Ladies Plate Final 2017 - Cox Recording

- Disclaimer -
** WE DO NOT OWN THE RACING FOOTAGE USED FOR THIS VIDEO. IT BELONGS TO HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA. The full race can be found here: • Ladies' Plate Final - ...
We have been given special dispensation to use this footage by Henley Regatta and can watch the full races on the youtube channel at the end of the video.
** THE IMAGES AT THE END ARE BY ROWINGCLASSIFIEDS.CO.UK. You can find their article on Brookes here: content.rowing...
This is Harry's bit. I just wanted to chuck in a few lines to explain the video.
Firstly, some may remember my infamous HORR 15 video (bye Newcastle etc). I chose to take that down because I felt it didn't represent what I was about. There were guys in there I've gotten to know since then, and it wasn't fair on any of them. I have since made an effort to respect other crews more and keep my head in, it made me a better cox for it. I'm not going to pretend I don't hand out a bit of chat in races, as I definitely do if it'll work for the crew. This race was a better example of me focussing on us.
Secondly, this isn't an imitation. I'm expecting lots of critical comparisons to other notable videos on TH-cam! Those that know me will know I've never tried to be like another cox, but I often listen to other coxes and like bits of what they do, and try it. I hope perhaps this can offer the same to some of you.
Thirdly, it's far from perfect. I don't pretend to have all the answers, and I wouldn't still be in this sport if I didn't think I could improve - that's half the fun of it. I personally think regattas for a cox are so much more about executing a good race plan, rather than worrying completely about what you say! You can tell just from my voice that we tried to go out hard, but keep as calm as possible for as long as possible. We had a plan, and we went for it. You can tell we have a few pushes that didn't really work - to the credit of the U23s, digging their claws in.
Most of my work on this crew happened long before the race. Countless debriefs, thousands of kilometres of technique work, words of concern, words of praise. This race, I could have said complete gibberish, but the guys knew the plan so well that it wouldn't have mattered. So this is a note to say that coxing a great race doesn't happen on the day - it starts in the winter, training with your mates, and building calls and race plans that work for you.
TL:DR
I'm still learning, and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. Improving is half the fun in coxing. I was bloody nervous, some of our plan may not have worked, so I just tried to keep our rhythm long and strong.
Enjoy guys, and have a great summer.