Outings in Severe Weather

26 February 2002

A message from Paul, which would will already have seen if you're subscribed to the squad's mailing list ...

In view of a couple of incidents at the weekend (not involving VRC) where whole crews ended up in the water and the RNLI had to be called, I just wanted to remind you that with the current weather, and hence river conditions, extreme caution is needed when taking a boat afloat. With storms set to continue and the river likely to run high and fast for the next few weeks we all (coaches, steerspeople and scullers) need to be extra vigilant on all points of the river (particularly when boating, turning and negotiating bridges and other obstructions). This importance is heightened still further when you are responsible for the safety of others.

All in all, if you think there is even a remote chance that those in your crew or in a crew for whom you are responsible may be too inexperienced to cope safely with the prevailing river conditions, you are required to give serious consideration to cancelling the outing and undertaking some form of land training instead. This is frustrating having brought a crew together, I know, but it is certainly a safer option.

I welcome and expect everyone's cooperation with this.