Nathan Cohen (left) and Rob Waddell. Photo / Kenny Rodger
It might not rank up there with the Enigma code but double sculler Nathan Cohen has lifted the lid on the age-old question of how rowers talk to each other in the boat.
Without the benefit of a cox barking orders at them from the front of the
boat, crews in small boats are left to sort their strategies among themselves. With world-class rowers working to their physical limits, talking is not something they want to do a lot of.
Cohen and Rob Waddell won Saturday's heat going away from a feisty Belarusian crew, setting themselves up nicely for Wednesday's semifinals at Shunyi Rowing Park. During the race Waddell could be seen periodically shouting at his stroke.
"Rob does most of the communicating in the boat obviously because he's sitting behind me," Cohen said. "My job is to sit there and I worry more about the stroke rate and Rob keeps an eye on the other crews in the race and how the race is unfolding. He communicates that to me.
"Obviously we have plans through the race that we want to focus on and he also communicates that to me. Rob's the main communicator while I concentrate on my job which is to get the rating [strokes per minute] right," he said.
Waddell and Cohen are a new combination, coming together only when the former Olympic single sculling champion's race-off with Mahe Drysdale was decided in March. In that short time the two have formulated about 10 one-word prompts, three or four that they use all the time.
"In a race you obviously can't talk too much because you're on your limit anyway but we have a number of one-word calls that we've developed and know what they mean and what we have to think about. It's pretty simple; it's not rocket science."
So what are some of those words?
"Nah, can't tell you that," Cohen joked. "Maybe on Saturday."
If he's wearing gold around his neck, he should be ready to spill the beans on everything.
