ricky_s
Well-Known Member
I'm guessing that if you were going along very slowly then he was overtaking you so had a duty to keep clear of you as the stand on vessel? Assuming you were going in the same direction?
sworn at by rowers
- Thread starter dylanwinter
- Start date
I'm guessing that if you were going along very slowly then he was overtaking you so had a duty to keep clear of you as the stand on vessel? Assuming you were going in the same direction?
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
A point I made some time ago - COLREGS are irrelevant to rivers; I know of places where the rule of the river is quite definitely not in accord with colregs, and at least one place where rowers have explicit right of way (not stand on, actual right of way such that if you get in the way of a rowing boat, you are in the wrong). Bye-laws, Environment Agency and British Waterways regulations and so on are the rules on rivers; they generally parallel COLREGS, but only in the broadest terms, and are frequently varied to cope with local conditions.
Incidentally, an eight is about the fastest thing you'll ever encounter on a river. Mobos are required to proceed at 5 mph (or less), and sailing craft need to be highly manoeverable to be able to operate within the confines of a river. An eight can easily be doing 15 mph (which it can keep up for miles) and more than that in a sprint.
ricky_s
Well-Known Member
Looking at the bylaws from the British Waterways does suggest that the colregs do apply.
http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/m...e-laws_for_River_Ouse_and_Foss_Navigation.pdf
I don't know the area so I could be looking at the wrong part of the river?
MASH
N/A
It would seem no more than common sense and good manners to give way to rowers, unless you're pushing a string of barges you're far more maneuverable than they are so surely its obvious who stays out of who's way?
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Most rivers aren't British Waterways, they are the Environment Agency or other authorities (Conservators of the River Cam in Cambridge, for example, but it's a real patchwork in East Anglia). British Waterways operates the canals, in the main. I too don't know the exact position where Dylan is, but the point is that the authority isn't COLREGS, it is bye-laws which MAY implement COLREGS (as in your link) - but don't have to. Bye-laws by definition are local in coverage, and so vary from place to place. And as I mentioned, there are certainly places where local rules over-ride COLREGS; there's even a place with a seasonal change in rules depending on whether the prevalent racing at that time of the year is upstream or dowstream.
Rivers where rowing is a long-established practice may well have local rules (as on the River Cam) that take into account the problems of managing traffic where some of the traffic is moving fast with limited manoeverability and poor ability to take avoiding action. Stopping an eight from flat out can be done - but only at risk of injury or damage.
CreakyDecks
Well-Known Member
It's a bit like the old playground game "We walk straight so you'd better get out the way." I suspect that if you were on the other side of the river they would still make a bee line for you, in much the same way as we always happened to be marching straight towards where kids were playing marbles or girls were doing handstands.
Behome
Well-Known Member
Twas ever thus on the Ouse. We used to have a boat at Ripon in the 70's and regularly travelled to York and were subjected to rudeness by the rowing fraternity when we were sailing or under power.
Keen_Ed
Well-Known Member
Actually, if everybody know what they're doing, it's remarkably efficient. You turn your blade so that it hydroplanes deep into the water, and the resistance on the loom brings the boat to a quick stop. Sadly, AIUI it's a much neglected and undertaught skill. You now see people trying to hold the boat up by digging their blade in the normal way round - with it skidding on the surface. Not nearly so effective.
macd
Well-Known Member
That's a bit steep isn't it? How deep is it there?
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
As far as I could make out the Bye-Laws apply the ColRegs, then make minor modifications, including the one I mentioned earlier which requires meeting, overtaking and overtaken vessels to give way to deeper draught vessels, so Dylan probably wins (certainly if he puts his plate down) against a coxless four.
Speaking of ColRegs, can a coxless rowing boat ever comply with Reg 5 - which requires a proper lookout by sight and sound (and all available means) to appraise the situation and monitor any emerging risk of collision?
Speaking of ColRegs, can a coxless rowing boat ever comply with Reg 5 - which requires a proper lookout by sight and sound (and all available means) to appraise the situation and monitor any emerging risk of collision?
GrahamHR
Well-Known Member
I'm so glad that where we use our boat, the West side of Anglesey, whist the sacred Colregs undoubtedly exist and are valid, common sense seems to take precedence. We do not stand on to a many thousand tonne Sea ferry even though the master could see we were in the "right" to do so.
The local so called "Professional Skippers" on commercial fishing boats on the other hand either have no idea of the Colregs, or more likely simply know they do not need to conform to them as there's no enforcement. Most seem to a bunch of tw*ts ( insert an " i" or an "a" as you prefer), resenting any leisure boater using "their" water.
The local so called "Professional Skippers" on commercial fishing boats on the other hand either have no idea of the Colregs, or more likely simply know they do not need to conform to them as there's no enforcement. Most seem to a bunch of tw*ts ( insert an " i" or an "a" as you prefer), resenting any leisure boater using "their" water.
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AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Yes, it can be done - but not by a novice or lightweight crew. Bumps races require that skill, sometimes! And it is nearly always the boats in the lower divisions that get damaged because they couldn't stop in time.