The safety of club members as well as others using the water is the overriding priority for the membership of AARC. All members should become familiar with the OAAR Safety Plan, which are the consensus rules which all clubs operating at Argo Pond have accepted. AARC reserves the right to impose additional restrictions on its membership to protect the safety of any person who exercises the right to occupy space on the water and to guard AARC's investment in equipment.

Individuals and groups are expected to abide by the OAAR Safety Plan. As stated in the safety plan, "Frequent disregard for the rules may prompt OAAR to inform the governing authority for the individual, be it a club president, boathouse manager, athletic director, or police of the person's actions." By a person's affiliation with an Argo-based rowing organization, that individual consents that, "The major programs and organizations shall be responsible for implementation and enforcement of on-the-water rules issued by the safety committee. Violations should be dealt with within the sanctions available."

All club members and coaches are responsible for upholding the integrity of the club's participation in the OAAR and the safety recommendations which the OAAR sets forth. Members are additionally encouraged to bring any issues or concerns regarding this policy to the attention of AARC and the safety committee.

Violations of the safety plan should be reported to the safety committee endorsed by the AARC Board for appropriate review by this panel of peers. The safety committee will recommend to the AARC Board some measure of action regarding the situation. The coaching staff and sculling captains should also be made aware of any infractions. Some rules are necessarily reiterated in this document.

• Common sense must prevail - do not engage in behavior which jeopardizes any person's well being or that may result in damage to equipment or facilities.

• Crews must sign out/in using the logbook when launching/returning.

• Following the traffic pattern is required at all times - right-hand traffic pattern where craft traveling in opposite directions must pass port to port.

• Turning between the bridges is not allowed at any time.

• River turns are required at all times.

• It is the moral obligation of any person/crew to immediately attend to a rower or coach who has been ejected from their craft into the water.

• Every shell must be equipped with its own individual lighting for use before daybreak and any time from dusk onward. Instructions for attaching lights to boats can be downloaded here.

• Please be alert for both rowing and non-rowing craft as well as the changing water conditions, being that the environment on the water is very dynamic.

• Crews/individuals should inform the equipment manager of boat damage or problems as soon as it occurs.

• Single scullers are strongly encouraged to carry a cell phone or whistle with them during workouts.

• Please make quick use of the dock to minimize the waiting time for others wishing to use the facility (e.g., adjust foot stretchers on the water).

Additionally, no individual, regardless of ability level, may coach any novice, Learn-to-Row, or Learn-to-Scull crew from any single shell. As stated in the OAAR safety plan, "No high school, college, or novice coxed crew should be on the water without a safety launch close by. A coach sitting in the coxswain seat does not count as a safety launch." Use of a coaching launch is required as any emergency situation may require the distribution of life-jackets, first-aid, or immediate return of a person the dock.

Please also read AARC's Club Rules, which includes additional safety requirements for participation in AARC activities and use of AARC equipment.

Environmental Considerations

Unaccompanied use of two-oared club equipment is restricted until water and air temperatures do not pose risk of injury/illness during the spring season. Sculling Captains will notify the membership when use of this equipment is permitted. In the late fall, the sculling captains will advise rowers when weather conditions pose significant risk for two-oared craft. Sculling captains will designate a date when the use of unaccompanied AARC two-oared equipment is no longer permitted. Use of AARC club doubles during these early/late season conditions may be provisionally granted by the Sculling Captains on a case by case basis. Private Boat Owners should only consider rowing in these conditions if they have appropriately arranged for the use of a safety launch to accompany their outing and adhere to OAAR recommendations regarding cold weather rowing.

In case of mishap in cold water, it is important to be prepared. AARC strongly recommends that all rowers read the Cold Weather Survival Guide available for download here.

If sudden severe weather should strike, all persons are to vacate the water immediately. This should be a crew-governing action; however, the coach(es) present are required to signal all crews to the severe weather situation and use the logbook to account for all crews before departing. Crews still upstream of the dock and still potentially unaware of the bad weather should be signaled from the pedestrian bridge by sounding an air horn 3 times and repeating twice - do not venture back out onto the water in dangerous weather. In the event that no coaches/sculling captains are present, this responsibility falls to the Board members present. These individuals are to remain at the boathouse/dock until all persons have returned.

Dark Rowing

AARC has created a set of rules to allow from safe rowing in the dark. Please read Appendix B - AARC Rule for Dark Rowing for the specific rules.

Rules for Sweep Rowing without a Coach

To be on the water, a sweep boat must be:

a) accompanied by a coach in a launch; OR

b) accompanied by a Certified Launch Driver, and if the boat consists of Novice Rowers in their first season of rowing then the launch must stay with the Novice Rowers and does not count as a Certified Launch Driver for other boats on the water, unless the boats stay together and there are no more than two boats per launch; OR

c) steered by a coxswain with at least one Full Year of experience coxing on Argo Pond and between the coxswain and the stroke seat there is a minimum of four Full Years of rowing experience, AND the boat is to stay below the bridges when it is dark.

Definitions:

Certified Launch Driver: individual who has completed an AARC waiver and has been authorized by the AARC Board to drive a launch, but is not necessarily a member of AARC, AND all AARC coaches, including any and all AARC members who have coached Learn-to-Row

Novice Rower: a rower who has not yet completed a Full Year of rowing, AFTER the year in which he or she completed Learn-to-Row

Full Year: three full seasons of rowing, including spring, summer and fall

Here's an example of how to count years of experience, using our president, Sarah Marsh, as an example:
2001 - LTR year
2002 - after this season, 1 yr exp; during this season, claims no experience
2003 - after this season, 2 yrs exp; during the season, claims 1 yr exp
2004 - after this season, 3 yrs exp; during the season, claims 2 yrs exp
2005 - after this season, 4 yrs exp; during the season, claims 3 yrs exp

Please take it upon yourselves to police yourself and your boatmates in following the rule. Also, please use general common sense - if you are a stroke or coxswain who does meet the requirements, but does not feel comfortable in the dark or going through bridges, please do not stroke or cox!