RegattaCentral

General Information

Lake County Rowing Association invites you to attend the second annual Leader of the Lake 5K head race (youth and masters) on Saturday, October 3, 2015.  The race will be held on Lake Minneola at the Clermont Boathouse located at 1050 Lake Minneola Dr., Clermont, FL 34711.

The event is designed for ease of viewing and attendance. We have two 120 ft. docks for efficient launch and recovery.  The race will start and finish at the Clermont Boathouse docks.  There will be ample parking for trailers adjacent to the boathouse.  The last 2000 meters of the race is a straightaway and Lake Minneola has a shoreline bike and walking trail to follow the race.

Please register your crew through RegattaCentral.com. For questions please contact Gina Espinel at [email protected] or Paul McPherson at [email protected].  


 Regatta Rules

Course: The race course is approximately 5,000 meters and is buoyed with orange buoys on starboard. The shoreline is the boundary on your port side. The athletes will launch from the Clermont Boathouse and row across Lake Minneola to the 561 bridge. From there they will be ushered into the chute and begin the clockwise race around the perimeter of Lake Minneola. When racing, oar blades may go over the buoys but the hull of the shell must stay on the course to avoid a penalty.

Rowers may warm up once they are away from the launch area on the Clermont side of Lake Minneola. Once done warming up, rowers should proceed clockwise to the staging area. As boats get closer to the staging area there will be two staging buoys. At each staging buoy the crews will be placed into their launching order and remain in that order as they approach the chute.

The race course follows the shoreline and is straightforward. The last 2000 meters is a direct shot to the finish line allowing for speed gain and passing. There is also a paved path that follows the lake at this point allowing for up close viewing. The course will finish at the 8th Street pier.  From there the crews will proceed to the recovery dock.  

Penalties: Penalties will be assessed for the following:

10 sec     Missing order of boats as called to the start chute.

10 sec     Missing a buoy on the course by any part of the shell or hull, but not the oar/s.

30 sec     Failure to yield right of way on the course, including passing in an unsafe or 

               prohibited zone. 

30 sec     Leaving the dock without a bow number or entering the chute with a wrong bow number

60 sec     Late to the starting line IF the officials permit the boat to race.

 *Unsportsmanlike behavior will result in exclusion from the event!

Call of Events:  All times are subject to change prior to race day as late entries are received. Final times will be distributed to registered teams and posted at the Regatta Headquarters on Saturday morning.  Events will be called 50 minutes prior to the start of the race. A second call will be made 40 minutes prior to the start of an event. There is NO third call. It is the responsibility of the crew to be at the marshaling area prior to the published start time independent of a call being made.  A crew that misses its correct order at the start may be penalized per the penalties section.  A crew that arrives at the start after their event scheduled time may row exhibition, be excluded from the event, or be penalized at the starter's discretion.

Hot Seating:  Allow a minimum of one hour for hot seating rowers or equipment. If you have a concern with a crew that is hot seating, please contact Regatta Headquarters on Saturday morning to discuss this issue with the officials. If you are hot seating equipment or rowers, display a pink "Hot Seating" card when coming into the dock and the dock master will give priority docking to that boat. Ask the dockmaster for a pink "Hot Seating" card at the coaches and coxswains meeting. Hot seating is not justification for wrong bow numbers, late to the start, etc. The starting chute is about 2k from the launch area.

Dock Area: The dockmaster has absolute authority in the dock area. Boats will be launching and landing in the same general vicinity but on separate docks. The Launch dock will be on your left as you come to the dock area. The recovery dock will be to your right and closest to the finish line. It is imperative that coaches, rowers, and coxswains follow the directions given by the dockmaster.

Safety: All boats will be inspected prior to launching. Inspection will include bow balls, bow cards, and shoe tie downs. We will be following US Rowing rules for presence of tie downs.  A boat that is entered in multiple events will be inspected each time it is launched. If a crew needs to make changes to their equipment they will be directed to slings out of the way of boat traffic to make changes. We will have a first aid tent staffed with medically trained individuals. If you have a rower with a medical condition that the referees need to be aware of, please email regatta LOC.

