This article was first written in 2005 ,was been revised in 2008 for subsequent HORs then November 2009 for the Fours Head. I have now updated for the 2010 Head season.
There follows a few notes for crews, captains and Cox'ns for the various Head of the River races on the Tideway such as the Pairs, Fours, Women's, the Head of the River and the Vesta Veterans. Tideway clubs "should" be aware of these guidance principles but for those coming from further away, please note the following pointers.
NAMING OF BOATS
The Tideway is, technically, the 'sea' all the way up to Teddington! As such, maritime navigation law applies and it is necessary for your boat to be named or identifiable. The Port of London Authority (PLA) are the appointed authority to administer the law. PLA Bye Law. 1.. RIVER BYLAWS, Part IX, Bye Law 46, Section 2. 'Identification Marking.' requires that the boat "...shall exhibit its name ... painted in letters .... one each side of and in a colour contrasting with that of the hull or superstructure: .... as prominently and as clearly as practicable." Absent a name, technically, you are at risk of a fine of up to £1000.
History of naming
By letter from the ARA dated 24th June 2005, Clubs boating on the Tideway and all visitors were given 6 weeks notice to get an ID code on the boat. The Thames Regional Council endorsed this ARA requirement. Thus, by 6th August 2005 all boats had to be named.
At the ARA Council meeting on February 2006, Council voted to make this ID requirement an ARA Rule - (note: not a Rule of Racing but an ARA rule). Thus, every club, no matter what region, when coming to the Tideway must have ID on all its craft including coaching launches.
At the ARA Council meeting in September 2008, it was agreed to do this nationally, as specified, and this came into force in April 2009 nationally.
The PLA accept the British Rowing-compliant boat ID as being a "name" but subject, naturally, to the above Bye Law.
If your boat is not named / identified at present get it done before you come. Temporary measures with tape are not acceptable or compliant was the case in previous years. Some events are noting such boats and referring to Regional Advisers. Some events hand out time penalties. The ID must also be in a register kept by the Club. It is not compliance to put on a code XXX 111 (selected for ease of application with black tape!) particularly in the case of one club who put the same "number" on both their boats for one particular event! Common faults are to have deep red on black or vice versa which is, of course, wrong in that is not a contrasting colour or, indeed, as clear as practicable. Light blue on white, gold on wood, a favourite with some scullers generally the older generation, is equally non-compliant!
News Flash 2010
NOTICE TO MARINERS No.U6 of 2010 Revetment Repair Work Mortlake Reach Revetment Repair Work.
Special Instructions to Rowing Boats
The buoyed area reduces the width of the Inshore Zone for rowers such that there is now only room for boats to pass the works in single file. Rowing boats are advised not to intrude into the navigational channel, those that do should ease speed in this area and keep a careful lookout for vessels in the navigation channel.
There has been a serious incident here involving rowing vessels and until these works are finished there remains an increased risk of collision.
The simple advice for both Tideway and non-Tideway Clubs is that unless you really do know what you are doing and are an expert navigator - TURN ROUND AT THE UL BUOY AN GO DOWN RIVER!
DURING THE RACE AND THE RIVER CLOSURE BEFORE THE RACE
After the river closure but before the race starts, the rules in the marshalling zone are different to the normal rules. Read the instructions. Outside the marshalling zone, in the River closure prior to the start of the race the new 2009 Tideway Code "Rowing Rules" apply. The rules of navigation during the actual the race are contrary to Rowing rules and will be in the Race Instructions.
Prior to the River closure, in any warm-up outings or practise outings, normal navigation and Rowing Rules apply. Advice on these can be found here.
During the River closure, you, the master of your vessel, are under the direction but not control of the marshals. Normal navigation Tideway Code rules STILL apply other than where stated in the instructions. For example, you will still have to obey the Restricted Zones rules but will find that the Inshore Zone rules in the PLA NTM U24 2009 with concomitant cross overs are likely to be altered and amended. If a marshal tells you to do something it is generally very likely to be correct but he or she may not be aware of a hazard and it is your duty to disobey the marshal if his advice would put the craft into danger. Do not slavishly obey a marshal blindly! Use your common sense.
Critical guidance and where most non-Tideway crews get it wrong!
