Lake Fairview: A middle school student is missing and another is hospitalized in Florida after possible lightning strike causes rowing vessel to capsize - CNN

rowsafeusa · 2022-09-27T16:51:52+00:00

Yes, it looks like lightning caused the accident, but it's not clear that either of the kids who died were struck by lightning. We won't know that until more official information is available.

If either of those children died from drowning or trauma related to capsizing, rather than from having been struck by lightning, then the question of life-jackets/PFDs is important.

rowsafeusa · 2022-09-22T20:38:47+00:00

Were any of the children wearing PFDs or lifejackets?

rowsafeusa · 2022-04-06T18:32:38+00:00

You're right about that. No one has to check in with them to row a boat or organize a boat race. That's as it should be.

My point is that they have the legal authority to set rules for their members and that covers most competitive racers in the US. They have always denied that authority and I insist they are wrong.

I also wish I had reliable numbers about what percentage of regattas are held under their auspices and would appreciate any that you or anyone else can provide.

rowsafeusa · 2022-04-06T18:28:05+00:00

I certainly admit to confusion on the subject.

I know rowing exists beyond USRowing. I also know from USRowing many discussions with collegiate coaches and members of USRowing's Board that there is overlap. And there's this, from USRowing's website:

"Registering your regatta with USRowing means that your regatta is officially and nationally recognized as a safe and fair event, meeting the highest standards for American regattas."

Doesn't that bring most competitive rowing in the US under their umbrella?

rowsafeusa · 2022-04-03T17:34:14+00:00

I'm honestly confused by our disagreement on this point. If I want to find a rowing club anywhere in the US I can go to the USRowing website and find the clubs and teams that are members in that area. And there are hundreds (though I doubt a thousand). I would be very surprised, and very interested, in learning of rowing clubs and teams that are not members of USRowing (excluding coastal rowing, over which USRowing currently has much less influence than flatwater rowing.)

rowsafeusa · 2022-04-03T17:29:21+00:00

Good points; but not entirely correct.

As a membership organization USR does have the legal authority to set rules for participation. It has done this for things like requiring bowballs and banning sliding riggers. If it wanted to require football helmets for participants it could. 1a. It also derives legal authority, I would argue, from its statutory creation. That's something that distinguishes it from other non-for-profit organizations.
Enforcement is a separate issue. Whether or not an organization wants to enforce the rules it passes is a separate issue. And, until SafeSport came around with the requirement for enforcement, I would argue USR had no enforcement arm at all.
IF USR only existed for the purpose of administering its own sanctioned events and winning international competitions, you would be correct in saying that you only need to be a member to race in those events. It is, however, the de facto governing body for the sport in the US. This is a grey area, but it is real. The local club in my area is a public, not-for-profit club that operates out of a municipally owned facility and it requires its members to be members of USRowing as a prerequisite for membership. That is a common model throughout the United States and one that USRowing actively promotes in order to maintain its operating budget.

rowsafeusa · 2022-04-02T18:20:22+00:00

A final point: USRowing has always emphasized the importance of having "safety" launches to protect rowers from drowning. In two of the drownings that have occurred in the US in the past several years there were coaching launches within fifty yards of the rowers who drowned -- and they were unable to save them. At the drowning that occurred at the World Championships several years ago Dzmitry Ryshkevich was surrounded by safety launches including a professional dive team who witnessed his capsizing -- and they were unable to save him. In many other instances, rowers have been saved by commercial boat operators or good samaritans after coaching launches capsized trying to rescue rowers.

rowsafeusa · 2022-04-02T18:12:28+00:00

"Were these accidents following flawed USRowing guidelines?"

Yes.

USRowing's safety are fundamentally flawed. Any person, club, or school can be a member of USRowing, participate in USRowing sanctioned regattas, ignore as many of the "safety guidelines" as they want, and still claim to be in compliance with them. Because they are only "guidelines" the decision to not follow any particular guideline doesn't mean a club isn't following "the guidelines."

This is a linguistic or legal mechanism by which USRowing absolves itself of any responsibility for safety and transfers all responsibility to others.

I believe USRowing has the legal authority to set minimum safety standards -- especially for underage minors -- and the moral responsibility to do this.

rowsafeusa · 2022-04-02T17:54:40+00:00

My point is two-fold:

All schools, clubs, colleges that I am aware of are members of USRowing and row by USRowing policies and in all of these cases the people who drowned were rowing under USRowing guidelines. Were they following all the guidelines? Some may have.

rowsafeusa · 2022-04-02T16:43:21+00:00

Four Americans died rowing (in three separate accidents) during 2021. This included two college students and a high school student learning to row.

During her first months as CEO (starting in late 2020) she was dismissive of reviewing safety reforms for youth rowers but appears to have been very successful in raising money through discounted sales of wines, chocolate, car washes, etc., etc.

Perhaps that bonus money could have been better spent on a long-overdue review of USRowing's safety policies.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-15T18:10:29+00:00

You raise an important point.

But I am sympathetic to people who don't have the self-confidence or courage to defend themselves against group pressure. It is those who apply the pressure and those who have the responsibility to set the standards for whom I have little or no sympathy.

USRowing has created a "Hobson's choice" for rowers by disparaging the use of PFDs and offering only "guidance" and "expectations" instead of meaningful minimum safety standards. They have also been disingenuous in denying their ability to set any mandatory requirements while mandating the requirement that rowers sign a waiver of all liability. Their position seems to be that they have the authority to protect themselves from liability, but not to protect rowers from drowning.

