The Melbourne Head 

Rower Turnaround problems

Some rowers are entered in events with insufficient turnaround time. Click here to check the file.


2015 Handicaps are below, expressed in seconds. These will be deducted from elapsed time.

NEW STARTING LOCATION FOR 2015!!!!
See below AND THE VENUE PAGE for details
Information for Coxswains

  Course
a) Melbourne Head and Junior Head
The course will run for 3.9 km fromHerring Island to finish opposite MUBC.  The river will be closed to all but competing crews and rescue boats. The normal river traffic pattern will apply, with the racing lane being on the northern side of the river, and a single file access lane from the finish, past the sheds to the start on the southern side. These two lanes will be divided by a line of orange buoys. This line must not be crossed at any time.
Crews boating from the City will leave the staging in class order and will be expected to sort themselves into start (numerical) order before reaching Herring Island, with crews taking a normal anti clockwise course around the island. Once in order, crews will need to wait on each side of the river, until instructed to turn downstream and start racing. Crews boating from Wesley and Powerhouse will need to join into the upstream line of traffic in correct starting order. Crews boating from upstream of Grange Road will need to join the procession to the start, in numerical order, and wait for the instruction to proceed into the start beside Herring Island. Please be sure to get your boat into numerical  order as you move toward the start..



2) Registration and Bow Numbers

Bow numbers will be assembled into Club 'packs' for one person to collect. Clubs  must collect an Information Pack and a Bow Number from MUBC at least 75 minutes before the published start time for their first class.

Bow numbers and Information Packs, will be available from MUBC between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm on Friday 18th and from 7:30 am on Saturday 19th. Bow numbers, and back numbers must be returned to bins at MUBC. Clubs will be charged $10.00 for bow numbers which are not returned.

3) Boat Movement to the start

The staging at Princes Bridge will be divided into 4 zones during times of heavy traffic:

Opposite Richmond and Melbourne -  crews coming in
Opposite Mercantile and Melbourne Grammar-  crews going out
Opposite Banks and Yarra Yarra – crews coming in

Opposite MUBC – crews going out

Crews must be in the marshalling area beside Herring Island  or opposite Powerhouse if coming from upstream (or the Cremorne Railway Bridge for the Junior Head) 10 minutes before the start time for their class, so they will need to leave the city boatsheds 40 (30 minutes for Junior Head)  minutes before their start time. The access lane from the city to the start will mostly be single file, so crews should avoid stopping unless necessary for safety reasons. Use the southern arches of all the bridges INCLUDING THE CREMORNE RAILWAY BRIDGE

Crews boating from the City will leave the staging in class order and will be expected to sort themselves into start (numerical) order before going beside Herring Island, with crews taking a normal anti clockwise course around the island.  Crews boating from Wesley and Powerhouse will need to join into the upstream line of traffic in correct starting order. Crews boating from upstream of Grange Road will need to join the procession to the start, in numerical order. Please be sure that your boat is in correct numerical order as you move toward the start.

Please follow any instructions given by officials who will be assisting crews to sort themselves into numerical order.  Crews must be ready to move immediately, once the instruction to move into the starting area is given.

4) Racing

Start
Crews will be directed into the Start in bow number order. Crews from upstream and downstream will be merged by the marshal.

Once in start order, crews will move slowly in order. It will probably be necessary to stop and wait a few times. Crews will be called by bow number and instructed to GO! Timing will start when the crew crosses the buoyed start line, approximately 50 meters downstream . The gap between crews will vary according to boat size. Eights and Fours will have longer gaps than singles and doubles.

Course

The racing lane is on the northern half of the river, and crews should keep the orange marker buoys to their stroke side, maintaining normal traffic patterns.

Passing

For safety and good sportsmanship, we require crews which are being overtaken to yield the centre of the river to the faster crew.

Note: For the purposes of this event a crew is “being overtaken” if a faster crew has its bow ball within a length of the stern of the slower crew. If this occurs, the crew being overtaken must “yield” which means moving towards the northern bank and allowing the faster crew to pass in the centre of the river.

Finish

Once over the finish line, crews must keep rowing before turning, and allow other crews plenty of room. Returning to the sheds is via the single file access lane, using the southern arch of Prince’s Bridge.

 Crews which wish to return to upstream boatsheds may do so while the event is in progress, using the access lane, and following instructions of the marshals, particularly while negotiating the marshalling areas.  You must still travel around the southern side of the island.

Orange Buoy Line
Keep the Orange Buoy line on your stroke side at all times. The line is not to be crossed at any stage, whether racing or rowing upstream. A 10 second penalty applies if a crew’s boat hull crosses the line while racing. Crews crossing the line while rowing upstream will be eliminated.

 A 20 second penalty applies to a crew which fails to yield, and thereby hinders another competitor.

 Officials
Officials will be in place along the course, to observe and give appropriate instructions. Crews must obey these instructions, or be eliminated.
5) Results

Provisional Results will be posted on RegattaCentral's results page and on the Melbourne Head mobile App in real time and official results will be published as soon as possible after the event.
Provisional results will be published live on the Melbourne Head app, available for iphones and Androids.



The Melbourne Head Mobile App
We have our own app so you can get live results during the regatta. These results are net of any handicaps, while those on the Regattacentral Results page show both elapsed and net times. search for the app at the app store for your device.

Handicaps
Handicaps will be published here before the event.
 

Parent and Child Double Scull

We are delighted with the success of the Parent and Child Double Scull, a new event for 2013, and will continue to offer this each year This is intended to provide an opportunity for families to enjoy participation in competitive sport together.

We are  introducing an event for School Octuples (8 scullers). This fun event is open to all ages, and both genders, as well as mixed crews. It will be handicapped on the basis of age and gender, as best we can!

Club Events

For 2012 we introduced events for Club crews, as well as the  established  Open, School and Masters crews. We are continuing with this class tp encourage entries by non elite club crews and athletes who seek to race against others with similar training regimes and competition histories. No adjustments will be made to Rowing scores as a result of these events.


Eligibility for Club events:

Persons (coxswain included) not currently enrolled in high school, who, in any sculling or sweep-oared competition DID NOT:

(A) in the current or preceding eight calendar years, finish among the top three places at the FISA World Championships or Olympic Games;

(B) in the current or preceding five calendar years, compete at the FISA World Championships or Olympic games;**

(C) in the preceding four calendar years, finish in first-place in a Championship or Lightweight event-division at a state or national championships.

** Any athlete competing or seeking selectionas a Senior or U23 national team member under the name of their nation’s governing body in national or international competition in the current season is ineligible for the Club event-division.

NB: The Regatta reserves the right to rule on any competition situationThe Melbourne Head 

The Regatta reserves the right to rule on any competition situation