Waivers: This regatta will only be accepting US Rowing waivers. Waivers can be submitted online prior to the regatta.  The link is available at RegattaCentral.com under the Waiver tab.

Coaches & Coxswains Meeting: We will be having a coaches and coxswains meeting at 7:15am at the Clermont Boathouse. First call for event 1 will be at 7:45am.   We will go over the racecourse and specific information on the buoys and passing. We strongly encourage coaches, coxswains, and scullers to attend this meeting. Crews are responsible for following late information provided at this meeting regardless of their attendance at the meeting.

Medals & Trophies: First, second, and third place medals will be awarded for all events. Coaches may pick up medals for their teams after that team has completed racing for the day and the results are posted.

Team Launch/Land Support: We will have an oar staging area to the far side of the launch dock. Please do not place blades on the closest (recovery dock) side or block walkway or entrance to the launch dock. We ask that only two support people plus coach accompany each boat down to the docks. This helps us to minimize congestion and possible injury and equipment damage.

Starting:  There should be a clockwise circle pattern in the warm-up area.  The Starter / Marshall will arrange the crews so that crews cross the starting line at approximately 10 second intervals.  Crews should remain near the Start Marshall to hear commands to the start line.  A crew must yield to another crew being summoned to the starting area. A crew that misses its correct order at the start may be penalized as above.  A crew that arrives at the start after their event has run will participate (as listed above) at the starter's discretion. The starting area is a no passing zone from the buoy nearest the start chute to one boat open water after the chute. (E.g. the following boat may not approach the preceding boat until the following boat is a boat length open water out of the chute.)

Passing:  Passing is allowed along the entire course except for in the starting chute. When being passed, if necessary, a crew will yield away from the buoy line of the shortest course and the passing crew will move towards the buoy line to pass. Yielding will occur no later than when the overtaking crew is one boat of open water of the crew being passed. The boat overtaking (Passer) has the right of way to pass as above if a safe pass can be accomplished. Passing may occur towards the buoy line or away from the buoy line at the option of the passer. If a passer calls for a crew to yield, he must be truly passing and not be using the call to slow the other boat. As this course works along a natural shoreline please make your crews aware of docks, weeds and anchored boats along the shore area.

Crews and scullers must take note of the following: If a pass is attempted and there is not adequate room and time to perform the pass, the Passer is at risk of incurring interference penalties. It is the passer’s responsibility to avoid interference with the yielding boat. There are such situations where passing cannot be accomplished safely. In these situations, the Passer must delay the act of passing until the pass can be accomplished without incident. Contact with the boat or oars of the boat being overtaken or aggressive maneuvers will be considered an unsafe pass.  The boat being overtaken must yield and give suitable room to the Passer if this can be safely accomplished. Generally this will be the shortest line that gives an advantage. Failure to yield to the Passer is one of the most serious infractions of competitive conduct. Crews and scullers must be alert to possible upcoming passing attempts and promptly yield when there is adequate room and time. All shells with bow-loaded coxswains are strongly advised to have their bow seat rower notify the coxswain if a following crew is about to make a pass. Timely instruction from the bow seat rower may assist the coxswain in avoiding an interference penalty.

Protests:  Protests for a race must be filed on water at the finish line with an official, no exceptions. You will have one hour from the end of your race to file the written protest with regatta headquarters (near registration) and pay the required $25 fee (cash only).

Lightweight Weigh-In Instructions:  

*Lightweight limits for the Leader of the Lake are 135 lbs. for females and 160 lbs. for males.

*Weigh-ins will take place at the Clermont Boathouse beginning at 7:15 AM.

Rowers must be weighed in at least an hour and a half before their first lightweight race. There will be no late weigh-ins.  All members of the crew must weigh in at the same time and athletes will have one chance to make weight. If a crew fails to make weight, they will be excluded from the event. There will be no substitutions for failing to make weight.

Once weighed in, athletes will be given a wristband that must be worn on their wrist until the completion of their lightweight rowing events. Lightweights will not be allowed to launch without this wristband.