Joining Tees RC

1. Coached sessions.

• Beginners Sunday 9.30 am (You should continue to come along to the beginners’ sessions on Sunday, which runs along side the L2R)
• Tuesday 8.30 (contact the Recreational rowers)- A second beginners session is usually arranged for a weekday evening in the summer
• In the winter, there are circuit training sessions that all the club members can attend, these run on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 6.00 pm – 7.30 pm
• When you are ready to leave the beginners group, either several of you will move together to form a new group, or you will move into one of the existing squads. If you form a new group, the coaching coordinator should try to find someone to coach. If you go into an existing group these should have a coach.

2. Unsupervised sessions

• As a member of the club, you can come down at other times. You will need to book a boat to go out. You will be responsible for you own safety.
• It is always better to go out with other people, either find someone to go out with or go out at time when other people are on the river.
• YOU MUST Put your name in the signing out book, stating the time you go out, boat you are using, direction of travel (Barrage or Yarm) and expected return time. Take a mobile phone in a waterproof case ,so you can contact someone if you get into trouble. We sometimes get problems with the local youths throwing stones etc. – there are phone numbers on the board for people that can help; local police or community wardens and of course 999

Police control 01642 326 326

Community Wardens 01642 528 989 or 07970 266 660

• If trouble occurs around the club, there are panic buttons located in the boathouse and a phone in the gym and boathouse that you can use to contact the police.

In addition to the above advice, please download and read:

The Tees RC Antisocial Behaviour Policy.

At this stage you must only use the Learn to Row (L2R) boats –  L2R singles and doubles with floats, or the L2R quads.

If you use the quads you must find three other people to row with and a cox.

There are two L2R quads – Mallard & Tornado both require a cox

There are two L2R singles – Newport and Victoria. Currently, only Victoria has the capacity to be used with floats.

There are two L2R singles – Coast to Coast and Malleable; Malleable is a finer boat than Coast to Coast and so more suitable to slightly more experience L2R graduates.

A list of boats and who to contact to book please see boat bookers list. Once you are sufficiently experienced to take out non-L2R boats, the details of these boats and their bookers are also listed in the boat bookers list.

On weekdays, booking times are flexible, but on the busy weekend mornings, boat booking slots are 08:00-09:30, 09:30-11:00 and 11:00-12:30. If you book boats at these times, please return the boat promptly to allow the next person to have their full allocated session.

You are responsible for the boats that you take out. Make sure when you get them you do not scratch them on the riggers of the boat above, chock up boats when necessary but remove chocks when the boats are back. Put boats on trestles before the outing to check they are river worthy, e.g. they have heel restraints, nuts are tight etc. Details of boat checks are given in the L2R booklet. Take care when you put the boat in the water. Do not put it down on the fin. If a boat gets damaged, report the damage to the Equipment Manager (click here), the relevant boat booker, and the club captain (click here) and put a boat damaged label on it.

The boat maintenance team are just some of the many volunteers that give up their time to help the club. The club only works if people are prepared to help.  We always need people to help so if you can help in anyway let the club captain know (click here).

You need to make sure you know the club rules, particularly where you should be on the river. The basic rule is stick to the right of the river. There are several bridges on the river; make sure you go through the correct arch.

Details are given in the Trip Up The Tees section of the club web site.

Look out and avoid the Teesside princess as it cannot manoeuvre easily –  it will hoot if it sees you.

Do not go out if it is too windy, if the current is running too fast, or if you will get too cold. If you are uncertain about the flow of the river, you can check this online HERE (alternatively, call the Tees Barrage control room (01642 633273) and request the flow) – do not go out if this is above 80.

Assess the conditions before you go out and if in doubt ask a more experienced rower. Do not go out if you cannot cope. Think what would happen if you fell in, got blown into the bank or went over a floating object that damaged the boat.  There is little chance of falling in if you are using boats with floats, however it could happen so weigh up the risks before deciding to go out.  When the flow gets too fast we are advised by the barrage not to go out, but as a beginner you should have already decided it is too fast for you

The Tees RC Yahoo group circulates information about river closures and any safety information, so you should make sure you join this and read and abide by the safety advice

You will now be making the decisions whether you go out or not, you will be responsible for your own safety and that of others.  If you have not already joined British rowing  you should do this as it give you personal insurance

Further information on safety can be found in the British Rowing Rowsafe guide, and on the Tees RC website’s Safety page.

Any incidents should be reported to the Safety Officer (click here) who will make a report to British Rowing if appropriate.