Re: It's no fun swimming unexpectedly in rough water

"Paul" <pgosling@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1152805013.577511.67990@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Now you are just nit picking and completely missing the point.

Several Tideway heads have been cancelled in recent years, in some
cases with crews already on the water and ready to race. In some cases
crews have chosen to then row the course anyway. The water has never
been unrowable to my knowledge, just very difficult. While some crews
may have been very happy to race, less experienced crews would probably
not be. The organisers have come in for criticism in some cases for
cancelling races in these conditions. Was buoyancy an issue in their
considerations (I doubt it) and if in future, everyone is rowing in
fully buoyant boats which can't sink, are race organisers going to be
under more pressure to go ahead in poor conditions, which still present
serious hazards, especially in marshalling and spinning areas. Having
an unsinkable boat is not going to feel very comforting when it is
wrapped around a bridge support or similar and you are in the water
(as happened at the womens head a couple of years ago). Risk
compensation is a well recognized phenomenon, as such, when the ARA
finally accepts that the FISA or similar standard for boat buoyancy
must be implemented I hope its is done quietly, rather than in a
fanfare of 'ARA to ensure all boats unsinkable in interests of safety'
or similar.


Whether or not a particular cancellation decision would have been affected
by boats being buoyant would depend on the particular circumstances and the
resulting risk assessment.



Having been involved I know that it would have made no difference to the
cancellation of HOR4s in 2000. The issue then was that due to the pretty
well none stop rain for the previous six months the extraordinary stream
conditions meant the possibility of accidents was too high and the stream
conditions meant the outcome of any such accidents was more likely to be
serious. As you say the buoyancy of your boat is not much comfort when you're
wrapped round a bridge buttress.



My knowledge and memory of the HORR cancellation was that the problem was
the wind in the Marshalling area making it too difficult and dangerous to
marshal the boats. I'm happy to be corrected on this by anyone with
superior knowledge or memory. Again the buoyancy of the boats was not
relevant.



There is an implication in what you say that the buoyancy of the boats
involved in a race should not affect the decision as to whether or not to
proceed. In some circumstances this is correct in others not. In my view
the knowledge that boats are not buoyant should make any organiser operate
with very much wider safety margins. Which is not the same as saying they
should operate with foolishly narrow safety margins if boats are buoyant.
The buoyancy of boats will in some circumstances affect whether or not it is
safe to run a race.



Some twenty five odd years ago there was a HORR when a number of crews sank.
With the benefit of hindsight I think most would agree it would have been
better if that race had been cancelled. My memory is that there was no
particular problem with marshalling before or after the race. The problem
was that due to the wind direction the water was very rough by Chiswick Eyot
and in the final five hundred metres. None buoyant boats were filling up at
Chiswick Eyot such that the rough water at the end was enough to finish them
off. Had the boats been buoyant there would have been no particular danger
to any of the crews and this notorious race would have been quite
unremarkable.



Chris Shea


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