per stroke. For the first time they had a direct measure of their efforts and they could visualize their work in the water better than they did before.

In my opinion the only weakness of the Coxmate is its mounting base as it uses a specific mounting base; once this has been mounted in a boat then the Coxmate can be used only in that boat. In other words, it would be good if it was possible to not permanently fix the base to the boat but, for example, to somehow fit it in the existing cox-box holder.

In conclusion I would definitely recommend the use of the Coxmate to everybody: from the experienced cox to the very novice one, anybody can take advantage of the extensive data that it provides. As soon as I talked to my coach about it she wanted to know how much it costs! She was mostly interested in the possibility of analysing the data off the water with a computer.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and Grant (I hope this was his name) for the opportunity given to me and my club. it has been an absolute pleasure to meet you and test the Coxmate!

Diego Colantoni, City of Bristol Rowing Club

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An intelligent discussion about different spoon shapes - Macon, Hatchet, ApexR on RSR

Charles Carroll says

This was reported in the "Rowing News," the October 2004 issue, p. 50.

"… the conventional wisdom [is] that hatchets help novices greatly but have less impact at the top end of the sport. Elite coach Volker Nolte graphed the best Olympic and world championship times during the transition from Macons to the Big Blade. 'You do no see specific improvements between 1991 and 1992,' he says. 'I also could not see [a difference] when I coached the Canadian lightweight men's eight. I actually rowed Macon oars on one side and Big Blades on the  other, removed the rudder and asked the rowers to row with closed eyes. The boat went perfectly straight.'"

Now as for blade area, very few people pay any attention to blade area but will constantly play with their gearing. But isn't this understandable? Once you purchased a boat and sculls, isn't it easier to change spread, outboard and inboard then it is to swap out blades? As for blade area and shape, that was the whole point of  bringing up the Dreher LS1999 blade. The length of this blade is shorter than a Macon, the width is wider, and the blade has less curve to it.

I was in a hurry, as I always am, and picked out a set of sculls from the Club Rack thinking I was selecting a set of Macons. Surprise! The first problem I had was backing up. I just couldn't get the blade out of the water. I am a bit ashamed to admit this, but backing up was so difficult that I turned around and rowed out of the Marina. In the hour or so that I used these sculls I never did manage to back up worth a damn. The second problem I encountered was at the catch. I found that in order to get a decent catch with the LS1999s I had to be much more careful about building up pressure against the pins. If I built up this pressure too suddenly - that is, slammed back against the pins - the LS1999s lost hold of the water. That air entrainment behind the blades that you have so expertly written about, Carl! [refers to earlier post by Carl Douglas].

So with the LS1999s I had to be subtler and more delicate when I took the catch. It seems to me that another way of saying this is that to take a good catch with the LS1999s required more skill than is required by conventional Macons, hatchets or Apex-RX designs. But the upside to the LS1999s is that when the blades lost hold of the water at the catch, I didn't feel the same hard, punishing load that I feel when my Apex-Rex blades lose their hold on the water. The only problem with losing hold of the water with the LS1999s is that I just didn't go as fast as when I kept my hold on the water. In the hour or so that I sculled with the LS1999s I eventually learned how to catch water and hold on to it. And when I did, I found that I could build up pressure against the pins every bit as well as I can with a set of hatchets, or Macons, or Apex-Rx blades.

My conclusion, for what its worth, corroborates what Paul [Smith] wrote in an earlier posting. The LS1999s and Macons require more skill than hatchets or Apex-Rx blades. But once you have attained this skill, LS1999s and Macons are every bit as effective at catching water and holding on to it as the other, bigger blades.

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Craig Hoffman, head coach, Malvern
Preparatory School, Chair US Rowing Junior Mens Committee and Member of the Board
of Directors of the Scholastic Rowing Association of USA 

Craig came to HRR with three junior quads and a double, and we caught up with him in the café after his busy week in which his top crew went out of the competition on Saturday to Windsor Boys School.

What is your background in the sport?
I was a cox at high school and at Syracuse University and then the Undine Barge Club.  20 years ago I started helping to coach at my high school and doing some juniors in the summer.  Some of the kids had aspirations towards the Junior World Rowing Championships and since then around 7 times I’ve coached singles and doubles to the Junior Worlds.  10 years ago I became head coach at Malvern Prep which is a small (for the USA) sculling programme in Pennsylvania.  The USA doesn’t stress sculling.