Where to steer
To generalise, it is safe to say that, if you are proceeding against the stream you stay VERY close to the bank (defined in the Tideway Code as "no crew can 'undertake' you" i.e. pass between you and the bank to get ahead of you) and, if proceeding with the stream, (which generally you are only likely be doing to get to your marshalling position) you stay right of centre of the "fairway" (not the 'river'), which is the bit between the red and green buoys or, if there are no green ones nearby, about the very narrow generally central (but not in certain places) 45 m-wide [Yes, that narrow!] strip of river to the Middlesex (North) side of the red buoys. It is only about one sixth of the width of the river during a head! Maritime Law [Col Regs 9(a)] actually requires you to be as far to starboard as is safe and practicable - that is in a strip of river just 5 m wide just a few metres ( ie as close as is safe and practicable) from the line of the red buoys. "Follow the buoys" - as they say! If you are more than a half boat's with from them you are not following the Col Regulation. If you are more than 25 m from them (the length of a small swiming pool) you are on the wrong side of the fairway and going down the wrong side of the 'road'!
How to turn
Beware how you turn. NEVER TURN "ON THE SPOT"! BY DEFINITION, YOU WILL BE OR END UP IN THE WRONG PLACE. If, for example, you are in the middle and you wish to get to one or other of the banks, this can be achieved by holding it up on one side and paddling on with the other so you swing round in a large semicircle (suitably adjusted by the degree of paddling-on or holding-it-up) from the centre to the side. It is quite wrong to stop, spin and head for the bank pointing upstream. The most direct route of crossing the Fairway (i.e. at 90° to it) is the safest and a requirement of the navigation laws. The inverse applies; should you wish to proceed from the bank downstream, go out into the stream at 90° to the bank and only then turn round onto your course on the stream.
How to stop
Make sure your crew knows how to "hold it hard". Contrary to the way it has been taught for the last few decades by most coaches, this should not be done with a squared blade in the normal rowing squared position. Instead, the blade should be flat and parallel with the water and the blade and loom, still parallel, set deeply buried in the water. (See UKCC Coaching level 2 Certificate or the ARA IA). This advice may seem strange to many recently-taught rowers, judging by the number of rowers I have seen who have been taught wrongly to square the blade first and try to get a squared blade into the water (or more likely scratch along the surface!). For proper advice as to how to hold it hard read the old ARA (Instructors' Award) manual or look at this link - "test two". If this advice is new to you, practise this till you can do it. Be careful! Look behind first!
After the race
Be aware that with the tide much lower there is less room for boats to pass between the shore by the boathouses at Putney and the row of boats along moored in the river. For the full length Heads (not the Pairs Head), do not stop and put tracksuits on anywhere in this area especially by or just above the black buoy. Put them on just after you have turned or wait until you are past Barn Elms (300 m above the row of boats and black buoy) and can pull into the bank safely. Before Barn Elms there are dangerous shoals that take the bottom out of a boat at about 3/4 way down the tide.
If, once the race is over and the river is no longer closed, as will be the case with the last crews paddling back from Putney to Chiswick and for all practise outings when there is not a river closure, it is necessary to know the Rowing Rules [NTM U24 2009]. If it is dusk (as it was 2007) TAKE CONFORMING LIGHTS WITH YOU (180 degrees minimum spread, visible for 800m and fixed with a permanent bracket).
Be aware of the 'new' buoys (Putney to Hammersmith; on the course in the middle and UL to Isleworth Ferry) and the Notices to Mariners about these at NTMU14-2007 .
AT ALL TIMES OTHER THAN DURING THE RIVER CLOSURE
Please note the following points which are often missed, even by experienced Tideway rowers.
LOCATION OF AREA IN WHICH THE "ROWING RULES" APPLY (THE ROWING AREA)
The rowing rules allow a specified divergence from the normal Starboard navigation requirement but only in the specified area between Putney Pier crossing (NOT Putney Bridge!) and the Isleworth Ferry crossing. Below the Putney Pier crossing, normal navigation rules apply. You are recommended to keep out of the Fairway whenever "safe and practicable". In the rowing rules area, there are four crossing points. Thus, the rowing rules are applicable from about 100 metres above Putney Bridge - the yellow line painted on the wall by the Boat Race start steps - upriver to the Isleworth Ferry crossing, the yellow line painted on the wall by Hospitial Bumps Nos 14 marked on the Surrey wall. As a result, there are three sections of River where the Rowing Rules allow for three streams of traffic - the usual two streams either side of centre of the fairway obeying the "Starboard rules" and a supplementary one, which is always as close to the bank as is 'safe and practicable' (see NTM U24 2009 - see below) . If you are paddling upriver on an ebb tide [stream going out to the East], the first section starting from Putney is on the south bank, then on the north bank upriver of the line of poplar trees above the Chiswick Eyot bend to just below Chiswick Bridge, then on the south until the last, Sion House crossover after which normal navigation rules apply. See this chart.
