[CUCBC Captains] Early mornings

[Mark Jacobs]

Dear all,

Please pass this onto your individual club mailing lists - I feel that 
all rowers could do with a reminder of the basics of early morning outings:

1) Lighting down / pushing off
Lighting down is defined on the CUCBC website. Naturally there will be a 
spot of variation in watches and optimistic readings thereof, but please 
don't be silly about it.

At lighting down, there are probably 30-odd boats pushing out over a two 
minute window into a very short bit of river. This morning I saw some 
particularly appalling pushing out. If there is a crew directly opposite 
your boathouse and pushing out will cause them to crash into a barge, 
don't do it. Wait for a gap. Also don't push out and paddle up the wrong 
side of the river - there are town rowers out before dark (including 
several single scullers) who neither appreciate nor deserve to be held 
up because of your impatience.

2) Lights
Lights are mandatory within 15 minutes of lighting up/down. While 
mornings are overcast, as today, they are particularly important in 
improving visibility reducing the risk of collisions. From what I've 
seen this morning, you lot need all the help you can get in this 
department. Lights should be bright, steady and white, mounted on both 
your bow and your stern. Red lights are not white, and thus not 
acceptable. Flashing lights are not steady, and thus not acceptable. 
Lights so dim that your hull with a few years of Cam-scum built up on 
the bow canvasses outshines them are not acceptable. Lights worn beneath 
your cox's or bowgirl's (or bowman's) pony tail are invisible, and 
definitely not acceptable. As for dim, red flashing lights beneath a 
pony tail...

Please remember that second boats boating 10 minutes after lighting down 
are also bound by this rule.

Failure to adhere to this rule will result in your club being fined.

3) Rowing
If, by some chance, you've managed to push off without cocking anything 
up, please be careful for the rest of your outing, particularly outside 
the boathouses. This morning there were far too many crews charging 
ahead into the back of stationary boats in queues. I saw at least 3 
near-misses, averted only by sudden holding-up of the boat and fortunate 
steering.

Please also remember that until you are past the P&E, the half-crew, 
half-slide rule applies. I don't want to see any more crews rowing arms 
only and holding up a dozen boats behind. If you want to do technical 
backstops paddling work, please keep it to the long reach where there is 
space to comfortably and safely overtake. If you find yourself stuck 
behind a slow crew, do not overtake unless it is clear and safe to do 
so. Again, this morning there were far too many near-misses.

4) Crossovers
At the crossovers, the crews rowing upstream have right of way. This is 
not dependent upon speed, cockiness or misplaced confidence. If you 
cannot crossover without impeding crews coming upstream, wait. Do not 
paddle past the crossover, then try to barge your way through upcoming 
traffic either.

5) Spinning
If you are spinning at the lock, please row down to the 'spin here' 
sign, spin quickly and row out of the spinning zone. Don't pull in 
inside the spinning zone when there is space ahead, and don't sit 3 feet 
away from the bank to have a coaching talk when crews are waiting behind 
you to proceed upstream. If there is a queue of boats waiting to spin, 
join the end of it. We should be masters of the very British art of 
queueing, rather than careering all over the place, causing mayhem and 
havoc like a fleet of Italian drivers.

If you are spinning at the bottom of the long reach, do not do so unless 
you will not obstruct boats rowing upstream, i.e. from Ditton corner. 
This causes long queues, not to mention difficulties at the nearby 
crossover point.

6) Play nicely...
If only for the sake of my keyboard and blood pressure. Please think 
about the other users of the river (not just college rowers), and if you 
can avoid winding somebody up, even at a minor inconvenience to 
yourself, please do so. This applies to where you stop to discuss with 
your coaches, the type and speed of exercises that you want to do and 
when paddling generally. The long reach is generally the best place to 
do slow work. A weekday afternoon outing is even better, and is probably 
as productive as a whole week of early morning outings.


Rant over, for the moment. If you've any questions on anything written 
above, please let me know and I will attempt to clarify. Meanwhile, 
let's please try to make the river a calmer place in the mornings.

Mark


Mark Jacobs
CUCBC Safety Officer