L E O B L O C K L E Y M E M O R I A L C A M P A I G N

Swamping Safety Database

Details of incident 69

Date	October, 2001
Location	Rockford, Illinois, USA
Water Temperature	mid 70's
Boat(s) involved	several 2x's and a few quads
Boat Construction	open under seats, but sealed deck compartments
Outcome	We had such a big lead with a mile to go that we still won the race, and the rowing kept us nicely warm. All others were able to either row to the finish or were rescued safely. If the air or the water had been colder that day, it would have been very dangerous.
Description	High winds in the afternoon head racing that day produced whitecap conditions in an extremely exposed last mile of the race. Doubles and a couple of quads with lower gunwale heights (our Kaschper for example) all swamped completely. Unfortunately our boat has no stern-cocpit self-bailer. We finished the race (very slowly), since there was no other good take-out. Higher-gunwaled boats did not swamp. One boat required rescue by officials