Talking to a coach yesterday, and I was asked what was the #1 top thing that he needed to do to get the most from his rowing equipment.

I stared at him—processing a list of hundreds of items in my head. And it got me thinking, “I should put up a list, say of the top 57 tips, a rower/coach needs to do to get the most speed and keep the most sanity.”

And so that is how this post began, and the list starts. Some tips may be very specific (tighten this), others very conceptual (think about this).

To start off, here are 8. All are conceptual, but important.

1. Thrive inside the box: Over the past hundred years there has been very little significant innovation in rowing in terms of hull design. We live in a box compared to other areas, such as telecommunications.
2. Don’t underestimate the importance of a simple $.45 nut: It can stop dead a $30,000 boat.
3. Keep your hull clean
4. Keep your hull smooth
   
5. Know how the rigging numbers are measured when getting them from another source
   
6. Keep all moving parts clean
7. Test your rigging numbers for your own situation
   
8. In the big picture of hull speed, rigging is not in the top four items of greatest importance