What are the aims of the School’s rowing programme?
For our athletes the opportunity to become very good scullers “as the English know” if you start them sculling they have a great opportunities to make college (university) boats.  Our boys train hard 6 days per week for the whole year.  It freezes from December to February and so we are inside in a tank sculling then from the end of February to July we are out on the river.
In winter we do long races, the Head of the Charles, Head of the Skuykill, the Philadelphia Scholastic City Championships, and Stotesbury Regatta which is the largest regattas in North America with 6000 children competing.  Then there are the Scholastic Nationals and the US Youth National Championships.

In spring we race in quads.  Do singles in autumn and summer in order to make the quad go fast you have to be able to move a single.  The difference in US mindset is the strongest kid will make it go fast.

What do you look for in a young athlete?
For the past 14 years I have been looking for children willing to make a commitment. Few are athletic when they start but they become athletic.  Rowing isn’t for everyone.  We don’t cut kids we allow them to cut themselves. If you are not willing to come to all the practices it becomes clear to the individual and they drop out.

What is your international involvement?
We run a Junior International camp for 8, 4+ and 4- and small boats are open to trials.  You have to make a minimum speed standard. Camp coaches have identification camps and about 15 events around the country where they look for talent.  From the group they invite 30 to the final camp. 

New this year is a 4- camp for development athletes.  They have to have 2 years of eligibility remaining for junior international.  These juniors will go to Beijing this summer.  To be successful at junior level you have to have one boat in development for experience at that level who can race the following year.

Selection regattas are in Canada and Mexico, the CanAmMex Regatta whose venue rotates.  The winner of the youth national champs in 8 and quads can go to these events.

US lags the rest of the world in its starting age we begin at age 14 or 15 and there are few opportunities to learn younger.  In Italy, UK and Germany they start recreational sculling at 9 or 10 years.  In the main, children start in 9th grade (14 years) and are encouraged to sweep before sculling.  In my opinion, this hinders the development in their boat moving skills.

What are your favourite skills drills?
Skill drills – once you are proficient in a single try these to improve your speeds.
[note in brackets I have used the UK phraseology to describe each drill]

1.    Half slide end pause (single strokes to half slide)
2.    Top of slide drills (quarter slide push from catch, half slide push)
3.    Pseudo release drill (legs and arms straight at quarter slide drive to finish keeping arms straight and using the body)
4.    Blades flat up to the catch and take the stroke with blades flat.  Develops hand heights and horizontal draw.  Do in pairs.

The pseudo release drill is so important because kids are timid with their swing.  The skill set in sculling is more advanced than sweep.  When you have mastered these drills they get success in sculling with pressure.  We may not have the athletic erg scores at Malvern but we are very proud of how they row.  I believe in good technique.

I believe that 20 minutes of drills before every workout is imperative.  We develop skills for a short amount of time but this is overlooked by many.  Teaching athletes what they need to know in order to win at international level takes 6 years.  For an athlete with talent to become a good international athlete; most need improved skills. 

We know you as a Dreher scull user – why do you choose Dreher oars?
I chose Drehers because they make the best balanced oar available on the market today.  The company gives me the great personal service that we need when we buy.

We have tried every type of scull and found that the Drehers are very comfortable and I find their sculls have good stiffness that is maintained year on year.  This is because they are made in an autoclave with heat and pressure – the only sculls that are.  We buy 30 pairs of sculls each year. 

Coming to Henley Royal Regatta, I chose the Big Blade spoon for my quads – this is what they use at home.  But you lent us Apex spoon sculls for the double and I was really impressed with them for the stronger athletes.  I will consider getting them next season to augment our stock.

What advice do you have for coaches?
Stick with what you know; if you want to learn how to coach sculling take your time and do your diligence and understand the technique fully.  Many programmes do many things.  My advice is to do half the things very well and stay at it.

