Bankriding guide

Prepared by Jacqueline Murphy, Sasha Webb and Ruby Sioux Harrison

Explanation of this document

The idea of this document is to provide a guide for bankriders at GTC. The aim is to make it clear what the duties of the bankrider are, how these differ depending on the seniority/experience level of the cox/crew, and also to give hints on how to be a more effective bankrider.

Checklist for each outing

• Are the cox and crew in appropriate clothing for the weather (remember the cox will be sitting still)
• Check OURCs flag status (see the OURCs rules below for cox seniority and spinning rules)
• Is the cox happy to take the outing in these conditions with these rowers? Check conditions: weather (wind, daylight, fog, lightning) and river (stream, ice, debris, other hazards e.g. swimmers). It’s helpful to cycle along the river before an outing to look for these. It is fine for the cox to cancel an outing/swap coxes if they aren’t confident that the crew will be safe.
• Does the cox have a cox box and lifejacket
• Lights (if needed for the time of day/visibility based on the OURCs rules below)
• Do you need to take a throwline? (if needed based on the OURCs rules below., Perhaps also consider this if there are many novice rowers, or rowers who have not yet taken a swim test.) If you take one, make sure you know how to use it!
• After the outing:
  • report to captains any equipment damage or anything relevant for other crews
  • report any safety incidents to OURCs with the help of the cox/coaches/captains

What does a bankrider do?

The role of a bankrider is to ensure the safety of the crew during the outing. This particularly applies for novice crews and less experienced coxes, or where the cox might have a lot of things to think about (busy river, doing pieces, or if the cox is also coaching/making race calls).

Core tasks

• With the cox, ensure the outing follows OURCs rules about cox/rower seniority and equipment (lights, throwline) in line with the OURCs flag conditions
• Aim to know the key OURCs rules about navigation and spinning to help the cox
• Ensure you have appropriate communication with the cox, this can be done through talking and shouting or with a radio, whatever you and the cox decide works the best.
• When on the river, look around the crew, think ahead, and warn the cox of things that might happen in the near future if it might require their action/attention, especially if you think the cox might not have seen it:
  • Look ahead/behind our crew to see where other crews/boats/hazards are, how fast they are moving, and what they are likely to do in the near future:
    • Are crews nearby doing stationary exercises? Race pieces? Are they getting ready to do a race start? Are they likely to overtake/undertake other crews?
    • Are the crews nearby mainly novices (they may be slower and less easy to predict) or senior crews (they may do race starts or pieces at race pace, and their coxes may choose to over/undertake other crews at speed)
    • Are there small boats (single, double, pair) nearby? They are less stable so need to be given more room. They are also without a cox so may not see crews ahead of them.
    • Are there punters/row boats (unpredictable and slow) or swimmers (not always visible above water and the cox may not see them because they are close to the water line)?
    • What is other river traffic doing? Motor boats do not stop as easily as a rowing crew, so coxes should never spin in front of them. Remember non-college crews do not use the same spinning rules.
  • At the gut, help the cox by cycling ahead to check what river traffic is coming in the other direction and communicate this to the cox
  • Remember the cox may not have seen things directly in front of the boat (they have 8 rowers between them and it and therefore this creates a blindspot. They may also not see things low in the water eg swimmers or branches due to the angle of viewing the river so alert them to any such hazards that they may not have seen
  • Give advice and guidance to avoid inevitable collisions, if for some reason ona situation starts to become dangerous warn the cox and suggest early that they easy or hold it up
• Communicate with the cox and other river users to let them know what our crew/other crews are likely to do in the near future
  • Be polite to other river users at all times
  • If there is immediate danger use a tone/volume of voice that makes this clear
  • Communicate with other bankriders/coaches about what their crews are doing (are they planning to stop? Do a piece? Pull in for coaching?) or what other hazards they have seen on the river.
  • Consider communicating more than usual with small boats to warn them of things ahead of them. Phrases like “pair, take a look!”, or even just “single!” (if a collision is imminent), to let them know they need to check over their shoulder are very helpful. Small boat users are almost always grateful for these warnings, even if they had seen the hazard already.
  • Remind the cox of boats behind them that they may not have seen to ensure they make appropriate adjustments eg tuck in to enable them to pass
  • If in doubt, more communication is better than less communication! It is always better to have warned about something that turned out to be unnecessary, than fail to warn about something that ended up causing an incident.
• Report any safety incidents (collisions AND near misses) to OURCs with the help of the cox, coaches, and captains. (This is intended to help us learn as a club and see if we need to implement safety procedures, not to blame individuals.)
• What you should NOT do: Never attempt to take over coxing from the bank. Communications between you and the rowers should never bypass the cox. For example “Two take a tap” vs advice to the cox of “you could ask two to take a tap” are very different things. The latter ensures any maneuvers of the boat are directly as a result of the cox and are something the cox is happy with and does not take away their authority within the boat.

