TOMMI HIMBERG 2005

ROWING JARGON AND COXING CALLS

Equipment and people

Bow

Bow

2
3
4
Stroke side

Bow side

5
6
7

Stroke
Cox

STERN
In the boat, each rower has a set position, a number, and everyone also belongs to various subgroups.
Its vital to know your number, and identify the groups you belong to, as the cox will often give
commands to only part of the crew, and will use the numbers and the names of groups to direct these
commands.
Bow: The rower closest to the front (bow) of the boat.
Stroke: The rower closest to the back (stern) of the boat.
Bow pair: The two rowers closest to bow; bow & 2.
Stroke pair: The two rowers closest to stern; stroke & 7.
Bow four: Bow, 2, 3 and 4.
Stern four: 5, 6, 7 and stroke.

Bow side: Those rowers who have blades on

the same side as bow; bow, 3, 5 and 7.
Stroke side: Those rowers who have blades
on the same side as stroke; 2, 4, 6 and stroke.
Cox: The person who steers the boat and gives
commands. Cox is always in command of the
boat, and the crew must be ready to execute
his/her orders immediately.

 TOMMI HIMBERG 2005

Inboard

Handle

Outboard

Button

LOOM

BLADE

Pin
Seat

Gate
Rigger
Foot
Stretcher

Positions
Backstops: A position with legs straight so that you are sitting at the back of the slide with the oar handle
in your lap.
Frontstops: The opposite of the previous, you are legs compressed at the front of your slide, arms
straightened out and ready to catch
Ready position: The ready position is at backstops, with blade at 45 degrees angle half buried in the
water.
At the catch: Blade buried in the water, ready to drive (usually fronstops, but could be at some other part
of slide as well)
At finish: The stroke is a continuous motion, but the defined finish point is at the end of the drive, when
the blade comes out of the water. So at finish, you are at backstops with the handle at your lap, out of the
water, in feathered position, body leaning slightly backwards.
At arms away: A position being at backstops but arms extended. Often used in the individual strokes
exercise as a stopping point. Also the motion of extending your arms in the beginning of the stroke.

 TOMMI HIMBERG 2005

At bodies over: The position at backstops, arms extended and the body leaning forward.
At poised position: The position where arms are extended, body rocked forward, and knees have just
broken. This is the most stabile position, and also important because from this position onwards in the
stroke, your upper body position virtually stays the same, all the way forward, and then during the drive,
until you extend your back again at the end. From this position onwards, your shoulders should also
follow the line of the blade handle.
At half slide: Position at the halfway of the slide. Arms are extended. Similarly with quarter slide, three
quarter slide etc.

Coxing calls
Most coxing calls consist of three main parts: who, what (where, how), when.
First the cox tells who the call concerns. This could be all eight, bow four, stroke pair, or even individual
rower, e.g. number three. Then, the cox tells what needs to be done and how and where it should be done.
This could contain a number of things, for example, light paddling, from backstops, with feather. The whenpart is obviously very important, as things need to be done synchronously. Most calls are executed when
the cox calls are you ready - - - GO, on the word go. Sometimes, to prepare the crew, cox might say on the
next stroke . The call is still executed after the cox calls go.
An important exception to this is stopping the boat or stopping rowing. These calls, easy, hold it and
hold it HARD are executed IMMEDIATELY, and always by the whole crew.

Components of a stroke
Drive: The part of the stroke where the blade is in the water and the rower is putting power in by pushing
with legs and moving backwards on the slide.
Recovery: The part of the stroke where the blade is off the water and the rower is moving forward on the
slide.
Ratio: The drive and recovery are not equally long; in general, the recovery should take longer than the
drive. A starting point for training purposes is ratio of 2 to 1 (2 time units in recovery, one in the drive),
but in lower stroke rates the ratio is even bigger, closer to 3 to 1, while at higher rates (more strokes per
second) it gets smaller, i.e. closer to 1 to 1.
Catch: The moment when blade is put in the water and the drive begins. The catch takes place just before
the rower reaches frontstops in recovery.
Finish: End of the drive when the blade comes out of the water and the rower is at backstops ,body
leaning backwards.

 TOMMI HIMBERG 2005

Hands away: Extending your arms in the beginning of the stroke.

