Terrible at Bow Seat

Hi All-

I joined a rowing club about 3 years ago. We are not competitive but still like to work on technique. I row 1x per week with the club. I have recently been put in the bow seat a lot but I am really struggling with it. My club never taught us the "rules" of bowing....you just get put in the seat one day and somehow are supposed to know what to do. We have 5 bridges we have to go through plus there is usually a large group of 15-20 paddle boards ot, 20-30 outrigger, a couple of draggon boats, and 1-2 other rowing clubs so the lake is super busy. In addition our lake has sweeoing curves to manage. This weekend I was bowing a quad, and thought I was doing OK, but I guess not. The coach did not seem to like any of the decisions I was making and kept making me stop the boat. The boat we were in really pulled to port so there were time I would overcorrect because I was accommodating fot this, maybe this is what she didnt like. It made me so nervous though and I had a migraine by the end of practice because I was so tense. I am looking for any suggestions on how I can get better so both my coach and I can relax more!! I am really struggling with how to manage a boat that really pulls to one side, we have multiple boats that do this. When I bow I feel like we are weaving down the lake. I have a hard time with the bridges because I cannot really see them until we are pretty close. I also have a hard time seeing the other boats when looking over my shoulder. We do not do toe steering so it is up to the bow to make all the calls for steering as well as watch the time for our piece, like 2 min on and 1 off is on the bow to watch. Are there any resources you can direct me to to help learn how to be better I the bow seat?

Posted Sep 14, 2026, 7:53 PM UTC

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