How do coaches develop their skills in USA?
US Rowing has a mentoring programme for coaches to meet more accomplished coaches. It takes initiative from young coaches to reach out.  Sweep programmes produce most coaches.  There is a dearth of sculling coaches.  Except for the national team, there are no full time paid sculling coaches who can coach across the country.

How does sculling compare to sweep in US?
There needs to be an expansion of sculling education in US.  The quality of coaches we need to give scullers a clear track from school to U23 to elite level competitions.

I think you can’t convert a sweep rower to a sculler once he’s developed as a sweep rower.  It takes 6 years to reach international standard and if someone’s done sweep for part of that time and then switches to sculling there’s a need for extra years of practice before he’s ready for international competition in sculling.  A junior in my programme will scull for 4 years and then at College will probably be in a sweep crew.  If he wants to represent his country, in either discipline, it’ll probably take him another 2-3 years to get good enough in that discipline.  This is one of the reasons the USA is not strong in sculling events at the World Championships – College regattas only offer sweep events.

How would you improve the US international sculling programme?
To improve our international performance, I’d suggest we identify young gifted school rowers and keep them in the sculling pipeline through college.  This long term track will help the elite national sculling team and will bring in gold medals.  Anything less puts them on track to be the top of the B final.  Which is what’s happened in recent years.

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Rebecca,
 
The [Magik Sweep gates] were very well received and were used at Henley qualifiers (just need an outboard to make up the other 6 secs we needed!).  I hope that you'll see some further interest from some of the single scullers at our club.
 
Please invoice us for them, any discounts very welcome
 
I won't be at Vets as my family are suffering Henley burn-out although this should have worn off in time for St Neots, Sudbury and Cambridge Autumn (in my single with my MK1 gates) …..
 
Many thanks
 
James Knight

Maidstone Invicta RC 

P.S. As a small under-resourced club that has received considerable help from some unlikely sources this year,  we are very appreciative of your efforts to organise equipment lending and I was upset to see the various reactions on talkrowing etc. but not surprised given the normal level of intelligence displayed there!!
 

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Some views….

Jonty Faulkner of Exeter University Boat Club - owner of two SRT Coxmates

I have been looking around for a while for new coxing equipment.  The NKs are outrageously expensive for what they are.  And we have had bad luck with the Row Data ones in the past.   We are thinking 'why not' try the Coxmate?  Everything looks good about it including the price.

Peter Cawston of Edinburgh University Boat Club - owner of SCT Coxmate and impeller for 8+

I coach at Edinburgh Uni, though this would be a personal purchase as they can't afford one (and I am kidding myself that I can).   I found out about Coxmate because I was scouring the web for a device that would measure check (or min/max velocity in your case).

Christopher Shawcross of Phyllis Court Boat Club - owner of AA Coxmate which they sent back for repair and a quick (half-day) turn-round before a regatta.  We posted it back and it arrived on the morning of the regatta by special delivery.

It arrived on time, yes thank you - it was all they talked about all day!

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The Cambridge Vetera Women tried out some new Dreher Apex sweeps for the Womens Eights Head last Saturday.

Here's what they said….

Susanna (4) "I normally scull and so sweep oar blades always seem too big to me this first time I pick them up.  But these were fine and they felt comfortable, familiar yet powerful right away.  And although my first encounter with them was at WeHORR, I did not come away with new blisters on my hands."

Maria (Bow) I thought they were superb, very well balanced and positive all the way through the water. I felt I got hold of the water quickly and held on to it all the way through to the finish - a lovely feeling!  My only reservation is the handles, particularly the lack of grip for the outside hand.  A few times during the race I was aware that my outside hand was starting to slide down the handle slightly - easy enough to move back to the right position but it's one extra thing to have to think about.

Otherwise, the handles are comfortable - and I had no new blisters, which is almost unheard of after racing with new blades, so I'm not complaining too much.

 

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I love the photos taken by arch photography duo, Eliot George .  They take images that are unusual, clearly lit and create interest even when the shot is 'traditional'. 

Here is a photo they took of the Cambridge veteran ladies racing this weekend at the Womens Eights Head of the River RaceThe crew was using Carbon Adjustable Apex sweeps with medium handles and half grip-wrap inboard.  These are a demo set and are available for any club to borrow and try out.

The Crew are going to send us some views on what they thought of the blades. 

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