Coxswain Development: Fall Housekeeping and Other Chores
Whether your winter season is indoors or out, the end of fall racing is a great time to take care of your equipment so that it serves you well on the water.
First and foremost is the care and maintenance of your CoxOrb, CoxBox, and other electronic devices, like SpeedCoaches. Problems with your CoxBox may not be your fault, but they can irritate your rowers and interfere with your ability to run a practice safely and effectively. Take steps to ensure that your equipment functions properly.
“Make sure you’re regularly charging but not keeping it plugged in the whole winter,” said Jun Jeon, sports-performance sales manager at Nielsen-Kellerman. A good rule is not to charge the CoxBox or SpeedCoach continuously for more than two days.
Conversely, you also don’t want your electronics to sit untouched for months with the battery drained. Regularly charging and discharging the battery will help preserve its life.
“A lot of the troubleshooting or repair calls that come in are unfortunately the result of not keeping up with that charging,” said Jeon.
It’s also best practice to clean your CoxBox at least once a month (or biweekly if you row in salt water) and before it’s put away for any extended period. NK sells maintenance kits for the CoxBox, and you can also assemble your own. If your CoxBox is the newer style with three ports on the front, make sure to use the protective cap that came with the box whenever you’re on the water to prevent moisture from entering through the right-side Smart Connector port. Keep the cap on for storage as well.
Make sure your headset and wiring are coiled loosely and neatly for storage and travel and that you don’t lift or carry the box by the microphone cord when it’s in use.
“Be careful with where the microphone jack is,” said Jeon. “It’s where we handle it the most when we plug it into the CoxBox.”
When the microphone jack is handled gently, “there will be less static, and people will be more pleased with how the CoxBox sounds.”
Other coxswain housekeeping tasks worth mentioning:
Empty out the rest of your coxswain bag and replace wrenches, hardware, and tape that were used up (or went for a swim) during your fall season.
Clean and air out your waterproof gear and flotation suit, if you use one.
If you recorded your coxing throughout the fall season, label and organize your recordings digitally.
If your boats are de-rigged for the winter, note how each shell was rigged so you can help your coach and team re-rig efficiently.
With these tasks done, you’ve set yourself up to help yourself and your team get on the water smoothly when racing resumes.
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