Coaching

The bankrider is not a coach. Your primary responsibility is safety. If you feel you can give coaching tips to the cox or crew as well then do, but don’t get distracted watching the crew and forget to look out on the river. This especially applies with less experienced coxes, or when the river is busy or during pieces/race practice, when the cox will have a lot to think about.

Help/ Advice

• Ask the coaches or other senior rowers/bankriders for tips
• Captain of Coxes
• President/squad captains: gtbccaptains@gmail.com

Important OURCs rules

Between the bankrider and the cox, you should ensure the outing follows the OURCs rules. All rules can be found on the OURCs website https://ourcs.co.uk . Here we highlight some important ones.

1. The cox must wear a life jacket! (and it must be on top of all other clothing)
2. The cox must know the spinning areas and circulation patterns (more about this in the novice coxing document)
   1. From longbridges we can boat or land in either direction as long as we do not impede other crews
   2. Spinning at the head: is upstream of the second large mooring post on the city side by the head of the river
   3. Spinning at longbridges: between the upstream end of longbridges raft and the downstream bridge, remaining close to the towpath to allow crews to leave and enter the gut
   4. Haystacks: below the red and white post on haystacks corner and above the shite post
   5. The gut: need 10 outings to go through, cannot go slower than full crew if it obstructs another crew, cannot easy at any time in the gut unless for safety, cannot overtake in the gut
   6. Spinning: must be done in order of arrival at the spinning area, unless granted permission by other crews. Must then immediately leave the spinning area and cannot obstruct the spinning area
3. River restrictions
   1. Cannot row before 1hr before sunrise or 1hr after sunset
   2. Cannot row between 8am-1pm on sundays or after 7pm on wednesdays
   3. No crew can row in a lightning storm or if ice has formed on the water
4. A novice cox:
   1. Must attend a coxing briefing
   2. Must have a bankrider at ALL times
   3. Cannot go through the gut until they have had 10 outings
5. Lights – you need lights on the boat in “twilight hours” (1hr before or after sunrise/sunset) or when visibility is reduced eg heavy rain – the light must be a bright white light visible through 360 degrees
6. Throwline – do you need to take a throwline? Check the OURCs rules below.
7. Fog – cannot boat if visibility is below 100m
8. Know the flags – this determines the seniority of the cox, spinning rules, whether the bankrider needs a throwline. This section is copied from the website below:

The Isis flag

During varying conditions, additional restrictions may be in force on the Isis, as indicated by the online flag:

i.Red Flag (5 bucks): The Isis is closed to all University and College rowers. Navigation of Osney and Iffley Locks is prohibited.

ii.Amber Flag (4 bucks): The Isis is closed to all College crews except Senior crews as defined in 2.7. Crews must spin between the red and white posts 100m downstream of Donnington Bridge and on Haystacks Corner and may not spin at Longbridges, except to land immediately afterwards at Longbridges. The river is closed between Folly Bridge and Oxford Canal. Navigation of Osney and Iffley Locks is prohibited. All crews must be accompanied by a bank rider with, in case of emergency, a throw-line and a mobile phone, programmed with the phone number for Iffley Lock, which is 01865 777277.

iii.Dark Blue Flag (3 bucks): Experienced and Senior status coxes only. Crews must spin between the red and white posts 100m downstream of Donnington Bridge and on Haystacks Corner and may not spin at Longbridges, except to land at Longbridges. The river is closed between Folly Bridge and Oxford Canal. Navigation of Osney and Iffley Locks is prohibited.

iv.Light Blue Flag (2 bucks): Experienced and Senior status coxes only. Crews must spin between the red and white posts 100m downstream of Donnington Bridge and on Haystacks Corner and may not spin at Longbridges, except to land at Longbridges. The river is closed between Folly Bridge and Oxford Canal. Navigation of Osney and Iffley Locks is prohibited.

1.Novice status coxes on Light Blue Flag:

In addition, on Light Blue Flag (but not Dark Blue Flag) Novice status coxes with at least one full term of coxing experience may train under the following four conditions:
a.the outing must occur between Sunrise and Sunset (2.1.a);

b.other than the cox, the crew must be a Senior crew as defined in 2.7;

c.the cox must be accompanied by a bank rider with, in case of emergency, a throw-line and a mobile phone, programmed with the phone number for Iffley Lock, which is 01865 777277; and

d.the names of the full crew, cox, and bankrider and the outing time must be registered with the OURCs executive committee at least 2 hours in advance using the web form at the following URL: https://forms.gle/4XxUp1GrdtZZhPMi8.

This rule applies only for a trial period ending on Saturday of Week 8 in HT21 unless otherwise renewed in a Captains’ Meeting.

v.Green Flag: No additional restrictions in force.

vi.Grey Flag: When a grey flag is displayed the system is not currently being maintained and all crews are responsible for referring to the EA or lock keepers for stream advice.

vii.The flag may be changed when considered necessary by the OURCs committee for reasons other than the stream at Iffley Weirs. Such a change may be made in practice by any committee member, as long as the decision itself has been taken with at least one of the Secretary, Captain of Coxes, or Rowing Sabbatical, and if possible by all three in conjunction.