Coxswain's Guide to Rowing South Africa Schools Racing Rules U14-Open 2025/26

Schools minimum (SASRU rules). In Open events, the minimum total weight in a racing shirt and shorts (or equivalent) is:

• 55 kg for a cox of a boys' crew
• 50 kg for a cox of a girls' crew

The RowSA Rules of Racing set the same minimums for U19 (J19) crews. There is no minimum weight for coxes of younger junior crews.

If you're under the minimum, you carry deadweight to make up the difference:

• It goes in the boat as close to you as practical, but not tied or strapped to your body.
• It must be lead shot, steel shot or sand only.
• The maximum deadweight is 15 kg.
• No racing equipment (such as the cox box) counts towards it.
• Control commission checks the deadweight before and after the race.

Enforcement: SASRU says the rule should be followed at every regatta out of good sportsmanship, but it is strictly enforced only at major and championship regattas and at the SA Schools Boat Race.

Under the RowSA Rules of Racing (Rules 2.10.5 and 2.10.6, and 12.4):

• When: between one and two hours before your first race on each day of racing. If that race is postponed or cancelled, you don't need to be weighed again that day.
• What you wear: your registered racing uniform.
• Scales: tested scales that read to 0.1 kg.
• Where: control commission does the weighing. It also checks any deadweight you must carry before and after the race.

When it's enforced in schools rowing: under the SASRU rules, good sportsmanship means the minimum weight rule should be followed at every regatta, but in practice it is strictly enforced only at major and championship regattas and at the SA Schools Boat Race. Expect a weigh-in at those events.

• Colours: coxswains must wear the registered racing colours of their school or club (RowSA Rule 2.10.2). The SASRU rules say every competitor must race in the school's or club's recognised colours and attire.
• Tri-suits: where only some crews (for example 1st crews) wear tri-suits, they must be designed to look as close as possible to the normal registered racing colours. Alternative 1st-crew uniforms must also be approved and registered by SAROC (the South African Rowing Officials Commission).
• Headwear, undershirts and leggings: if any crew members wear them, they must match across those crew members. Undershirts must be a neutral colour or match the racing kit, with no logos.
• Weigh-in kit: you are weighed in your registered racing uniform, so weigh in wearing what you'll race in.
• Hats: strongly recommended at school regattas.

Not from September to December. Grade 12 rowers and coxswains at rowing schools and junior clubs may not race in school regattas during that part of the season (RowSA Rule 2.3.5 and the SASRU rules). This includes the SA Schools Boat Race.

From January you can race again for the rest of the school season, including the SA Schools Championships in March.

SA Schools Championships Open division (2025/26): competitors must be a Grade 12 scholar born in 2008 or later, or any other registered rower born in 2009 or later, and a bona fide scholar at a member or associate school or club.

General school eligibility: you must be 18 or younger and enrolled full-time at a registered South African school. Rowers still at school who are U19 may compete in Open events at school regattas. Post-matric competitors must be U18.

Before launching

• All crews must report to control commission before launching. It checks boats and equipment, including safety equipment, bow numbers and racing uniforms.
• Learn the venue's traffic rules before you go out. Organisers must publish them with the regatta notice and display them at the venue, covering training, racing, excluded crews and emergency evacuation.

Boat safety requirements

• Bow ball: a solid white ball at least 4 cm across, firmly fixed to the bow. Under the SASRU rules this applies at practices too.
• Feet: heel restraints are required (no longer than 70 mm), and rowers' feet must be able to get out with no delay. Velcro-type closures must release with a single quick pull on one easily reached strap.
• Cox's seat: the opening must be at least 70 cm long and as wide as the boat for at least 50 cm, with nothing restricting the inside width.
• Bow number: securely fixed in its holder, so it stays attached to the boat even if it comes out of the holder.
• Buoyancy compartments: must be watertight.

On the water

• Obey officials' instructions and the traffic rules at all times.
• The regatta course is closed to training 30 minutes before the first race of the day.
• Your club representative must tell control commission, by the time the crew passes through, about any rower's medical condition that could put them at risk. The umpire is then informed.

• Be on time. Be at the start, ready to row, two minutes before your start time. Arriving later earns a yellow card, and the race can start without you. Don't enter the course until your race is cleared.
• Roll call: the umpire takes the roll call and checks bow numbers and equipment.
• Damage on the way up: tell the umpire. After checking with the President of the Jury, the umpire may reject the claim, allow repairs or delay the start.
• Keep the boat straight. It is your crew's responsibility to keep the boat straight in its lane. Respond to the aligner's "TOUCH", "BACK" and "HOLD" calls.
• Not ready? Raise your hand to show you're not ready. The umpire may take note, but doesn't have to wait for it to come down before starting. A crew that keeps failing to get straight and ready, and becomes a nuisance, can be dealt with as the umpire sees fit.
• The start: "ATTENTION" with the red flag raised, then a 1 to 5 second pause, then "GO" as the red flag drops. In wind or rough water the umpire may use a rolling start, lining you up about 100 m above the line.
• False start: if your bow crosses the line after the aligner's white flag and before the red flag drops, it's a false start, and your crew gets a yellow card. Two yellow cards in one race mean exclusion. Only the aligner decides false starts.
• Restarts and re-rows are always from the original start line.

