Seething at safety stupidity

At my Level III training last December, the "Risk Management" section was presented by the Athletic director of a college in Maryland. The section that I least looked forward to became the most enjoyable, because he was able to present rowing and the risks involved from a perspective of an outsider.

"Let me get this straight," he said. "You guys go out on major commercial waterways in narrow plastic boats with inches of freeboard, wearing no lifejackets? Oh, there are some in the launch. So the launch is right there? No? Sometimes it's a couple thousand meters away? And you go around the bend, so the launch can't see you? And you're facing backwards?" He paused while we all laughed at the lunacy. "Oh, and you want to do this in the dark. Well, I guess that's ok if you're doing it in the summer when the water is warm. What? Early March?" We were rolling in the aisles now. "Why can't you do this in a pond or something? Maybe the pool?"

It is crazy, when you think about what we do. Sailing isn't this dangerous. Neither is baseball, basketball, cross-country or lacrosse. Heck, rifle squads have fewer accidents. People don't have to buy survival equipment for any of those sports, yet we still love the idea of hitting the water as soon as the ice melts.

In high-end liquor stores, there is usually a small barrel near the front with water in it. The water is refrigerated, so customers can chill down wine bottles quickly. Instead of the hour needed in a fridge at home, the water can get the temp down in a few minutes. That is the problem we face on the water for the next few months. The temperature is so cold, hypothermia sets in under 15 minutes, and people do go in from time to time in this sport. Crabs, flipped boats, slipping off the dock, broken equipment bailout and collisions. I've seen oarsmen hit the water in all those situations in my 13 years on the water. Most of those situations find the athlete go in slightly to significantly incapacitated, either in mid-workout or hit by a boat as it goes by. All make great stories, because nobody was ever really badly hurt. The potential was there every time.

Three Rivers Rowing Association sets the rules for our stretch of river because everybody rows from their docks. They pay the insurance, so they get that right. They set safety rules for everyone, because they have to take into account one glaring problem here: there aren't enough coaches, and therefore some crews aren't well trained or supervised when they go out to play tag with barges.

Coaches aren't paid enough here for anyone to take it seriously. Therefore, most clubs have a very high turnover and are coached by college students with a few years' experience at most. I can count on two hands the number of coaches as experienced as I am here in Pittsburgh, and five of us are working for either FC or Pitt or another university. That leaves a lot of high school rowers out there supervised by people with as much experience as their athletes. TRRA knows this and sets their rules accordingly, and there isn't a fair way to legislate and adjudicate competence. Therefore, clubs with lots of experience and safety equipment in the launch must abide by rules that assume total stupidity in that launch.

The usual early March debates have been raging around the boathouse. Go out or stay on the ergs? As coaches, the water practice calls seductively, perhaps more so than the athletes. Erg practices are boring. Watching a boat move through the water in a lineup schemed over for months is compelling. We want to go out, and some have been willing to ignore the TRRA rules to do that.

What's funny is that I don't worry those crews will gain an unfair advantage by going out when I'm keeping my kids on land. I don't really worry that much about those crews at all, because they have good, experienced coaches and skilled teams in good condition. What gives me hives is the thought of some idiot who hasn't trained his/her crew well over the winter, hasn't maintained her/his equipment well, has too many people in a small launch and doesn't understand that the barges can't see you in the dark or snow and can't stop. All it would take to shut rowing down in this city would be one dumbkopf to steer an 8+ headlong into a barge, or swamp a 4+ full of out of shape novices (it's happened).

When I first began coaching, I was gung-ho despite the river flow. Like a new driver, I had absolute confidence in my abilities and wanted to drive the car every day. I still believe that my teams are better prepared when we hit the water than most. But like a more experienced driver, I now really worry about the other morons out there.

You should have heard what the instructor said about boat transport. But that's another post.

Categories: Safety, Rowing, Coaching