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16/06/2008 - Rowing Safety Review is released for publication (Stephen Blockley)

SAFETY REVIEW RECOMMENDS FULL BUOYANCY FOR ALL RACING ROWING BOATS. The independent national Rowing Safety Review commissioned by the government Minister for Sport has given a clear recommendation to the ARA that they should implement a policy of full buoyancy for ALL racing rowing boats to a defined performance standard. To this purpose, the ARA is recommended to set out a regime for testing and inspection, with sanctions for non-compliance. Furthermore the ARA is urged to promote the buoyancy standard to the International Standards Organisation (ISO) for inclusion within the next edition of the ISO Standard. The review includes many other recommendations for the improvement of rowing safety, including: - the national roll out of boat indentification - a complete rework of the ARA Safety Code - improvements to the incident reporting system - changes to the club auditing system - better awareness and education on hypothermia, cold water immersion and capsize - modification of roles for ARA Regional Safety Advisers (who currently have an impossible task) - specific recommendations to clubs to improve safety. The over-arching message is that the sport must develop a more inclusive and collective safety culture. A copy of the report is being sent to FISA. The Minister for Sport has asked Sport England to monitor the ARA's implementation of the Review recommendations. Our campaign has been fully vindicated! Here is the link to the full document. It is lengthy and detailed. For a quick overview we recommend reading chapter 9 which lists all the recommendations. Rowing Safety Review

15/04/2008 - Requests for advice or information (Stephen Blockley)

Just to confirm that we are happy to answer any relevant requests for information and advice, to the best of our ability. We may not know the answer personally, but often we know someone who does, or we can point to other sources of information. It is best to contact us directly via the email address in the 'Contact' section. Recently we received an enquiry via the 'Support Us' page. Luckily we managed to track down contact details for the enquirer and answer as best we could.

07/03/2008 - Safety Review soon to be published (Jane Blockley)

The Government/Sport England-commissioned Review of Rowing Safety carried out by RoSPA is now complete. Along with the other key stakeholders we are expecting our advance copy in the next few days. There will then be a short period of time (as yet not specified) for the ARA to plan its response, before the Minister for Sport will write to them formally to ascertain what action they are taking on the Review's recommendations. At that point the Safety Review will be made public and will be available for anyone to download from the internet.

19/12/2007 - Seven years on (Stephen Blockley)

Nearly seven years on and once again we relive that awful sequence of events. Time doesn’t heal something like this, but you do get used to living with it. We have found our own ways of moving forward, and life is sweet in spite of what happened. Sticking our heads above the parapet was never of interest to us, but then we realised that a simple, cheap adaptation to his boat would have undoubtedly saved Leo’s life. That adaptation is of course full buoyancy, and the only reason it was not already the given standard for boats was a combination of tradition and misinformation. When we were approached to help campaign for boat buoyancy it didn’t take us long to realise we could not refuse. Who could refuse in such circumstances? We now had knowledge which could help prevent a repeat tragedy, and we felt it was our duty to do our best to try and spread that knowledge. Along the way we have learned a lot, got to know some wonderful people, and have thankfully received overwhelmingly positive support and encouragement from many within the sport. There have been rare notable exceptions, but we recognise that everyone has their own angle, and are entitled to their own views. You may have noticed a rather acerbic comment on the ‘support us’ page under the aegis of ‘Cerberus Rowing Club’, but in effect anonymous. We could remove it, but we’re not into censorship! However we are regularly comforted by emails we receive from clubs and individuals from all over the world who have found the information on this site useful. On a personal level, we are now both retired and enjoying it immensely. We have spent the last year renovating our house (after years of neglect!). Leo’s old room is now converted to a music studio for Stephen and his band to mess about in. Leo shared his Dad’s passion for contemporary music of all genres, so we are sure he would approve. We are immensely proud of our lovely daughter. She has just started as a GP partner in an excellent medical practice in inner city Manchester, which is what she has always wanted to do. Jane is getting around to starting that book - about the last seven years… We wish everyone the very best of the season, and a happy new year. Jane and Stephen

19/12/2007 - Update on Safety Review (Jane Blockley)

This time of year makes us reflect upon things, so we want to update you on where things stand at present. The Rowing Safety Review is complete, and we have seen and commented on the draft report. The review was very thorough and wide ranging: assessing current practice throughout the sport, gathering the views of private individuals and official bodies and obtaining independent technical expert opinion. There has also been an analysis of existing guidance, structures and monitoring, as well as a review of current legislation and standards applicable to rowing equipment and practice. The researchers from RoSPA visited many clubs and interviewed officers and members, as well as observing practice at ‘grass roots’ (on the understanding that responses are treated anonymously). They had discussions with ARA Regional Water Safety Advisers and the views of the ARA were gathered via the Honorary Water Safety Adviser as well as by attendance at a meeting of the ARA Council Water Safety Working Group. The views of the All Party Parliamentary Rowing Group http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/memi433.htm were sought – and, as we said before, we were interviewed at length. The independent expert technical review of the issue of boat buoyancy was undertaken after consultation with FISA, the ARA, competition rowing boat builders, the convenor of the relevant ISO standards and others. A comprehensive literature review was also undertaken. The result is an authoritative and informed report on boat buoyancy constructional standards, their implementation, testing and enforcement. The review makes several recommendations, not only about buoyancy, but also about several other aspects of rowing safety and how the ARA functions. One of the recommendations is that the final report is made public – which we feel is absolutely crucial. We plan to publish the report in full on this site, once it is finalised and released. Meanwhile we were particularly pleased to read this passage from the (draft) executive summary: “These recommendations have often been championed by some of and sometimes by all of those that we have spoken to within the sport and believe the benefit from adoption will be significant in improving safety within the sport. The impact of implementation in terms of cost and disruption should be minimal and acceptable to the majority of rowing. We have found that those involved in the running of the sport of rowing have been open, enthusiastic and supportive of our work.” Nice one!

23/09/2007 - FISA Boat Flotation Test Protocol (Stephen Blockley)

This document is now linked from the FAQ page. It was circulated to NGBs explaining the method of testing whether boats meet the FISA buoyancy standard: "When full of water a boat with the crew seated in the rowing position should float in such a way that the top of the seat is a maximum of 5 cm (2 inches) below the static waterline."