‘They’ve closed the door on us’
Regatta Committee’s quest for standardization causing problems for crews: coach
The coach of the Outer Cove senior men’s crew and M5 senior women’s six, two of the favourites in this year’s Royal St. John’s Regatta, is extremely frustrated with the Regatta Committee for what he sees as moves that are impeding the development of the elite crews on Quidi Vidi Lake.
In fact, Bert Hickey goes so far as to suggest the credibility of the Regatta Committee, “has been destroyed in our eyes.”
Hickey is a Regatta lifer, a Hall of Fame oarsman who rowed with the record-breaking 1982 Outer Cove and 1991 Smith Stockley-outer Cove crews. Since retiring from sport, he’s coached many a team at Quidi Vidi, including the course record-holders, the 2007 Crosbie Industrial Services crew.
At the root of the problem is a decision in 2014 by the Regatta Committee to standardize equipment. The Rules Committee elected to forbid rowers from applying their own customized seats (for example, Krazy Karpet-type material, and fiberglass seating) to the racing shells, eliminating a practice dating back decades, to the days of the 1981 Smith Stockley record-breakers and beyond.
Given the shells are designed for larger, taller individuals, the smaller, shorter rowers are at a disadvantage, Hickey said.
To compensate, crews had been using adjustable spacers or washers to adjust oar height so as to match the height of the rower.
But the Regatta Committee, again in an effort to standardize equipment, has disallowed the spacers.
Although it is fixed-seat rowing, rowers have long copied, to a degree, their sliding-seat colleagues by sliding on the seats, which was part of the reason for the customized, homemade seating.
However, the committee also ruled no lubrication, with the exception of certain products, be applied to the seats.
Use of any silicone-based product not deemed by the Regatta Committee to be fiberglass safe will be cause for immediate disqualification, the committee ruled.
Hickey noted products which received the OK from the Committee to be used in the shells were, through simple research, found to be silicone-based.
“So we’re confused,” he said. “We’re scratching our heads.”
But this is not about what oils or solutions can and cannot be used in the boat.
It is, says Hickey, about the Committee’s intention on standardizing everything, which he says is unnecessary.
“What’s the big deal?” he asks. “This practice has been going on for years and years. There is no distinct advantage gained by anyone, and there was no damage to the racing shells.
“For seven or eight months of the year, I’m watching two crews (Outer Cove and M5) train six days a week, for 90 minutes a day, scratching and clawing for every second to knock off their time.
“The whole focus of a rowing team is where can we get seconds (off its time)? And it’s forced us to become innovative, and making adjustments to the seats is part of it. It’s about how do you make a 6-3 rower and a 5-3 rower both equally effective in the same racing shell.”
By discontinuing the customized seats and disallowing the spacers, the shorter rower, Hickey said, is challenged to row to his or her maximum potential.
Hickey did not coach either crew last season — both Outer Cove and M5 won the championships — but he was aware of the problem that was brewing.
Hickey said he is all about protecting the integrity of the Regatta and uniqueness of the sport, but doesn’t understand why the Committee was hell bent on standardizing everything.
Further to the seating and oar height problems, the Committee also placed permanent footboards in the boats this season, and banned the homemade footboards some rowers had been using for years and years.
Hickey says the footboards are not correctly spaced, leaving the rowers’ feet too close together.
Outer Cove coxswain Mark Hayward, a recent graduate of Memorial University’s School of Medicine, reports “several” rowers are fighting injuries because of the inability for their feet to stay straight in line with their body.
Regatta Committee president Paul Rogers contends the move to standardize was not decided on a whim, but rather a process that took more than two years, with consultation from longtime Committee members, some of whom are experienced rowers, and current Regatta participants.
Rogers said there came a point where the Regatta Committee had no way of controlling what was being placed on the seats and footboards of the racing shells, which come at a “significant cost,” in the neighbourhood of $25,000.
Standardized seats and footboards became difficult to police.
“There has been some instances of some damage where the rowers were just throwing the footboards in the boat,” Rogers said. “Not a lot, but there were instances.”
But the bottom line is, he said, to have all participants sit in the boat exactly the same.
“I think it’s only fair to want to have everyone on a level playing field,” he said. “I think that’s the case no matter what sport you’re talking about.
“The standardization of equipment is not uncommon.”
Rogers maintains rowers — the Regatta’s “stakeholders” — were consulted and the message received by the Regatta Committee was a wish for standardized equipment.
Hickey bristles at the suggestion.
“They’ve closed the door on us,” he said. “You would think the Regatta Committee would bring in elite rowers and experienced rowers for consultation. You know, ‘we want to get this right, and we want your thoughts on this issue.’
“Anybody can make a mistake. And mistakes were made, particularly with the footboards. But they want to standardize everything and that’s it.
“But in their wish to treat everybody fairly, a lot of rowers are getting treat very unfairly. There are no words to describe the sheer, sheer frustration we feel.”