Coxswain Development: The Art of Making a Pass

Head-racing season is upon us, and with it a new set of challenges to manage and skills to perfect. While it’s fun to focus on the perfect line down a course or the ideal angle to approach a bridge, it’s important to remember the basics, especially if you’re newer to head racing.

This fall, don’t take the humble skill of passing for granted. Any seasoned watcher of head races can tell you that a surprising variety of clashes and collisions is caused each year by coxswains and crews not executing a pass cleanly.

The foundational element of passing is understanding how your boat is traveling through the water—how fast and how predictably it moves and how easily it turns.

First, you need to assess how fast you’re approaching the boat ahead of you. To overtake cleanly, you need to anticipate both how quickly you’ll be able to overtake as well as where on the course the pass will occur so that you can account for any obstacles—buoys, boats, or the left-hand abutment of Weeks Bridge. You also need to know what kind of pressure that passed boat is going to be able to apply to you once you’re ahead of them.

As the overtaking boat, you get to select the line you want. Make sure as you approach that you keep your bow pointed to the side you want to take. Once you’re a length and closing in, make the call to the coxswain in front of you to yield off the racing line, preferably using the team’s name. There’s a lot going on during races, so you might have to repeat yourself. Ensure that you’re projecting confidence to your rowers, even if the other coxswain doesn’t respond immediately.

Remember your earlier assessment of any potential obstacles? This is to ensure that you won’t make the mistake of asking the other coxswain to yield off the course or into a bridge. No matter how much you may want a particular line, the other boat can’t disappear into thin air. Leave enough room for the blades of both boats; clashes slow you down. If you’re passing around a turn, make sure you know your rudder and your rowers so that you can make your inside turn confidently. It’s always best to leave a margin for error between the boats in case your opponent’s turn is sharper or shallower than you anticipate.

If you’ve come off your preferred line to make the pass, make sure that your stern is clear of your competitor’s blades and bow before you pull back directly in front. Awareness of where your stern ends and how much it swings is more challenging in a bowloader, so this is a skill worth practicing if you’re coxing a four.

Once you’ve completed the pass and established yourself fully on the racing line you want, be sure to continue moving away from the boat behind you. Every opportunity to pass should be fun, so let that shine through in your coxing. Use that momentum to help keep up boat speed after you’ve completed the pass to shut the door firmly.

Sometimes in life you’re the passing boat and sometimes you’re the yielding boat. If you must yield, do it quickly, quietly, and with minimal disruption to your race plan or rhythm. Don’t let the speed of the boat fall off after the pass. Give your boat a goal and a focus, and provide the crew with the feedback and energy to reach that goal.  

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