REGATTA RULES 2016 Shotgun Sprints Parati Competitive Rowing April 2, 2016 The Woodlands, Texas 1. Registration All on time entries must be registered, and fees paid, at RegattaCentral.com before the standard registration deadline of March 21 st, 11:59 pm. Competitors should be registered under their full name, using the same name for every entry. No event can have more than 15 entries; some events will have less. Entries from each team are limited to 3 per event before standard registration deadline. Entries are accepted in order of submission, and in cases of over subscription Regatta Central will maintain a waiting list. Wait list requests will be fulfilled first to teams with less than 3 entries, in order of submission. If spots remain, remaining wait list requests will be fulfilled in order of submission. Standard registration opens at 6:00 pm on February 21 st, 2016. Deadline for standard registration is March 21 st, 2016 at 11:59 pm. Entries are accepted after this deadline only at the discretion of the Registrar, and only to fill empty lanes; no heats will be added to accommodate late entries. Late entries must be accompanied by entry fees, which are double the standard entry fees, and arranged with the Registrar. Late entry requests may be submitted to the Registrar at shotgunsprints@gmail.com. 2. US Rowing Membership Every participating team must be an organizational member of US Rowing, and every competitor must belong to a participating team and be a Basic Member of US Rowing. The only exception is single scull entries. Any single scull competitor not part of a team must be an individual Basic Member of US Rowing and must race Unaffiliated. 3. The Rule of 3 The event numbers of any given competitor s events should differ by at least 3. The Regatta Committee will accommodate competitors who adhere to the Rule of 3 to
ensure at least 2 races between their events. No such accommodation will be made for competitors who do not adhere to this rule. 4. Duplicate Entries The Regatta Committee is not responsible for detecting duplicate entries. Duplicate entries will not be refunded. 5. Cancellation Due To Weather and Refunds Shotgun Sprints will not be canceled due to weather except by order of The Woodlands Township, Montgomery County or the Chief Referee. If the regatta is canceled due to weather 50% of entry fees will be refunded. If the regatta is truncated, 50% of entry fees will be refunded for events not posting preliminary times. All schedule updates will be posted on the Results board at the Registration Tent. 6. Liability Waivers Every competitor must have a signed US Rowing Release of Liability Waiver online. Competitors who do not have a signed waiver online will not be eligible to compete. Competitors whose on-line waivers do not appear in Regatta Central s Compliance by 9:00 am Friday, April 1 st, 2016 will be ineligible to compete. 7. Regatta Check-in All teams may check in at the Registration Tent before racing to verify waiver compliance, scratch entries, or submit substitutions. The Registration Tent will be open from 3:00 6:00 pm on Friday and throughout the race schedule on Saturday beginning at 6:30 am. 8. Coach/Bow Meeting The bow meeting will be held at the registration tent at 7:00 am on Saturday. The Chief Referee will deliver important information to competitors at the bow meeting, and all competitors are responsible for knowing the instructions given at the meeting. 9. Scratches & Substitutions No entry fees will be refunded for scratches made after the standard registration deadline. Please email the Registrar at shotgunsprints@gmail.com with scratches
between the standard registration deadline and Thursday, March 31 st. For scratches on or after Friday, April 1 st please submit a scratch form to the Registrar at the Registration Tent. Before Wednesday, March 30 th, teams may make substitutions by updating their line-ups on Regatta Central. Beginning Wednesday, March 30 th, an entry may replace at most half of its crew; substitutions are not allowed in single scull events. Substitutions made after Tuesday, March 29 th, must be emailed to the Registrar at shotgunsprints@gmail.com, or presented to the Registrar at the Registration Tent. Substitutions must be made in writing to the LOC at least one hour before the race s first heat is scheduled and are accepted at the Registrar s discretion. Substitutions after preliminary heats are not allowed. 10. On Time Arrival Regatta officials may prohibit crews from launching if there is not adequate time, in their judgment, to reach the start before their race. Regatta officials may prohibit crews from racing if they cannot back into the stake boat position in a timely manner. 11. Rower Classifications Shotgun Sprints is a Juniors only regatta. A Junior is a competitor who has been continuously enrolled in secondary school as a full time student. A competitor ceases to be a Junior after December 31 of the year of his/her 18 th birthday, or of the year in which he/she completes 12 th grade, whichever is later. Crews entered in Novice events shall have only Novice rowers. If a rower raced in a Spring 2015 regatta or before they are not considered Novice. 