Messages from Malcolm Coe, Chairman of the Organising Committee and Regatta Secretary

A. The Events of 26 November (posted 27 November 2011)

Now that the dust has settled a little, we thought we owed a lot of people a fuller explanation of the circumstances of yesterday's race. 118 crews missed out on a row. So here is an explanation of most of the reasons why, and the basis for the decisions we made.

The river was unsafe for rowing until 2pm (We lost 3 hours). Parks Victoria stipulated all crews had to be out of the start area by 4pm. We therefore had 120 minutes to start 192 crews, an impossible task. Something had to give. We could put the timetable back 1hr and 15 mins, but no more.

The river was angry and wild. Gardiners Creek and the Wallen Road drain were over the top on the danger scale, making the river impassable at those points.

We made a decision to run the event by cutting out race categories that missed their start time. We continued with the remainder of the program +1hr and 15 mins. As the race was delayed further and further, more and more race categories were dropped off. With this approach, all the race officials and timing teams had certainty around who was racing when. All the rowers knew who was to race when. The alternative would have been chaos and confusion (replacing frustration and disappointment). We believe this approach was justified. Once racing commenced, it worked like clockwork and everyone knew what was to happen when - no confusion and no chaos. We got the last crew off the start line with 1 minute to spare. Our strategy therefore got the maximum number crews a safe race in treacherous conditions in the limited time we had.

In yesterday's circumstances, the early race categories suffered. If the lightning and river flooding had come later, the later race categories would have suffered. So who loses out depends on when the adverse weather comes. Yesterday, the early crews were dealt the bad cards.

The ability of younger, faster and stronger crews to handle the strong river was also a factor. This point was made by the race referee when he allowed race to start. But there was no conspiracy to run elite crews at the expense of the earlier crews. We considered inviting interstate crews onto the grid at random. We then decided it was too risky to start mixing "older/slower" crews in with "younger/stronger/faster" crews in such treacherous conditions. We always endeavor to avoid this anyway. Slower crews clashing and tangling with faster crews in yesterday’s conditions could have been another disastrous scenario requiring the race to stop. Having said that, we invited a very small number of international crews to slip into the grid to give them a row. We stand by this gesture and believe it was prudent not to extend it any further.

In relation to cancelling the whole event, we simply do not agree with this proposition. Many local regattas lose parts of their program due to adverse weather. To suggest the HOY should have been different and denied all categories the opportunity to race flies in the face of what happens at all rowing regattas around the world. Surely, no one could seriously argue we should have denied the "last" 75 crews the opportunity to race because the first 118 crews could not.

Finally, no rowers or officials were injured yesterday and we are only aware of minor equipment damage (one boat lost its rudder). 75 out of 192 crews managed to get a race under probably the worst weather conditions in recent times. We recognize many people travelled a long way and spent a lot of money to come and race in the Head of the Yarra. We regret not being able to accommodate everyone.

B. Feedback and Entry Fees (posted 29 November, 2011)

We have received an enormous amount of feedback and comments, mostly supportive, some critical, some good critical feedback. Thank you for taking the time to provide your comments. Because of the sheer volume, we cannot possibly provide one-on-one responses. So we want everyone to be assured that all the feedback has been noted and passed around the Organising Committee. Your comments are noted and valued, both positive and negative.

In relation to entry fees, we have spoken to Rowing Victoria in relation to this sensitive issue. After due consideration we have concluded that we are not in a position to offer any return of entry fee/rebate/partial refund. The reasons for this approach include:

It is standard for all regatta entry fees to be locked in once entries close. This is not unique to the Head of the Yarra, it applies to all Australian regattas. In this regard, part of the uniqueness of the Head of the Yarra is the enormous infrastructure required, i.e.

• security guards for your equipment over several nights at the start line and finish line (not compulsory, volunteered by HRC out of concern for your equipment),
• hired labour to set up the Yarra Bank Reserve, and pack it up again,
• PA systems at the start line, finish line and presentation area,
• presentation stage
• portable toilets
• boats racks transported from and back to Nagambie by commercial transportation
• licences and permits for use of the river and parks etc, etc. The list goes on.

No responsible regatta organising committee would undertake such enormous outlays with the prospect of being unable to recover the costs.

HRC took a hit financially in 2010 with the constant rain and negative affect on food, beverage and merchandise sales. HRC has taken an even bigger hit this year with the disastrous regatta day. We understand that everyone involved this year has suffered financially, especially those travelling from overseas and interstate.

We ask that you understand that we are a mere small suburban rowing club. As such, we structure the costs of the race to pay for the infrastructure required to run it and are not in a position to absorb these running costs. We are already at a major loss due to the loss in sales revenue from race day activity at the Yarra Bank Reserve, where the sales returns will not even cover the hire of facilities.

Please also note that no HRC member is paid for the Head of the Yarra work they do.

In the 53 races we have put on, we've had one wipe-out (or near wipe-out). Hopefully we can all put it behind us and look forward to a great regatta next year.