A 115-pound sophomore woman with a short fuse and a nickname to match is one of the reasons the Washington varsity men's eight is undefeated and ranked No. 1 this season.
Katelin Snyder, the crew's coxswain from Florida, is nicknamed "Kane-oh," short for volcano. She earned the moniker last year because she was "a little bit volatile" at times guiding the UW freshman crew to a national title.
In the varsity boat this year, Kane-oh has had few eruptions.
"These guys are a little bit more mature than freshmen, and I'm probably a little bit more controlled," she said.
Opening Day crew
The schedule for Saturday's Windermere Cup on Montlake Cut
10:05 a.m.: Dragon boat exhibition race.
10:20 a.m.: First crew race.
11:15 a.m.: UW varsity women vs. Purdue and University of Waikato of New Zealand.
11:25 a.m.: UW varsity men vs. Purdue and University of Waikato of New Zealand.
Noon: Yacht parade begins.
2:30 p.m.: Approximate end of yacht parade.
Snyder thought she was done with crew after high school and planned to attend Bates College in Maine. But weeks into the summer, the rowing itch returned.
She e-mailed top rowing schools to see if they were interested in her. Washington responded and helped her clear late-admission hurdles.
The girl whose high-school practices were sometimes delayed by alligators on the dock now is accustomed to chilling rain and is guiding the nation's No. 1 crew 3,000 miles from home.
Snyder will bark out commands when the Huskies face the University of Waikato of New Zealand and the club team from Purdue University in the men's Windermere Cup race. That race, and the women's varsity race against the same schools, highlight the Opening Day Regatta that precedes the annual yacht parade.
The races and parade combine for a signature Seattle event. If all goes well, Snyder will wind up in the water after gliding on top of it.
When the Huskies win, they delight in the rowing tradition of throwing the coxswain in the drink.
The secret about Snyder is that she is a lousy swimmer and wears a lifebelt in the boat.
What a coxswain does
1) Steers the boat. This isn't as easy as it sounds and bad steering has cost crews races. Some people just don't have what one coach has called "the steering gene." In new shells, the coxswain's seat is lower than it was in older shells and that makes it harder for a good line of sight. The coxswain has to move his or her head to each side to see around the rowers but must do it smoothly or the delicate balance is disturbed.
2) Executes the race plan. For example, crews may plan to take "power 10s" (10 fast, powerful strokes) at designated points of the course and start the final sprint at a specific spot.
3) Adjusts the race plan. The Washington State women's varsity was defeated by Gonzaga this season because a young Cougars coxswain didn't realize the plan wasn't working because the Zags were faster than expected. The Cougars didn't move to a higher stroke rate until it was too late.
4) Tells the crew how the race is going. ("I've got their bow" means the bow of the opposing boat is now even with the coxswain.) The coxswain provides this information because on most crews all eyes are supposed to be looking inside the boat during the race.
5) Encourages the rowers and keeps them focused. The coxswain is the on-board coach and his or her exclamation-point exhortations such as "Legs!" (use your legs more) are made to get the most out of the crew. The coxswain also yells to keep rowers' minds from wandering, often because of exhaustion. Confidence is a requirement for winning and the coxswain has to exude it and make it contagious.
6) Is in charge of safety. This means avoiding collisions with other crews, which is more of a concern during warmups, or anchor lines of yachts.
7) Makes individual corrections, but usually does it in practice instead of a race. ("Mike, you're late," means this particular rower is slow getting his blade into the water.)
8) Supervises getting the boat in and out of the water. Commands such as "hands-on" and "ready up" tell rowers when to lift the boat off its rack or trailer. Commands at the dock, such as "roll" tells them to put it in the water.
What a coxswain doesn't do
1) Call "Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!" for every stroke during a race.
2) Get fat. An overweight coxswain means extra weight in a boat.
Craig Smith
"I passed the swimming test," she said defensively.
"I don't like going in the lake, I don't like it at all," she admitted. "I don't like my clothes being wet and being cold. But I like it better than losing."
So, in she goes in when the Huskies win. But as one of the rowers said, "We pull her out fast."
Snyder, 19, grew up in Winter Park, Fla., outside Orlando. Winter Park High School offered crew as an interscholastic sport and she pulled an oar in the girls program for two years, then switched to being coxswain on the boys team. When she was a senior, Winter Park won the national boys scholastic championship with her in the boat.
Washington coach Bob Ernst is delighted to have her.
"She has a really good sense of how the boat is moving and she manages the guys perfectly. She's not intimidated by any of those guys. She's one of the team."
Snyder said he doesn't think of gender when it comes to rowing.
"I usually don't really think of myself as a girl when I'm down there " she said of the crewhouse. "I'm just a teammate."
Senior Aljosa Corovic of Belgrade, Serbia, said, "She's very girly outside the boat but inside the boat she's a tomboy."
Teammates have noted that Snyder's voice takes on a drill-sergeant's edge on the water.
"It's crazy how focused she is," said Max Lang, bowman from Lumby, B.C.
Snyder said a race leaves her "mentally exhausted" because of all her "multi-tasking" that includes steering, monitoring the competition and executing or adjusting the race plan.
After the collegiate season last year, Snyder earned the coxswain's berth on the U.S. under-23 women's crew that won a gold medal at the world championships in Belgium.
The selection process was all business with no cushion for bruised feelings.
"On the last day, they just read out the lineup," said Snyder, who was picked over two other coxswains in the selection camp. Snyder isn't the first female coxswain on the men's varsity. In 1995, Kara Schocken, a Lakeside School grad from Mercer Island, won the seat.
Snyder has plenty of competition for the varsity seat from senior Micah Perrin, the former Meadowdale High School wrestler who was in the varsity boat for the final four races last year, including a fifth-place finish at nationals.
"We have two really good coxswains," Ernst said.
So far, the 5-foot-4 woman from Florida with the volcano nickname and international credentials has been in the varsity boat.
"She brings a lot of her spirit to that seat," Ernst said.
Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com
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