Bodies over: Body leaning forward after hands away.
Moving on the slide: In recovery, after bringing the arms forward and moving the upper body, rower
starts moving forward on the slide. This should feel more like letting the boat glide underneath and the
footstretcher coming towards you, than you moving towards the front.

Rowing
Arms only: Rowing at backstops, body upright and using only arms for the rowing motion, and squared
blades.
Arms and backs only: As previous, but using body swing as well as arms. Important to maintain
separation of arms and back movements, so that one body part moves at the time, but they are seamlessly
connected together to one, fluent motion.
Light pressure: Keeping the technique together but using very little power during drive.
Wind up / wind down: Speeding up, slowing down. For instance, starting and finishing a piece, a stint
of rowing at full pressure and higher rating. With the call wind up, the rowers increase the rating
gradually, following the stroke, and in the end of the piece or a race, with the call wind down, they drop
the pressure and rating, again following the stroke, but maintain good technique to keep the boat moving.
Setting the boat: Balancing the boat. When rowing, you can balance the boat by keeping your body
moving along the centreline of the boat, and using your feet to balance. Also the handle heights are
important. When not rowing, setting the boat means holding on to your feathered blade that is on the
water, and balancing the boat with holding the blade firmly and at the right height.
Squared blade: Blade in vertical position, orthogonal to the water. Blades are squared during the drive,
when in water, and during warm up and squared blades exercise. Squaring the blade means turning it to
this position.
Feathered blade: Blade turned to be horizontal, parallel to the water. Blades are feathered during
recovery, when blades are off the water, to minimise wind resistance. Feathering the blade mans turning it
to this position.
Tap: a small stroke just using your arms, used to align the boat before start.
Touch: a little bigger than tap, but still not using the slide, usage same as taps.
Trailing blades: Used to find balance. On recovery, blades are skimming on the surface of water, as in
setting the boat, thus keeping it in balance during recovery. The blades are then gradually lifted up in
subsequent recoveries until a normal height with balance is reached.

 TOMMI HIMBERG 2005

Stopping the boat

Easy: On the command easy, rowers stop rowing and move to backstops, hands away position. Blades
are feathered and off the water to give the cox maximum manoeuvrability of the boat.
Drop it: From easy position, the blades are dropped to the water. The drop should be simultaneous,
making a bang sound.
Take the run off: When blades are resting on the water, turn the blade towards squared, to slow the boat
down.
Hold it: Stop the boat by burying your blade in water and squaring it
Hold it hard: Same as previous but with more urgency. This is called only in emergency, when the boat
really needs to be stopped immediately to avoid collision.

Pieces, exercises etc.

Pieces: Sections of hard-pressure rowing. The pieces have a predetermined length either in distance or in
strokes, and an inbuilt pattern of stroke rates. A pyramid piece is a piece where stroke rate first rises in
regular intervals (for instance in every 20 strokes) and then drops back down. When starting a piece, the
pressure is lifted first, and when that happens stroke starts to wind up the rating to the decided level.
Power 10: Within pieces bursts of heavy pressure and maximum effort are injected to keep up the speed
and catch up the boat in front etc. Usually in power ten, the rating stays the same but the rowers put
maximum pressure during those ten strokes.
Individual strokes: When moving, to improve balance and timing the continuous rowing motion is
sometimes broken down by taking individual strokes and pausing at some point(s) of recovery.
Ratio shift: When moving, an exercise where the rating is suddenly dropped while the power and push
increases. Thus the ratio in a stroke is changed, by shortening the drive and lengthening the recovery. Cox
calls: Ratio shift in two, one, on this one.
Chopping: When stationary, tapping the blade up and down to practice timing of the catch. Can be done
at frontstops (where the catch usually takes place) or at backstops (where the boat is easier to balance for
the exercise). Rowers are supposed to follow strokes timing. Cox calls: Chopping exercise, backstops, are you
ready, go.
Roll-ups: When stationary, building the stroke section by section to improve balance and timing. In first
part, tap down, you just lift the blade off the water and feather it. In second part, hands away, in addition to
tap down and feather, you move your hands away from your body. In bodies over, lean your upper body
forward in addition to the previous parts etc. Each roll-up starts from the ready-position, i.e. at backstops
with the blade in the water. Cox calls: Ready for roll-ups, tap down, backstops, are you ready go. Ready go etc.
(Picture copyrights: Oarsport and BigBlade.net)