Dual Races

1
Dual Races Small Regattas

• How to be the Aligner, Starter, Referee and
  Finish Judge on the same race

2
Regattas have

• Organizing committee
• Months of pre-planning
• Paid staff and volunteers
• Published race schedule and traffic patterns

3
Dual races have

• A date on the coaches calendar that he told you
  about the night before
• Approximate start times
• Flexible schedule
• Coaches looking for launch drivers 5 minutes
  before the first race
• Hot seating in each event so everyone can race

4
Preparation

• How many refs/skilled volunteers do you need?
• How many races?
• What challenges does this race course have?

• Any local restrictions on noise, launch speed,
  wakes?
• Steering challenges
• How many launches?
• Timing or video at Finish line?

5
Make sure you plan for

• How will the USRA Rules of Rowing be enforced?
• Holding races for late crews
• Stopping races due to interference between crews
  or unforeseen hazards
• How to handle protests

6
Coxswains meeting I

• Review the race schedule and ask about boat
  sharing conflicts and hot seating
• Discuss the course- distance markers and danger
  areas
• Steering points- straight or uneven shoreline
• Traffic patterns for warm-up and cool down
• Start line- stake boats or floating start

7
Coxswains meeting II

• Starter and aligner and referee or separate
  individuals for each job
• Review start sequence and start commands- no
  surprises for the crews
• Breakage zone- flag or 20 seconds
• Finish line location- Flag on dock,boat or beach
• Protests- how to file and how will they be
  handled
• Official regatta time

8
Things to Consider

• While one referee can align, start and follow-
• How many people do you need at the finish?
• Who is keeping an eye on the other crews on the
  water- i.e. are there possible conflicts with
  crews warming up and pleasure boats on the lake.
  Or if the weather turns bad, where are all the
  crews and how many are on the water?

9
Heading out to the first race

• Check the course for problems- i.e. debris and
  fishing boats in the middle of the racecourse.
• Make sure the crews are staying in the traffic
  pattern.
• Make sure that the course markers are in the
  proper place

10
Before the Start- floating starts

• Gather the crews behind the start line
• Get then as even as possible
• Bring them up together rowing by bow pairs
• The rowers should take commands directly from you

• Be aware of the distance between the crews- keep
  adequate spacing between the crews
• Have the crews hold water when the are on the
  start line
• It is more important that the crews are even than
  that they are precisely on the line.

11
Floating Starts

• When the crews are even, make sure that that they
  are parallel and properly pointed.
• Announce You are Aligned
• Call out Attention

• Raise the Starters flag
• After the proper pause call Go while dropping
  the Starters flag

12
Things to note

• Dont poll the crews. They will drift apart if
  you try
• If you are aligning and starting from the side,
  it is difficult to be positive that they boats
  are perfectly pointed.

• Especially early in the racing season,
  inexperienced crews can have one side out-pull
  the other at the start, causing them to veer
  toward the adjacent team. Inexperienced coxn
  arent necessarily prepared to deal with this
  problem.

13
After the Start

• Immediately position your launch behind the crews
• Watch for crews having steering problems
• If you dont have a 100 meter breakage buoy, use
  20 seconds for breakage

14
During the Race I

• Courses with uneven shorelines or no targets at
  the finish create steering challenges
• Watch for crews steering off the course and other
  crews following their direction
• Dont steer crews, but dont let them get too far
  off course before taking action

• If there are docks alongside the racecourse, be
  vigilant about boats backing out in front of your
  race
• If possible, help crews avoid pleasure boats on
  the course
• Always consider if interference affected the
  outcome

15
At the Finish

• After all the crews have finished, check the
  crews for health problems and protests
• Check with the finish line staff for the results
  and any problem/questions that may arise from
  that race
• The first few times you work with a finish crew,
  check that the splits reflect the observed
  distance between the crews
• Make notes about the race- i.e. time of race, any
  incidents, order of finish and margins between
  crews

16
Returning to the start

• Check the course for debris or additional
  problems- more boat traffic as the day proceeds
• Advise fisherman and pleasure boats around the
  course about the racing and ASK for their
  cooperation
• Check the crews are following the traffic pattern
  and identify crews that have launched for
  subsequent races

17
When you have to stop a race

• If you have to stop a race due to some incident-
  clash of oars, pleasure boat interfering with a
  crew or similar problems- dont try to restart in
  the middle of the course.
• Determine if you will return them immediately
  back to the start or establish a later time to
  restart the race.

18
Restarting a race

• Returning to the start line is the only fair way
  to resolve the problem
• All crews are at the same disadvantage
• Quickly explain how the restart will work
• If the race was stopped in the second 1000
  meters, you may want to run the restart at a
  later time
• Consider team problems with boat sharing and
  travel plans

19
Why we are here

• For this type of event, you will need to be
  flexible and adapt to the situation
• We are here to ensure safe and fair rowing for
  the competitors- not to show how good we look in
  a blue blazer