• You steer. Crews are responsible for their own steering (Rule 5.8.2). The umpire won't give steering instructions except to avoid an accident or stop a crew being impeded by an opponent.
• Stay in your lane. Each crew has its own lane and must stay completely inside it, including the oars or sculls, for the whole race.
• Leaving your lane is allowed at your own risk, as long as you don't impede an opponent or gain an unfair advantage. Outside your lane you lose the umpire's protection.
• Interference means your boat or blades come into another crew's lane and disadvantage them by contact, wash or distraction. If that affects their finishing position, your crew is excluded. After a collision, the umpire can exclude the crew at fault even without a warning.
• Warnings: if you're drifting towards another crew, the umpire raises a white flag, calls your crew and lowers the flag to show which way to move. Correct straight away.
• Unbuoyed courses: where the course isn't fully buoyed, the umpire judges whether your course is correct.
• Head races: if you're being caught by a crew that started behind you, move out of your odd-numbered lane into the next higher lane, let them pass, then move back.

Before and after your race: don't cross the finish line while another race is finishing, stop when racing crews approach, and don't follow a race when you're not in it.

At the start

• Aligner: "TOUCH", "BACK" and "HOLD" (with your crew identified and the distance to move) to get you level. A white flag raised with "HOLD IT ALL CREWS" means you're aligned.
• Umpire: "ATTENTION" with the red flag raised above the head, then "GO" as the red flag drops. That's the start.
• Rolling start: "PREPARE TO RACE" from the aligner as you approach the line, then "ATTENTION" and an immediate "GO".
• False start: the aligner waves a red flag and calls "FALSE START", and the umpire sounds a siren, bell or whistle and waves the red flag. Stop and return to the start.

During the race

At the finish: a white flag means the race was in order. A red flag means there is an objection, or the umpire thinks the race wasn't properly run.

Cards: a yellow card is a warning, and two in one race make a red. A red card means your crew is excluded from that race.

During the race: if you think another crew is interfering with you and putting you at a disadvantage, draw the umpire's attention at the time it happens, if you can, to show you intend to object (Appendix E.8.16).

What counts as interference: the other crew's oars, sculls or boat come into your lane and disadvantage you, whether by contact, wash, distraction or any other way. The umpire alone decides.

After the finish

• Raise your hand immediately after crossing the line and before anyone gets out of the boat. A crew excluded at the start objects to the umpire at the start.
• The umpire won't raise the white flag while you're objecting. They'll talk to you, then either reject the objection (white flag) or accept it or look into it further (red flag).

If you disagree with the umpire's decision, your school or club can lodge a written protest with the President of the Jury within one hour. A crew penalised by the jury can then appeal in writing to the executive committee of the regatta's controlling authority, whose decision is final.

What the umpire can do for you: restore your chances first, for example by stopping the race and ordering a re-row from the original start, then penalise the offending crew. That can mean excluding a crew whose interference affected your finishing position.

• Finish: your crew has finished when the bow of the boat crosses the finish line (Rule 5.9.1). The bow ball also helps separate close finishes.
• Incomplete crew: the result stands even if the crew is incomplete. But in a coxed event, a crew that crosses the line without its coxswain is not placed (Rule 5.9.3).
• Race over: a race isn't over until the last crew crosses the line. The umpire then raises a white flag if the race was in order, or a red flag if there is an objection or the umpire thinks it wasn't properly run.
• Objecting: if you want to object, raise your hand immediately after the finish, before anyone gets out of the boat.
• Deadweight: if you carry deadweight, control commission checks it before and after the race.
• Excluded crews must return to the jetty by the published traffic rules and may not follow the race.

If anyone falls in or the boat capsizes, the umpire makes sure the rescue service is at hand, and if it isn't, takes whatever steps are needed for the crew's safety.

Coaching: no. Coaches and anyone else are prohibited from giving a crew instructions or advice during a race (Rule 5.10.1).

Electronics (Rule 1.2.3)

• No processed data or communications may be received in the boat electronically, and nothing may be sent from the boat electronically. The penalty may be exclusion.
• Raw data may be collected, received, processed and stored in the boat during racing, for example from speed sensors, GPS location, heart rate and stroke rate.
• RowSA may fit its own device to boats to send live race information.

Sound amplification equipment and loudspeakers that are firmly fixed to the boat count towards the boat's minimum weight.