an excellent pictoral guide to wrangling the Charles, just for Coxmate.  Her PDF includesover a dozen photos of key points on the river with red lines showing you exactly how to manoeuver your boat and where to point your bows. Read How to Steer the Head of the Charles by Meli Mathis 2. Excellent link to Preparing to Cox the Head of the Charles by Yasmin Farooq .  She wrote this article for US Rowing and it was reprinted in coxswain nation. Yasmin gives great advice on preparation for the HOCR - what to do in the days leading up to the event, as well as a section on race day. 5. This is an aerial photo from Jim Dwyer , of the Western Rowing Club in Ontario, Canada.  The line in red is his actual route through the HOCR mapped by GPS - oh the wonders of technology.  The loops at the start and finish are his warm up/cool down.