12. Lightweight Rowers Lightweight Junior men must weigh no more than 150 pounds. Lightweight Junior women must weigh no more than 130 pounds. Lightweight rowers may weigh in on Friday from 3:00 7:00 pm at the medical tent, or from 6:30 7:30 am on Saturday morning. A rower within one pound of the weight limit is allowed one re-weigh in the weigh in window. Rowers who weigh in more than one pound over the limit will not be allowed to re-weigh. A practice scale will be available at the weigh-in site. Lightweight rowers who make weight will be issued a wristband that must be worn for all lightweight events. Entire lightweight crews need to weigh in together; for
instance, all rowers in a lightweight 2x or 4x should weigh in at the same time. If rowers are in multiple events their weigh-in will carry over for their remaining entries. 13. Crew Representation No competitor may represent more than one team in the regatta. No composite crews are allowed. 14. Dispute Resolution All questions of eligibility, qualification, and interpretation of the rules shall be referred to the Regatta Committee, whose decisions shall be final. 15. Required Equipment Every competing boat shall have a bow ball, quick release shoes, and heel ties with lengths 3 inches or less. Boats lacking these features will not be allowed to launch. Competitors must bring their own bow numbers for lanes 1-5. Bow numbers may be borrowed with a $5 cash deposit each on an as available basis at the Registration Tent. 16. Hot Seating A boat that is to change crews immediately at the hot seat dock and race again without being removed from the water is considered a hot seat boat. The Dockmaster must be notified of every hot seat boat before it launches and may provide the boat a hot-seat marker to indicate the need for a quick return to the recovery dock after racing. 17. Progression Crews will be placed randomly in non-seeded heats by computer draw. If an event has 5 entries or less, that event will only race in the Finals portion of the regatta. For events with more than 5 entries, the 5 fastest times culled from ALL heats in that event will progress to the final. There will be no semi final race. Progression to the final will be determined only by time, not by place at the finish of each heat. In the event of a truncated regatta, preliminary heat times will be used to determine 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd place winners assuming all heats in that event were completed.
18. Schedule Changes The event schedule is subject to change depending on number of entries received. Events may be canceled or combined if there are fewer than 3 entries at standard entry deadline. Any crew entered in a canceled event will be contacted and offered the option to switch to another event or receive a refund of that entry fee. 19. USRowing Rules Except as noted above, this regatta follows USRowing s Rules of Rowing. 20. Sportsmanship The Regatta Committee reserves the right to rule on any situation not specifically covered in these guidelines, and to penalize or disqualify any competitor or crew that violates the spirit or the rules of competition, on the water or off. 21. Schedules and Results Schedules will be posted on Regatta Central. Results, and any last minute schedule changes, will be posted on the Results board by the Registration Tent. 22. Awards Medals are awarded for first, second and third place finishes in the final, except that no medal is awarded to an event s last place boat. There will be a medal ceremony at the conclusion of racing. In the event the regatta is truncated please pick up your medals at the Registration Tent. 23. Friday practice Rowers will be allowed to practice from 3:00 6:00 pm on Friday afternoon. 24. Venue Shotgun Sprints is a US Rowing sanctioned 1000 meter race to be held at Northshore Park on beautiful Lake Woodlands. Northshore Park is adjacent to the new Hughes Landing complex that features the Embassy Suites hotel, Whole Foods, restaurants and shopping all within walking distance of the venue. The street address for the park is 2505 Lake Woodlands Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77381. Parking will be immediately across Lake Woodlands Drive from the entrance to the park. The racing will be on a 5-lane, fully buoyed course which can be viewed from
various areas of the park and from the walking trail on the Lake Woodlands Drive bridge. 25. T-shirts Participants are encouraged to pre-order event t-shirts at www.shotgunsprints.com by March 25, 2016. Limited quantities will be available at the event for interested parties that did not preorder.
Medic Tent / Weigh In Awards Ceremony Trash Receptacles Results Board DUMPSTER PARATI CREW TRAILER PARKING Temp Restrooms CONTROL AREA RESTROOMS REGISTRATION Regatta Admin & Vending Tents w/ Grills BOAT LAYDOWN BOAT LAYDOWN TIMING TENT PARATI