RegattaCentral

2010 Gator Head Regatta Rules

Course: The racecourse is approximately 4,800 meters and is buoyed with green buoys on starboard in the cove and orange buoys on port after the cove. In the cove, the boats will keep the green buoys on their starboard side, after Palm Point, the boats will keep the orange buoys on their port side. When racing, oar blades may go over the buoys but the hull of the shell must stay on the course to avoid a penalty. The warm up lane has a single buoy line of yellow. When warming up towards the starting line, coxswains should keep the yellow buoys towards their starboard side. The warm-up area before the first staging buoy has a counterclockwise traffic pattern. As boats get closer to the staging area there will be two staging buoys. At each staging buoy the crews will be placed into their launching order and remain in that order as they approach the chute. The first section of the race will take place in a large cove that will require the coxswains to follow a gentle curve to starboard. There is a sharp turn to port at Palm Point. Palm Point is the area on the tip of the cove where spectators can take a shuttle to for race watching. After Palm Point there is approximately 2,000 meters of the race remaining and it is a straight line. The course will finish in front of the canal going to UF's dock. There will be officials directing crews to go into UF's canal and use their dock for landing.

Penalties: Penalties will be assessed if the following errors are made by crews:

10 sec     Missing order of boats as called to the start chute.

10 sec     Missing a buoy on the course by any part of the shell or hull, but not the oar/s.

30 sec     Failure to yield right of way on the course, including passing in an unsafe or 

               prohibited zone. 

30 sec     Entering starting chute without a bow number

 60 sec     Late to the starting line IF the officials permit the boat to race.

 *Unsportsmanlike behavior will result in exclusion from the event!

Call of Events: All times are subject to change prior to race day as late entries are received. Final times will be distributed to registered teams and posted at the Regatta Headquarters on Saturday morning.  Events will be called 1 hour prior to the start of the race. A second call will be made 50 minutes prior to the start of an event. There is NO third call. It is the responsibility of the crew to be at the marshalling area prior to the published start time.  A crew that misses its correct order at the start may be penalized per the penalties section.  A crew that arrives at the start after their event scheduled time will row exhibition, be excluded from the event, or be penalized at the starter's discretion.

Hot Seating: Allow a minimum of 1.5 hours for hot seating rowers or equipment. If you have a concern with a crew that is hot seating, please contact Regatta Headquarters on Saturday morning to discuss this issue with the officials. If you are hot seating equipment or rowers, display a pink "Hot Seating" card when coming into the dock and the dockmaster will give priority docking to that boat. Ask the dockmaster for a pink "Hot Seating" card at the coaches and coxswains meeting.

Dock Area: The dock master has absolute authority in the dock area. Boats will be launching from the GAR dock with is the farthest one north, in front of the GAR boathouse. Boats will be returning to the UF dock following their race. At the discretion of the dockmaster, both docks may be used for launching at the beginning of racing and both may be used for recovery at the end.

Safety: All boats will be inspected prior to launching. Inspection will include bow balls, bow cards, and shoe tie downs. We will be following USRowing rules for the length of tie downs.  A boat that is entered in multiple events will be inspected each time it is launched. If a crew needs to make changes to their equipment they will be directed to slings out of the way of boat traffic to make changes.

Waivers: This regatta will only be accepting NOARA waivers. Waivers can be submitted online prior to the regatta and hard copies can be submitted during registration on Saturday.

Coaches & Coxswains Meeting: We will be having a coaches and coxswains meeting at 8:15 in front of the GAR boathouse. We will go over the racecourse and specific information on the buoys and passing. We strongly encourage coaches, coxswains, and scullers to attend this meeting.

Medals & Trophies: First, second, and third place medals will be awarded for all events. Coaches may pick up medals for their teams after that team has completed racing for the day and the results are posted. The Gator Head points trophy will be awarded to the team with the most points at the end of the day after all of the events are complete.

Team Launch/Land Support: Oars can be staged on the racks located just before the GAR dock and wash racks. These racks are two sided and will hold multiple sets of oars. The oar racks just in front of the launching dock are reserved for GAR oars only. We ask that only two support people accompany each boat down to the docks. This helps us to minimize congestion and possible injury and equipment damage.

Starting:  There is a counterclockwise circle pattern in the warm-up area.  The Starter / Marshall will arrange the crews so that crews cross the starting line at approximately 10 second intervals.  Crews should remain near the Start Marshall to hear commands to the start line.  A crew must yield to another crew being summoned to the starting area. A crew that misses its correct order at the start may be penalized 10 seconds.  A crew that arrives at the start after their event has run shall row exhibition only, or be excluded from the race at the starter's discretion. The starting area is a no passing zone from the buoy nearest the start chute to one boat open water after the chute. (e.g. the following boat may not approach the preceding boat until the following boat is a boat length open water out of the chute.)

Passing:  Passing is allowed along the entire course except for in the starting chute. When being passed, a crew will need to yield away from the buoy line and the passing crew will move towards the buoy line to pass. Yielding will occur no later than when the overtaking crew is one boat open water of the crew being passed. The boat overtaking (Passer) has the right of way to pass as above. if a safe pass can be accomplished. However, crews and scullers must take note of the following: If a pass is attempted and there is not adequate room and time to perform the pass, the Passer is at risk of incurring interference penalties. There are areas such as the approach to Palm Point where passing cannot be accomplished safely. In these situations, the Passer must delay the act of passing until the pass can be accomplished without incident. Contact with the overtaker or aggressive maneuvers will be considered an unsafe pass.  The boat being overtaken must yield and give suitable room to the Passer if a safe pass can be accomplished. Generally this will be the shortest line that gives an advantage. Failure to yield to the Passer is one of the most serious infractions of competitive conduct. Crews and scullers must be alert to possible upcoming passing attempts and promptly yield when there is adequate room and time. Be prepared to miss a few strokes to allow the Passer to pass safely and without interference however, the boat being overtaken is not expected to move into a position that could be dangerous to equipment or rowers. All shells with bow-loaded coxswains are strongly advised to have their bow seat rower notify the coxswain if a following crew is about to make a pass. Timely instruction from the bow seat rower may assist the coxswain in avoiding an interference penalty.

Protests:  Protests for a race must be filed on water at the finish line with an official, no exceptions. You will have one hour from the end of your race to file the written protest with regatta headquarters (near registration) and pay the required $25 fee (cash only).