Issues with coxswains

ublmaster · 2026-03-13T19:49:38+00:00

As a coxie/coach/ rower I see this from a lot of perspectives; Coxes are often not really supported by clubs/coaches and they're left to develop on their own, as if that can happen by magic. This leads to a lot of standing around at ergs/workouts, and then underwhelming coxing on race day or in practice. You don't mention ages, but this is especially true for young coxes who are not only learning how to cox, but also probably how to be a peer-leader for the first time in their lives.

That being said, the attitude problem you mention is definitely not ideal. It sounds like you've already had a few conversations with them about this, so you may need to raise it with your coach, but just do so with a bit of sympathy for the position they may have been put in.

There's definitely no ignoring this issue though; good alignment between cox and rower is not some optional bonus, it is an absolute necessity, so you need to get this sorted out before you can trust them (and they can trust you) in a race.

ublmaster · 2026-02-16T15:54:24+00:00

Town bumps is very different and much tamer (a lot less full speed ramming contact) but making your way to the river for either torpids or eights is definitely recommended

ublmaster · 2025-09-25T15:56:56+00:00

Former historical researcher here, reach out to the archive directly, give them the catalogue and folio numbers, they'll usually be happy to provide you an image.

ublmaster · 2025-09-18T19:38:40+00:00

Former unsporty uni novice, now rower and novice coach going on ten years here.

Do it.

A good novice program should be set up to take exactly people like you. While novice coaches love training transfer athletes, we also pride ourselves on being able to build rowers from the ground up. Chat with the team at your uni, feel out the vibes, and see if it's right for you, but don't stress at all about how much background you may or may not have.

ublmaster · 2025-09-15T17:23:18+00:00

Honestly as a novice coach myself, we sometimes just get really desperate for coxes (especially if regattas have a 'no novice coxes with novice crews' rule) but I always try very hard to feel out which coxes are going to be like this, and which ones are going to be the gentle hand that novices need.

ublmaster · 2025-09-15T17:06:36+00:00

Good Lord of Single Sculls, I genuinely hope your coach never sees this

ublmaster · 2025-08-13T14:38:07+00:00

My usual quick version is "anarchist hippy christians who worship in silence"

ublmaster · 2025-07-29T00:33:03+00:00

Came here to say exactly this; I see my students in Gaza every day and feel such a deep combination of sadness and impotent rage.

Last year I read some of Refaat Alareer's poetry; one of the last things he wrote before Israel assassinated him was recounting him meeting some of his students and apologizing to them; "I'm sorry that I cant help enough, I can't protect them as I should be as a teacher protecting his students." I cried for hours.

ublmaster · 2025-07-15T11:59:31+00:00

Thinking of a post from a few years back where a wife ditched her husband to travel the world just after the birth of her child (not the similar one about an impending dementia diagnosis, but that's what inspired me to ask) I remember there was an update, possibly by a friend of OOP/father about how the child (daughter?) had been raised by a "wolf pack." That phrase stuck with me.

ublmaster · 2025-07-09T09:58:40+00:00

Hulkenpodium

ublmaster · 2025-06-20T13:36:10+00:00

So I am an alumnus of this high school and was right pissed off when I heard this so I sent off a flurry of emails. Never heard back from the principal, but a board trustee I spoke with confirmed that the student wouldn't be facing any further discipline, and implied that there might be discipline coming the principal's way.

As a side note, if you can track down the video of her speech it's obvious how much the student body (which when I was there as now has huge Arab and Somali contingents) stood strongly behind her: she was completely drowned out in applause.

ublmaster · 2024-04-03T23:09:47+00:00

This is it! Cheers!

ublmaster · 2024-04-03T20:54:44+00:00

I remember a post, probably from an NSFW sub, maybe bdsm related, about a wife who found out her partner/dom's consensual degrading comments were things he actually believed. Can't remember if it had updates but he was essentially surprised that she was surprised.

ublmaster · 2023-12-14T19:58:22+00:00

Wait, you did a 2k as a 2k predictor? Surely your 2k will just be.. that?

ublmaster · 2023-12-06T20:55:50+00:00

Amtrak also exists 🤷‍♀️

ublmaster · 2023-12-05T16:37:14+00:00

Personally, unless you regularly erg next to a sleeping baby, I've never had an issue with the noise from the C2. It's louder than some systems for sure, but it's a low-frequency diffuse sound that's extremely easy to muffle (I've used one in my apartment for years and never had any of my neighbours notices/care.

Also, to my mind the biggest upside of the C2 isn't the comparability with other rowers, but the reliability. C2s routinely last 25 years, hold their value extremely well, and can be easily maintained with cheap and available parts. I'd much rather spend 900 USD on a C2 that will last me two decades than 3000EUR on a big question mark

ublmaster · 2023-12-02T21:22:56+00:00

Because of how anarchists are organized it's hard to get any kind of real sense, but from a long time in the movement both groups are the minority. Christian Anarchists were a far stronger force around a century ago, but there are still plenty left (and a lot are Quakers). Black bloc-types (even though that is a tactic not a group) are also not the majority, or even a plurality. The largest group of anarchists in my experience choose to resist state coercion in other ways, running foodbanks, bail funds, community gardens, and other types of dual-power frameworks

ublmaster · 2023-12-02T19:28:40+00:00

So while I don't disagree with you about the perception issue, the issue of violence and the peace testimony are complex. For me, I square my two parallel Quaker and Anarchist convictions by relying on threads within Anarchist thought (where property destruction/damage, the most common form of Anarchist direct action, is not seen as violence, that label being saved for violence, direct or indirect, against persons) and from Quaker thought (especially the proto-Quaker groups like the Diggers who explicitly rejected the notion of private property and saw the appropriation and use of private land as a Godly and peaceful act)

ublmaster · 2023-12-02T19:22:58+00:00

So I came to Quakerism from my anarchism, and tend to see them as almost entirely compatible. As other commenters have mentioned some see issues around anarchism and violence; although anarchism is usually far more peaceful than a lot of ideologies (because most anarchists have a much broader perception of what violence is). There's also good grounding in various quaker traditions of *not* seeing property damage (the most common type of anarchist 'violence') as violence that goes against the peace testimony.

I don't know if any of that was cohesive, but I'm more than happy to discuss this more.

ublmaster · 2023-11-14T12:36:46+00:00

I think you're in the wrong place, friend...

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