APPLICATION OF THE 'ROWING RULES' (aka NTM U24 2009)
NEARNESS TO BANK
The main problem with most non-Tideway crews and, indeed, many Tideway crews is that they do not understand that 'close to the bank' means AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE. There is a tradition (perhaps if you are paddling an eight in fours) of pulling out to let faster crews pass on the inside and this is a breach of the NTM rowing rule. Sadly, it should not be done any more. At the high state of tide you will be when rowing up to the start, you should be within a metre or two of the bank (but allowing for the trees). DO NOT PROCEED UP THE MIDDLE OF THE STREAM WHEN ROWING AGAINST IT. After the race, at lower tide, when returning to an up-river club, you may have to keep slightly further out, say five or ten metres, depending on the depth of water.
OVERTAKING
If you wish to overtake a crew, do not pull out until you are well under a length away from their stern. The tide will take you out much quicker than you think! Steer as close as is safe to the crew you are overtaking and do not pull out (or, more likely, get pulled out by the stream) into the middle of the river. If this happens, get one side to harden on AT ONCE and the other - if need be - to stop rowing and steer in to the bank as soon as your BLADES are clear of the crew you are overtaking. The overtaken crew should be polite, safe and slow down to let the other crew past as quickly as possible. Do NOT HARDEN ON IN A MISGUIDED 'MACHO' ATTEMPT TO GO FASTER AND HOLD OFF THE OVERTAKING CREW!
CROSSING
You have no 'right' to cross over the River unless the fairway is clear in both directions. (Think of crossing a road - there may be a marshal launch coming upriver).
STOP! - IF IN ANY DOUBT OR IF YOU CAN SEE ANY CREW COMING DOWN ON THE STREAM. In judging whether or not to cross, always crossover behind the crew coming downstream. Never risk it crossing over in front, thinking you can get away with it. Remember the stream is very strong and crews come down very fast. Always cross over the Fairway (that middle bit) as close to 90 degrees as is practicable and as fast as possible. This is a Tideway Code requirement.
Look carefully at the map of crossover points. There are four. The first, 100 metres above Putney Bridge and its Restricted Zone in which you must not go, cross stop or overtake, the next one just around the bend above Chiswick Eyot, the next one 400 metres below Chiswick Bridge (be on Surrey before the Ship Inn!) and the last one a few hundred metres above the last of the barges (between the numbers '13' and '14', marked on the bank on the Surrey wall - used by hospitals for marshalling for their 'bumps' races is the right place). All are marked top and bottom with yellow poles or markers on the bank. Do not cross over too early. For example, above Chiswick Eyot, you have to go substantially around the bend and past the red buoy above Chiswick Eyot before crossing over to the north bank. before the Green buoy. This ensures that you have a good view of traffic coming downstream. Far too many crews tried to crossover just above Chiswick Eyot!
Watch out for crews, easied, in the middle of the River just after Chiswick Bridge prior to returning to their boathouses. The these tend to drift down into the crossing point.
Particularly at low tide, I do not recommend non-Tideway crews to proceed above the Isleworth Ferry (Sion) crossing point. If, however, you do, proceed with care because there are plenty of shoals particularly just after the Pink Lodge. Remember you should be out of the fairway if possible!
If, prior to the race, you go out for an outing below Putney Bridge, bear in mind starboard navigation rules apply and additionally you must be OUT OF THE FAIRWAY whenever possible which is pretty well all the time. That means you stay to the right of centre of the River going downstream and upstream - right hand rule - just as one drives on the Continent. Thus, nearer the south bank going downstream and the north bank going upstream.
A repeat! It applies at all times!
Make sure your crew knows how to "hold it hard". This should not be done with a squared blade in the normal rowing squared position. Instead the blade should be flat and parallel with the water and the blade and loom set deeply buried in the water. This advice may seem strange to many recently-taught rowers, judging by the number of rowers I have seen who have been taught wrongly to square the blade and try to get into the water with a squared blade (or more likely scratching along the surface!). For proper advice as to how to hold it hard read the ARA Instructors Award manual or look at this (rather old) link - "test two". If this advice is new to you, practise this till you can do it . Be careful! Look behind first!
Chris George
(Thames Regional Water Safety Adviser 2005/6
Regional Water Safety Development Adviser 2007-present
Deputy National W.S.A. 2009-present)