The following guidelines have developed over time to establish a threshold between those who occasionally sub into town crews, and those who might use town clubs to avoid CUCBC rules and/or gain an advantage over other CUCBC clubs.

Firstly, if you learnt to row (or rowed with) a particular town club before starting university, you are free to row for that club without limitations and without affecting your eligibility for CUCBC competitions.

The following activities however are likely to render a rower ineligible for CUCBC events.

• Training with a town club as your primary club
• Racing under the town club name during term time (apart from genuine emergency subs)
• Training with a town club during non-student hours (rowing / sculling)

Occasional subbing for town club training outings is acceptable.

In any case though, if you have any involvement in a town club yet wish to compete in CUCBC comptitions please declare yourself at the start of each term. CUCBC will then confirm whether your particular circumstances are ok, and can answer any queries if they arise.

The guidelines above are an indication of how the CUCBC will treat situations that are declared. Formal rules will be agreed by the captains in due course.

The following rule will be in place from Monday, 25th January, 2010 until Saturday, 27th February, 2010 inclusive. It was decided to be introduced during the Captains' Meeting of 21st January.

"That for the 10 minutes following lighting down, no boat will be permitted to be on the water, save for college first VIII's and university crews."

(As it is now after 27th January, this rule is no longer in force.)

Thanks to all who came to the Novice Coxing Talk a few weeks back.

The slides from the talk are now available below.

The following guidelines for the use of the yellow and red flags have been produced by the CUCBC Safety Advisor, Dr Tom Davies.

A yellow flag will be set at 22.00 hours in preparation for the following morning if, based on the Meteorological Office Cambridge forecast:

• The forecast wind speed is 35 mph or more, or
• The forecast temperature is 0°C or less and the forecast wind speed is 25 mph.

At lighting down minus 30 minutes or 06.00 hours the yellow flag will be confirmed for two hours or lowered. There will be no strict criteria for this as the decision will be taken based on personal observation of conditions at the river. However, suggested guidelines are that the flag should continue to be raised if:

• The wind is "too strong or gusty"
• Current exceeds 5 mph
• Fog does not allow another boat to be seen at 150 metres
• Ice exceeds 2 mm thick more than 1 metre from the bank
• There are conditions where hypothermia would be a risk for crews held static for 10 minutes, based on the forecast criterion.

A red flag will be raised if conditions are unrowable, such as completely frozen or if the water level has risen 1.5 metres or more. Discretion will be exercised when the water level is between 30cm and 1.5m above normal.