[CUCBC Coxes] Lights and visibility

[Robert Nimmo]

Dear coxes,

A gentle reminder about lights.

If boats are going to be on the water within 15 minutes of lighting
up/down, they must be fitted with a bright, non-flashing white light on
both bow and stern, such that at least one can be seen from any point round
the boat (you want to be visible when spinning too...) For this reason,
lights fitted to one backstay are not sufficient, since the bow canvas
blocks the view from one side, and boating without lights at all is not OK
(you know who you are). Nor are lights with almost dead batteries very much
use. You want the light to be the first thing seen, not the last.

In addition, if visibility is poor, it's generally worth fitting the lights
then as well, regardless of the time of day. This isn't a case of mean
cranky CUCBC introducing rules for our personal amusement, but does make a
genuine difference to how visible your boat is during the darker mornings,
which ultimately keeps you (and us) safer.

On the subject of poor visibility, please use a little bit of common sense.
We are likely to see more foggy days over the next few weeks. Pulling three
way overtakes at speed into a fog bank where visibility is less than three
lengths will sooner or later result in a dangerous and expensive incident,
which I suspect no-one wants to see. As coxes, you have both the right and
responsibility to refuse to undertake manouvers you consider dangerous. I
know it's early in term, that people are keen to get on with training and
that pressure from coaches is sometimes difficult to resist, but a few
minutes waiting behind a slower crew will be much less harmful to your
training goals than hitting something head on. Please use your own
judgement as well.

Best of luck for training and racing this term,

Robert
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