Safety
Though rowing is generally a safe sport, there are risks and the Tideway is one of, if not the most challenging stretches of water that rowers and coxes are likely to encounter. It is the responsibility of all Members to read the Club’s safety notice boards, and Club, PLA and ARA safety notices which are issued via email and/or posted on this website.
We expect all our rowing Members to join British Rowing. This enables you to enter all UK rowing events, and provides for 3rd party insurance should you be involved in an accident.
Vesta holds an annual safety briefing at the beginning of each season to outline club and local navigation rules and safety procedures. This is specifically aimed at new members but all club members are encouraged to attend for ‘refresher’ purposes.
The best source of information about navigating the Tideway is the Rowing on the Tideway. We expect all our rowing Members to be familiar with this document.
RowSafe, the British Rowing’s guide to good practice in rowing can be found here.
The Thames Regional Rowing Council Safety Page can be found here.
Accidents do happen, but we can learn valuable lessons from the report on the incident at Dove Pier which can be found here.
Rowing Safety
At Vesta, there are a few simple rules and practices that everyone needs to be aware of and adhere to, to both ensure individual safety and the safety of fellow Members, other rowers and the public. These are listed below along with a few brief notes on how things work at Vesta:
In and around the Club
• First aid kits: located behind the Vesta bar, in the women’s changing room (on the shelf above the mirrors in the main changing room), in the gentlemen’s changing room (hanging from notice board), on the window ledge in the sculling bay and in each launch.
• Resuscitation aids: located on the shelf under the cox boxes in the office and the window ledge in the sculling bay.
• Phone and emergency phone numbers: located behind the bar, and upstairs on the wall between the bar and the front room.
• Damage: all damage to Club property must be recorded on the white board in the crew room, so it can be fixed.
• Boathouse: be careful walking around as there are many bits of boat sticking out.
• Gym: do not use the gym until you have been shown what to do. We ask Members not to use the gym and particularly weights when they are alone.
Before rowing
• Swimming: all persons participating in rowing, including coxes, must be able to swim (100m in light clothing is considered a minimum).
• Permission: do not take a boat without permission from the Captain or squad coach.
• Equipment: before an outing check your boat is working and safe. Check the boat is in a fit condition, paying particular attention to heel restraints, seats, buoyancy compartments, bow balls, rudders and fins. If you are new to the sport and this means nothing to you, do not go onto the water until you are aware of what these are and why they are important. All crew members are responsible for the safe keeping of the crew, boat and equipment whether boating from Vesta or away at regattas; negligent behaviour can adversely affect other Club Members and the Club can seek recompense for damage to property caused by careless or reckless behaviour.
• Buoyancy: appropriate life jackets must be worn by anyone coxing or in a launch.
• New members: New and novice rowers must have a coach alongside and must not go out alone. New experienced rowers will be allowed to go afloat alone once they have demonstrated their competency and proficiency on and off the water including familiarity with the navigation rules, and have been added to the “Steers List”. The Steers List is a list of all Vesta coxes and steersmen/women who are approved by the Captain/Water Safety Adviser as competent to steer a boat unaccompanied by a coaching launch.
• Signing In/Out: As of Saturday 28 November all outings should be recorded in the Signing Out/In Log (aka Log Book) which is an A4 file and will be on a shelf (aka chair in the short term) at the bottom of the gym stairs. This will also include blank copies of incident report forms. We are doing this so we have a better log of how our boats are being used.The white board at the top of the stairs will remain where it is; please use it for notices to members as appropriate (e.g. you are going for a late run or night time paddle and want members to know you are out and that the club should be left open until you are back).
• Night rowing: we do not recommend rowing at night. However, anyone rowing at night should pay particular heed to the tidal conditions and floating objects in the water; this is especially important at low tide. Your boat must have a bright white light fore and aft from one hour before sunset until one hour after sunrise. Please see PLA notice 24 here.
If you need to buy lights, they can be found here or here.
On the water
• Conditions: Vesta Members may row all year round, in all types of weather condition. If you are not happy with the conditions before you boat, do not boat. If the prevailing conditions change once you are on the water, and you are not happy with or feel you cannot cope with the conditions, you must say so. In the worst case seek refuge at the nearest rowing club.
IF IN DOUBT, DON’T GO OUT.
• Capsize: this very rarely happens, but if it does hold on to your boat and swim WITH the stream of the river towards the bank. Remember your boat is the best buoyancy aid you have. Vesta holds a capsize drill at a local swimming pool at least once per year.
• Incidents: should you be involved in an incident, you must tell your coach or the Captain AND the Water Safety Adviser. We need to know and we are not in the habit of blaming people for mistakes. There are three things that need doing: an incident form needs to be filled in (kept in the office or available from the Water Safety Adviser), the date, place, time and other details need to be logged on the incident log (on the safety board) -) and any damage needs to be logged on the white board in the crew room. Members are encouraged to report any unsafe acts of others to the Club Water Safety Adviser.
• Injury and sickness: as with all sports, and particularly water sports, there is a potential for coming into contact with viral or bacterial infections. We ask all our Members to wash appropriately as they use the Club’s facilities particularly the ‘crew room’. Please seek professional advice before training with an injury or illness.
Incident Reporting
To make things a bit easier for reporting incidents, we have drafted an electronic copy of the incident report form. This should enable you to complete the form and send it via email. Though paper copies will be available at the Club (in the log book), we would rather receive an electronic copy where possible. Drawings of incidents can be scanned and sent electronically to safety@vestarowing.co.uk or left in the box in the office.
Please download a copy of the incident reporting form here
All incidents involving injury, damage, rescue, conflict with another Club or vessel, and capsize should be reported within a max 48 hours to me as CWSA. I will then decide whether to report this formally to the Thames Region Rowing Council. If you are unsure whether you should report or not, please email safety@vestarowing.co.uk for guidance.
If you have any further queries regarding health and safety or for information on the approved steers and scullers lists, please contact the Vesta Safety Officer.
