Coxing a practice piece without other boats

Here's an example of a 1000m practice piece I did with UCSD. As you can see we are the only boat so I can't use calls on the other boats as motivation. Focus on your plan, dissect any problems with technique and rhythm, and focus internally.

[@charlie5531]

i was told by a male rower that they dont like being spoken to on every stroke

[@increasingrain]

It depends on the boat. Every boat is different

[@CoxTalksbyCatSheffler]

It absolutely depends on the boat/person, but it also depends on the piece and the experience level of both the coxswain and rower. During a high intensity race, every rower I've spoken to would agree that they want consistent coxing. During steady state pieces, I tend to give large breathing periods. Some rowers prefer pretty constant coxing even on a 20 minute piece, but I think silence can be a powerful tool. A lot of rowers will tune you out if you talk the whole time, and what you say has to be relevant, not filler.

[@increasingrain]

@@CoxTalksbyCatSheffler
I definitely agree about rowers tuning you. I notice this happen during a race, where they just want you to say something. Most of the time, they won't remember what you said from my experience.
One of my favorite calls was a "silent ten" at each 500 or right before the last 500. It helped everyone gathered their thought before we tried to make our final moves.
I always found practices to be super hard to cox in my opinion. Especially for long pieces, they hate silence. Sometimes they hate the silence during short pieces. Especially when coxing novice boats, where most of your words is in regard to technique.