[CUCBC Captains] Early morning traffic restrictions

[Isabel Nimmo]

Dear Captains,

Thankyou to the number of you who've been in touch regarding traffic
restrictions and the current overcrowding.

Following discussion, we are proposing to introduce the 15-minute rule
starting from the beginning of next week (the 27th) and monitor the
situation as lighting down gets earlier as well. If that doesn't work,
we'll look at bringing in the two boat system instead, but hope that this
will be sufficient to ensure that people get to spend more time rowing and
less time queuing.

The 15-minute rule is as follows "*Only first eights* may boat within
the *first
15 minutes* after Lighting Down or after the allowed boating time on
Saturdays and Sundays. All other crews may boat 15 minutes after Lighting
Down." (from here: http://cucbc.org/handbook/earlies) Please note that this
is 1st boats only, and not affected by position in Lents or Mays.

We've also had a number of reports of crews making minor errors in
navigation, which are cumulatively contributing to the traffic situation.
Could you remind coxes and coaches that:

   - If they can spin and the row out of the spinning zone before coaching
   chats, this lets following crews spin faster,
   - If you are going to have a lengthy chat, please pull in on the bank so
   that people can get past easily,
   - Crews heading upstream have right of way on the crossing points. I've
   lost track of the number of entangled crews I've seen this week, which
   again just slows everyone down as traffic backs up behind the collision,
   - If you are pushing off within 15 minutes of lighting down, please row
   all 8s to the Chesterton footbridge to avoid queues stacking up behind you
   and don't spin till Baitsbite.

We appreciate that no-one is going out of their way to make the river a
traffic jam, and this is certainly not meant to be a chastisement directed
at anyone in particular! We all share the water, and we all want the same
things here. But if a gentle reminder to coxes and coaches of the above can
get us all a bit more time moving and a bit less time doing static drills
then outings will be that little bit more productive for all.

Best wishes for training and racing over the next few weeks,

Isabel
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