Race Handbook

Please Read This

Devizes to Westminster Canoe & Kayak Race

Supporters Code of Practice

IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY

In the event of an emergency resulting in serious injury or loss of life, contact the Emergency Services: telephone 999
If there is ANY emergency, contact the DW Information Centre Duty Officer on 0207-620-0298, or the nearest checkpoint official.
For more detailed instructions, see the first page in the rule book.

PROBLEMS INVOLVING YOUR CREW: RETIREMENTS ETC.

If your crew retires, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE notify the DW Information Centre.
If your crew is delayed for 30 minutes or more, notify the DW Information Centre.
If you lose contact with your crew, speak to the DW Information Centre.
If you want to get a message to your crew, notify the DW Information Centre.
If you change crew, notify the DW Information Centre
If you are near a check point, you may report to them instead.

SUPPORTERS CONDUCT. Every year we have complaints concerning supporter behaviour.

Driving vehicles across private grassed areas, knocking down stones and brickwork.
Using the facilities and car parks in hotels and pubs without being customers.
Using front gardens as public loos. Noise at night can also cause considerable offence.
Speeding down country lanes.
All such behaviour is totally unacceptable. Please do not do it, but if by mischance you do, please tell us.

Foreword

I have only done the DW twice; once on a full flood and last year, in gentle conditions. This coming Easter weekend I was intending to be close to the North Pole, but fate has willed otherwise. Even so, I will be thinking of you as you race the great race.

As you will know, you may experience mild weather BUT, just as likely, you may be in for the full works with snow, ice and frostbite.

Whatever the conditions and whether you have raced the DW before or not, it will be a very personal challenge for you. You will need to be fit and brim full of the inner determination necessary to achieve your personal best. On top of which you will be concentrating on your technique, team work with your support crew and careful planning.

The very best of luck in your training and the race itself. I wish all crew, supporters and the race staff a successful and safe DW 2000.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes Bt., OBE

FRIENDS of DW

The 'Friends of the DW' has been formed as a club to help keep alive the spirit that is so important to the DW.. The club will give many people that have been involved with the race over almost 50 years, the opportunity to assist with this objective.

This year Friends will receive at least three newsletters.

The first was published early in the year and included a copy of the rule book.
The second will appear around the time of the race
The third will appear about the time of the presentation and will contain a copy of the results.

The committee have also decided that members of the unofficial '1000 Milers Club', (those that have completed the race at least 8 times) should be given free membership to the Friends of DW.

If you would like to join, or to help to run the Friends, please contact

Jerry Rogers, (DW Finance Director)
17 Chiltern Rd, Little Sandhurst, Camberley, Surrey GU17 8NB or 01-344-775-946

INFORMATION

Information is gathered during the race from check points and fed into the linked computer system, so that all of the Check Points ultimately get the same information. The Check Point where you make an inquiry will have the most up to date information about itself. Its information on previous check points will be less up to date but better than its information about points ahead of it.

The DW Information Centre co-ordinates the procedure and should have more up to date information for the points ahead. Accidents and protests about rule infringements can be reported at check points but they are best reported to an umpire or to the DW Information Centre by phone on 0207-620-0298. The DW Information Centre is also the best location to match crews and supporters who have lost each other! Don't hesitate to contact - 0207-620-0298

Watching Fast Senior Doubles

Since 1998, the fast senior doubles crews have a choice

start after mid-day Friday and paddle through the night or
start very early Saturday and suffer the daytime holiday river traffic

You can expect to see these boats as follows:

	Through the Night		Daylight Run
Newbury	7pm to 10pm Friday	or	7am to 10:30am Saturday
Reading	10pm to Midnight Friday	or	10:30am to 1pm Saturday
Marlow	1am to 2:30am Saturday	or	1:30 pm to 3pm Saturday
Teddington	6am to 8am Saturday	or	6:30pm to 8:30pm Saturday
Westminster	7:00am to 11am Saturday	or	7.30 to 10pm Saturday

The closer they get to Westminster, the more difficult it will become to distinguish fast boats from others who have planned for longer times. The fast boats will be most distinguishable up to Reading. Find out who and where they are by visiting the check points.

Tidal Effects on the DW

Staged Races

The effect on the staged classes is fairly obvious. We can only start more than 100 boats on a tidal waterway if all boats start at the same time. Hence it can only be done at slack tide. The mass start of the staged boats takes place at high tide at Ham near Teddington. The starts can be at any time from 2:15 to 8:15 GMT depending on the moon, etc..This year it will be in two parts at about 6.25 and 6.55 am BST.

Senior Doubles

Not every one appreciates the precision to which these boats need to plan their race. They have to get to Teddington at a time that allows them to make use of the outgoing tide. Failing to do this can add several hours to the total elapsed time. Let's see a simplified example of how to calculate a Devizes start times.

Experience has shown that most boats spend just over 10% of the race on the tideway. To calculate the time to Teddington, this is subtracted from the total planned time to Westminster. As an example, suppose a crew plans to complete the course in 20 hours. This crew will take just about 2 hours from Teddington to Westminster. This leaves them just under 18 hours to get from Devizes to Teddington.

It is interesting to take this example to see the impact of the tide. If the crew manage the 108 miles to Teddington in 18 hours, they will have averaged 108/18 = 6 miles per hour. The remaining 17 miles are then done in 2 hours (that 10% figure) giving a speed of 8.5 miles per hour. Hence the tide adds about 2.5 miles per hour to their overall speed. Now assume that the tide is against them and not with them. The tide would reduce their 6 miles per hour speed to just under 3.5 miles per hour. Now, 17 miles at 3.5 miles per hour takes almost 5 hours, instead of 2 hours if the tide is with the crew. Therefore, getting the tide right is very important.

So what is the right time to arrive at Teddington. Well, tidal effects at Teddington occur roughly 1 hour after Westminster, as the effects of the movements of the sea 'push and pull' water from the river. Push a wave in at Westminster and it takes an hour to travel up to Teddington. At Westminster, the tides are close to a regular 6 hours between high tide and low tide. Therefore, any canoeist who aims not to paddle against any incoming tide can leave Teddington at high tide and must arrive at Westminster within 5 hours of that time. If, as in our example, they think they will take 2 hours on the tideway, they may arrive at Teddington, any time between high water and 3 hours after. To get the optimal effect, a crew needs to arrive in the middle of this 3 hour slot; about 1.5 hours after high water.

Now we are able to calculate the departure time from Devizes. Our '20 hour' crew plan to take 18 hours to Teddington, leaving 2 hour to run the tideway. They plan to arrive at Teddington 1 hour after high water, which means they need to leave Devizes 17 hours before high water at Teddington. For Saturday morning high water at Teddington is 05:48, so the crew need to leave Devizes at about 12:48 on Friday morning. If the crew had planned a 21 hour run instead of the supposed 20 hours, they would need to leave roughly an hour earlier, etc..

From this, you can see that the Senior Doubles do not have the luxury of starting a couple of hours after they have got out of bed. They must start within about half an hour of a calculated time and must then hold within half an hour of their scheduled times right down the course. If they are two hours late, they have lost the benefit of the tide. This will have added an hour to their total time on the tideway; the tide will have pushed the 20 hour boat into being a 23 hour boat. Much later than that and they can easily lose a couple more hours to the tide. Four hours late could turn them into a 27 hour boat.