<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
Dear All,<br>
<br>
At the most recent Captains' meeting, I outlined my hopes for
improving the quality of college rowing in the future. We skirted
over a number of ideas, and I'd now like you to consider them all in
more detail for a proper debate before the Mays. I'd like to then
agree on some trial measures to be implemented in Michaelmas,
subject to a review partway through the term if they are felt not to
be working.<br>
<br>
I believe that the areas for consideration are as follows:<br>
<ul>
<li>A cap at peak times based on the size of the club. This would
have to be flexible enough to allows clubs to grow and shrink in
the usual way without any unfair advantages/penalties being
applied. In order to give a practicable spread of outing quotas,
it is likely that this would be measured in outings per week
rather than per day, with difficulties in monitoring. CUCBC does
not have any system beyond the early morning marshals to record
outings, and while I hope I'm mistaken I don't believe we've
been inundated with lots of people eager to serve their turn on
the committee next year.<br>
</li>
<li>Streaming of men/women and upper/lower boats to even out speed
differences, which may assist overall traffic flow. Likely to
lead to less flexibility for scheduling outings though.<br>
</li>
<li>Better education of coaches - both in terms of knowing how to
get crews effectively moving and in terms of consideration for
other boats. We've all been frustrated when stuck behind boats
doing inapproprite exercises, not all of which appear to benefit
the crew in question! Any such scheme to improve the knowledge
of coaches would only work with support and cooperation from the
highly skilled and able coaches that some of you are fortunate
enough to work with - if only half of them could be talked into
giving an hour one evening/weekend to talk about a particular
point, we'd soon have a pretty full calendar. I've not yet
sounded anyone out about this, believing that it would be better
coming from keen/interested club members than me trying to twist
arms on the towpath!<br>
</li>
<li>Crew selection methods - at New Hall last term we had a first
boat (that trained in the mornings) and two lower boats (one
that trained in the mornings and one that trained in the
afternoons). Our 'W2' and 'W3' were both pretty evenly matched
for speed after 6 weeks, and both managed to qualify for the
Lents. Our W3 had fewer outings, but at more productive times of
the day. Could such a method of crew selection work at your
club?</li>
</ul>
<p>Please send this around the whole club (rowers, coxes, coaches
etc.) and come prepared to represent their views before bumps. If
anyone feels motivated enough to draft a proposal, please do so
and I'll send it around everyone for consideration before the
meeting.<br>
</p>
<p>There are a few things I'd like to make clear:<br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>I don't want the meeting to turn into a forum for
recriminations/accusations - these will not be productive!</li>
<li>Rowing in the hours of darkness is not an option. Likewise,
significant relaxation of the flag system is unlikely (though we
may be able to take slightly more lenient views on flag status
if typical traffic density and quality of crews can be changed
for the better).</li>
<li>My aim in opening this debate is not to simply cut
participation in rowing, though personally I would gladly trade
a division of lower boats in bumps for better rowing at the top.
Luckily or otherwise, depending on your point of view, I don't
get a vote on whatever measures are adopted!</li>
<li>The meeting is your forum, to represent your views. The CUCBC
will endeavour to enforce whatever measures are settled upon, so
long as they are safe, unlikely to cause problems to others
outside the college rowing community and that we have the
resources in place to do so.</li>
</ul>
<p>Regards,<br>
<br>
</p>
Mark Jacobs<br>
CUCBC Safety Advisor
</body>
</html>