RegattaCentral

                                                            2013 Gator Head Regatta Rules

Course: The race course is approximately 5,000 meters and is buoyed with orange buoys on starboard for the first half of the race and yellow buoys on port for the second half of the race. The race will begin north of the park near the GAR boathouse and finish just south of Powers Park.  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 green. When warming up towards the starting line, coxswains should follow the green buoys towards the north and check in with the course marsals.

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 along the shoreline for about 2,000 meters and then there will be a sharp turn to starboard into a large cove. This curve is known as 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 3,000 meters of the race remaining and follows the large cove with a gentle turn to port.

The course will finish in front of the canal going to Powers Park. There will be officials directing crews to go into Powers Park canal and use the dock for landing.

Penalties: Penalties will be assessed for the following:

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     Leaving the dock without a bow number or entering the chute with a wrong 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 marshaling area prior to the published start time independent of a call being made.  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 may 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 dock master will give priority docking to that boat. Ask the dock master for a pink "Hot Seating" card at the coaches and coxswains meeting. Hot seating is not justification for wrong bow numbers, late to the start, etc.

Dock Area: The dock master has absolute authority in the dock area. Boats will be launching and landing on a long metal floating dock. Because the dock will be shared between launching and landing crews, it is imperative that coaches, rowers, and coxswains follow the directions given by the dock master. The south side (right side from shore) of the dock will be used for launching, and the north side (left from shore) will be used for landing crews. At the discretion of the dock master, 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 presence 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. We will have a first aid tent staffed with medically trained individuals. If you have a rower with a medical condition that the referees need to be aware of, please email regatta LOC.

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 7:45 in front of the LOC tent. First call for event 1 will be at 8:15. 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. Crews are responsible for following late information provided at this meeting regardless of their attendance at the meeting.

Lightweights: Lightweight limits for the Gator Head are 135 lbs. for females and 160 lbs. for males. Weigh ins will take place in the registration tent beginning at 7 AM.  Rowers must be weighed in at least an hour and a half before their first lightweight race. There will be no late weigh-ins. All members of the crew must weigh in at the same time and athletes will have one chance to make weight. If a crew fails to make weight, they will be excluded from the event. There will be no substitutions for failing to make weight. Once weighed in, athletes will be given a wristband that must be worn on their wrist until the completion of their lightweight rowing events. Lightweights will not be allowed to launch without this wristband.

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. We have a new trophy in honor of a previous head coach Justin Burgess’s mom, this trophy is the Consuela Hughes Memorial Trophy and we will be awarding it to the fastest women’s varsity 8.

Team Launch/Land Support: We will not have an oar staging area but we ask that only two support people plus coach 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 as above.  A crew that arrives at the start after their event has run will participate (as listed above) 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 and at the Palm Point curve. The no passing zones are marked with green buoys. When being passed, if necessary, a crew will yield away from the buoy line of the shortest course 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 of 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. Passing may occur towards the buoy line or away from the buoy line at the option of the passer. If a passer calls for a crew to yield, he must be truly passing and not be using the call to slow the other boat.

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. It is the passer’s responsibility to avoid interference with the yielding boat.

 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 boat or oars of the boat being overtaken or aggressive maneuvers will be considered an unsafe pass.  The boat being overtaken must yield and give suitable room to the Passer if this can be safely 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. 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 $50 fee (cash only).