[CUCBC Contacts] Dangerous Coxing Complains

[Derek O'Brien]

Dear Captains, Contacts, and Coxes,

Please ensure that this message reaches the appropriate members of your
club.

There have been several incidents and reports in the past weeks involving
dangerous coxing on the part of college crews.  I must emphasise the
importance of both the CUCBC regulations and common sense on the part of
coxes and coaches.  The result of a collision can be very serious, and very
easily result in several people becoming severely injured and requiring
hospitalisation, not to mention the damage to the boats this can cause.

The relevant rules from the "Rules of the River" handbook state:
*Rule 18*: That if there be any danger of collision, the boat going
downstream give way to the boat coming upstream.
*Rule 20*: That no boat has any rights of way when on the wrong side of the
river.
More rules for rights of way can be found here: <
http://www.cucbc.org/handbook/rules/rights_of_way>

In particular, if you are travelling downstream and wish to overtake a
slower crew, you must wait until you are absolutely sure no other boats are
coming in the opposite direction.  This can be seen if you are travelling on
a long straight section of the river, or by using a bank party to ensure the
way is clear.  It is *not acceptable* to force a crew heading upstream to
easy and allow you to overtake a slower crew.  This kind of action should
certainly not become a consistent problem on the river, as it seems to be
doing at the moment.  If you are at all unsure about the safety of the
overtake, and whether or not another crew is coming in the opposite
direction, then you should not attempt to overtake.  You should never
overtake on a blind corner when you cannot see that it is safe to do so
(Rule 22b).  On top of this, if you are a crew coming upstream, you do not
have a right to overtake another crew coming upstream if it forces you onto
the wrong side of the river while another crew is heading downstream.

There has also been reports of careless overtaking of barges.  This is
particularly important as if there is a collision with a barge, then the
rowers are far more likely to get injured than the barge.  Narrowboats have
much more difficulty changing speed or direction, and so you should take
caution when overtaking them.  An example of an incident which happened
recently:  A college crew heading downstream overtook a barge heading
downstream just below ditton corner (at the crossover point opposite the
plough).  This forced the barge to continue travelling on the wrong side of
the river towards an oncoming crew.  This is careless action on the part of
the overtaking crew, and should be avoided.

Crews travelling with a bank party or coach have no excuse for incidents
like these.  Your bank party should be able to see (or cycle on to see)
crews coming in the opposite direction.  Crews without a bank party or coach
should not attempt to overtake if they cannot see if there are oncoming
crews.  It is important that this kind of behaviour does not become a
regular occurrence on the Cam.

It is important that for the last few days of term these rules are carefully
followed, as the river gets very busy leading up to the Fairbairn Cup Races.

Regards,
Derek O'Brien
CUWBC Secretary
CUCBC Secretary
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