Information for Captains and Crews

In case the race has to be abandoned at any time while crews are marshalling or racing the following procedure will apply and be strictly adhered to.

Crews, on hearing continuous short blasts on air horns and/or seeing marshals waving red flags will immediately STOP. They will wait to be instructed on how and where to proceed by a marshal. They must maintain  a sharp lookout for for other crews in the vicinity who may not have heard or seen the warnings and are continuing with marshalling or racing. If necessary they must move to avoid any collision with such a crew.

Marshals will wait for instruction from the Chief Marshal, who will be in constant communication with the Race Safety Advisor, and once the cause and location of the problem has been determined, he will proceed to put the abandonment plan into operation.

Depending on where crews have boated, whether or not the Race has started and the number of crews still being marshalled, they may be asked to either paddle lightly downstream under the direction of the marshals (if they have boated from downstream of the marshalling area), or turn on to one of the banks and wait to be sent upstream if they boated from one of the clubs at or above Chiswick Bridge. A crew may be asked to proceed downstream of all marshalling crews before turning on to one of the banks.

In extreme circumstances, crews may be directed to the nearest safe place to land and leave the river, regardless of where they have boated from.