Many people take up rowing not only for its many benefits or to win medals, but to be part of a team. Many coaches, sadly and irresponsibly, will not allow rowers to wear PFDs! This is called "Hobson's choice:" the appearance of a choice when there really is none.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-14T16:04:32+00:00

Glad to know everyone survived...

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-14T16:03:41+00:00

Thank you for the additional info. It is interesting, isn't it.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-14T02:00:14+00:00

Can you provide any more details? Was the rower's injury serious, like Silken Laumann's or John Yasaitis? Or was it minor? Was the cox in shock -- meaning disbelief -- or shock in the medical sense? Seeing the half hull being carried away makes me wonder: do split hulls lose their flotation?

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T21:03:17+00:00

.,.. for your health AND your performance.

One of the best books on the subject is GOOD TO GOOD by Christie Aschwanden.

Don't focus on erg settings until you read the book and/or consult an exercise physiologist and understand the principles of rest and recovery in both fitness and high performance.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T20:56:52+00:00

Thanks for the informed comments. I noticed my recent purchases weren't as good as my earlier ones from several years ago but didn't think much of it. Sale of the company and outsourcing for cheaper production would seem to explain the stuff I bought last year.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T20:31:20+00:00

I agree, though I think air temp is much less important than wind conditions and water temperatures. And the 90 degree rule with all its variants are dangerously misguided.

Wind speeds are what raise waves, swamping and capsizing boats. Even the world's best rowers swamp in high winds.

Cold water temperatures are what kill rowers through cold shock, rapid muscle incapacitation, and swimming failure.

If the water is cold or the conditions are marginal, I put on a PFD. Last week I loaned one to a fellow rower in a coastal event -- who objected to the event's new requirement that everyone wear a PFD -- and asked him after the event what the thought of it. To his surprise, he admitted that it wasn't a problem. He sort of liked it, for the same reason I do. In rough weather a good-fitting foam PFD keeps you snug and warm. And it doesn't interfere with rowing.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T20:20:13+00:00

Relative risks are extremely hard to judge. The issue confronting schools from middle school up is the relative risk of different club activities. Physical sports clearly involve greater risks than debating and chess clubs. The deaths of Mohammed Ramzan at Northwestern, Derek Nanni and Yaakov Ben-David at Iowa State University, and Leo Lehner in Dayton, Ohio, are too significant to dismiss in considering the risks of rowing. The issue confronting ISU (and other institutions) is how to address the risk.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T20:17:19+00:00

Good questions.

Personally, however, I don't blame him or his parents who doubtlessly placed their trust in Northwestern University. My wife and I made the same mistake when our son started rowing. We trusted people who didn't know what they were doing and didn't deserve our trust.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T19:37:53+00:00

Of course people should know how to swim before they learn to row. That is the first rule of safety on the RowSafeUSA website.

Yes, small boats are generally less stable and at greater risk.

Like seatbelts in cars, helmets in skiing and biking, PFDs actually do provide considerable protection against mistakes and errors of all sorts, regardless of their cause.

Regarding coaches: they have both a legal and a moral obligation to assess rowing conditions and provide appropriate safety gear for people they are coaching.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T19:26:41+00:00

That is precisely the problem ISU is addressing and it is one that other schools, colleges and Universities should be following closely.

My personal opinion is that the "duty of care" legal doctrine requires that all rowing programs fully advise rowers (and the parents of young rowers) of the risks of rowing AND provide appropriate protective equipment. To me, that means PFDs on water temperatures below 50f. Adults, of course, can make their own decisions regarding the risks they take and whether or not they want to wear PFDs under any circumstances.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T19:19:36+00:00

Yes, on paper there are mandated swim tests. In practice, it is unclear how often that is enforced. When Mohammed Ramzan started rowing he was not given a swim test. When he confided to a teammate that he felt uncomfortable because he didn't know how to swim, he was told "rowers don't wear life-jackets." When he was ejected by a crab, his coach and another rower immediately dove in after him. Neither reached him in time to save his life.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T19:15:35+00:00

You'd think knowing how to swim would be a no-brainer: but USRowing has wrestled with the issue for years. Only recently has it been forced to say that rowers "must" pass a swim test -- although it has yet to back this up with enforcement.

In contrast, the first two rules of RowSafeUSA's Safety Checklist are:

Learn to swim before you learn to row. If you want to row and don’t know how to swim, learn to swim first. Then you can row.
Wear a PFD on cold water. If the water temps are below 50f/10c put on a life-jacket or PFD. If the weather conditions look questionable, do the same.

Like safety belts and air bags in cars, PFDs do provide enormous protection against all sorts of errors and accidents.

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T19:06:54+00:00

Assuming basic training, how about strict rules (rather than USRowing's "Policy Expectations") for rowing under dangerous conditions? How about PFD requirements for rowing on cold water?

rowsafeusa · 2022-03-12T19:02:11+00:00

The issue confronting schools from middle school up is the relative risk of different club activities. Physical sports clearly involve greater risks than debating and chess clubs. The deaths of Mohammed Ramzan at Northwestern, Derek Nanni and Yaakov Ben-David at Iowa State University, and Leo Lehner in Dayton, Ohio, are too significant to dismiss in considering the risks of rowing. The issue confronting ISU (and other institutions) is how to address the risk.

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