RegattaCentral

                                                           2017 Gator Head Regatta Rules

Updated 10/9/17

Course: Launching will be off both sides of a 60ft dock. Boats will then turn to port and follow land, proceeding to the 5k staging area. This is 1500m from launch dock; there is a warmup circle marked by red buoys for crews that wish for a longer warmup. Throughout the race course yellow buoys should stay on the starboard side and green buoys on the port side. The finish line is marked by two large orange buoys. To recover boats will be directed by marshals into the 60ft recovery dock, located inside the canal.

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

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 55 minutes prior to the start of the race. A second call will be made 35 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 hour 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 recovering from separate 60ft long floating docks. All crews have a 3 minute time limit on the dock to launch/recover. At the beginning of the day, the recovery dock may be used to launch crews until crews start recovering. As crews come in for lunch and at the end of the day, the launch dock may be used to recover crews if all crews have launched.

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 6:45am in front of the Launch Dock. First call for the first 5k race, event 3, will be at 7:15am. We will go over the racecourse and specific information on the buoys and passing. We strongly encourage coaches, coxswains, and bow coxswains 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 6:30 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 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+. In addition, we have a Gator Trophy for the fastest men's varsity 8+. Click here for Team Points Calculation Table

Team Launch/Land Support: We will not have an oar staging area. To minimize congestion only two support people plus coach may accompany each boat down to the docks.

Starting:  There is a clockwise 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. The no passing zones are marked with red 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.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)