Rowing Equipment: The Cox Box

The key pieces of rowing equipment include far more than a boat and oars today.

Long ago a coxswain might have had a simple cone to focus his or her voice and they might talk into the bottom of the boat in hopes that it would carry their voice to the rest of the crew. Today as the coach on the water the coxwain is an integral part of any crew and the cox box and speakers that ensure precise communications with the rowers is no longer a nicety - it is an essential piece of equipment.

Cox boxes give stroke rate, stroke count and time as well to help the coxswain guide the crew in the perfect execution of a race plan. This of course with its most basic function of voice amplification carrying the coxie's voice to 2-3 or more speakers placed in the boat near the crew.

Nielsen Kellerman have produced the almost de facto standard - so de facto that their name "cox box" is the standard like Kleenex now means tissue to all or rollerblade means in-line skate.

It would be hard for anyone to dethrone the leading company - so many clubs have multiple units and training coxies to use a different brand or even to risk trying another brand with a relatively expensive purchase.

Still, others are trying to bring their game.

NK units don't give boat velocity and supply limited feedback to the coach after a workout or race. Some clubs combine the cox box with another piece of equipment like a speedcoach to get velocity (there is no consensus if these units really are accurate with bigger boats).

A company like Coxmate is worth a look. They produce several units - the most sophisticated being the SCT which handles the basic functions but adds velocity with a micro-impeller that is significantly smaller than the NK unit or even a GPS function. It also has a PC link for coach analysis.

in2Rowing made a unit packed with features, including GPS but their web site now says they are shut down "indefinitely."

Rowing Equipment III: Oars

Along with boats, oars are the most basic and important piece of rowing equipment.

Today all oars are constructed from a mixture of carbon fiber and fiberglass, permitting the construction of a lightweight oar with the ability to control important properties, notably the stiffness of the oar.

Sculling oars come in a variety of lengths from approximately 280cm  - 295cm or more, with custom options available from leading manufacturers. Sweep oars range from 370cm to 380cm or more, again with custom lengths as well. Today, most oars come with the ability to adjust the length to a degree, typically at the handle.

The "blade" often refers to the part that is placed in the water to propel the boat. While some clubs will invariably still have the older Macon style of blade in their stock the "hatchet" style of blade is used be virtually all competitive crews now. The hatchet blade offers a greater amount of surface area, and it is used with shorter oars as a result. Its center of balance is toward the top of the oar, rather than the middle as in macon oars. Most rowers find them easier to grip the water without technical mistakes. The shaft of the oar is connected to the blade assymetrically - higher up on the blade which minimizes the amount of shaft in the water (which contributes to drag), as well as maximizing the surface area of the balde that can be submerged.

The exact size and shape of the hatchet varies between companies, and individual companies even offer a variety of shapes.

The path of the oar through the water during a stroke is not uniform. The forces applied as a result change throughout the stroke and rowers are also more effective in applying force early and through the mid part of the stroke than in the later part of the stroke. Manufacturers dedicate considerable time and energy to research as the shape of the blade will change how effective it is in each phase of he stroke.

Oar Manufactuers:

Concept II - USA Concept II, maker of the most-used rowing ergometer, also provides the majority of oars used in North America.

Croker Oars of Australia have significant market penetration in North America and around the world.

Empacher - the German boat builder also makes their own oars.

Rowing Science Changes

As longterm readers will notice there hasn't been a lot published here in a while. We're not in a position to continue significant content on the science of rowing, so in an attempt to continue adding content, we're going to broaden the focus of the site.

We'll now include more information on rowing equipment, rowing machines, and the basics of rowing - in addition to the occasional return to our roots of rowing science.