The tideway is a cox’s game.
While most head races follow the same lesson in racing line for the coxes, stick to the middle and take the racing line, the championship breaks this rule and, you need to know your stuff. The wrong line on the championship course can lose crucial time, and it can be the difference between a win and a loss and crux an otherwise phenomenal crew.
Watch the Phelan Hill and Sophie Shapter ‘Steering in the Tideway’ video: https://youtu.be/jfDvLHK58Ig. If you only have time to do one thing, this is what you should do. This is the bible for anyone preparing for the race, and not only does it guide you through racing lines, but it also prepares you for the before and after of the race. If you are in doubt of the racing line, stick to the middle, and go wide on corners. Every bend is misleading, as coxes you always feel as if you want to cut it, but the racing line is in fact wide. As a cox you can sense when the currents of the water feel unbalanced on the boat, I would advise checking into your rhythm every 500m or so to ensure you haven’t fallen prey to a surprise slack.
Check the website for your respective the map and information. Look at where you will be for marshalling before the race, and ask your coaches where you are boating. Be prepared to have a short or long warmup, and for anything that could come. It’s very easy to skim over details on umpiring (if you are reading the race information at all) but a happy umpire will lead to a happy boat, avoid pointless altercations by following orders- whether you may agree with them or not. Its also important to mention, not all finishes are equal, the finish for SHORR is slightly before the finish for WeHORR and HORR- keep this in mind when timing a push for the line.
For the pre-race, you will be sat there for a while, especially if you are near the back of the starting order. If you are, expect to be sat around for an hour, you will be moving up albeit slowly, but variate who rows to ensure your crew stays warm. You will drift around when stationary, make sure you are close to the bank to stay out of the way of racing crews, but not too close that you take a fin off! When you’ve finished the race, keep moving. Either drop to rolling 6s, or do inside hand only, but at no point should you stop! You don’t want to end up with a titanic scenario, especially with the amount of crews racing, plus a savvy crew always shows their decorum in how they handle the wind down.
Communication is key. Utilise your stern pair, whether marshalling or racing. Especially on a course like this, they can tell help you during marshalling to stay aware of your surroundings, or during the race to alert you to an overtake.
Lastly, don’t stop talking! Your crew are in a long race, keep them going. Their focus is what is propelling you down the course, if you need to focus on steering for a minute, have some calls you can fall back on, or do minute focuses. Whatever it is that keeps your crew entertained, do it.
Good luck to all of those on the tideway for the upcoming races. Make the most of your experience, and enjoy the racing! Its a race like no other, and it will give you a lot of food for thought, even if it doesn’t go to plan.
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