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Rowboat fUpdate
BennyBeaver
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BennyBeaver
Member Posts: 13,346
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Nine members of Oregon State University’s men crew team were OK Tuesday after being thrown into the Willamette River on Monday afternoon, when their racing shell hit a concrete support of the Harrison Street Bridge during practice.
According to witness Scott Bowman of Corvallis, the accident happened around 4:45 p.m., when the craft drifted against the support and was folded in half by the rain-swollen, fast-moving river. The carbon fiber shell was valued at $35,000.
At a rowing team practice Tuesday, an OSU sports information employee said that none of the athletes involved would be available for comment.
Steve Todd, head coach of the men’s rowing team, said a powered boat that was following the rowers had all nine men out of the water within five minutes.
Todd said the water level is higher than normal, but not yet at a level that would keep the team from practicing.
Both the OSU men’s and women’s rowing teams are scheduled to be in their first competition of the season Saturday, against the University of Victoria and Gonzaga University at Dexter Lake in Lane County.
Because of the high water, Todd said the current on Monday was faster than expected, and the shell drifted against the support as the rowers were warming up.
“The shells are built for speed, not for maneuverability,” he said.
According to Todd, who was elsewhere on the river during the accident, the 64-foot-long carbon fiber shell became pinned against the bridge support after the collision, and broke up under the force of the water pressing it against the concrete support.
Todd said three crew members fell in the water as the shell began to break up. The people in the powered boat immediately brought them personal flotation devices and removed them from the water first.
The other six people on the shell were able to hang onto it. That is what they are taught to do, Todd said, in case of such an emergency.
“Luckily cool heads prevailed, and everybody did what they needed to,” he said.
Andrew Louden, a battalion chief with the Corvallis Fire Department, said Monday night that everyone was safely out of the water before any rescue crews were called to the scene.
According to a Benton County Sheriff’s Office news release, one crew member complained of slight head pain as the result of the incident.
The Sheriff’s Office said the crew shells, which virtually skim the water when underway, are exempt from normal personal flotation device requirements for other recreational watercraft.
Todd said even low-profile flotation devices might limit the rowers’ performance. He added that accidents like this are extremely rare, and this is the first time he’s seen a crew shell destroyed in 15 years of coaching.
Marine deputies assisted the crew staff and freed the shell from around the support. Todd said the team is working with OSU’s risk management department to get a replacement for the 10-year-old racing craft, which he described as the team’s fourth-fastest shell.
The Willamette River is running high, fast and cold due to recent rains, and Benton County Sheriff Scott Jackson reminded the public Tuesday to use extreme caution, including having the proper equipment such as personal floatation devices.
Todd said the team already has a number of safety precautions in place to protect rowers, including powered boats that are never more than 100 yards from the shells while they are on the water. He added, however, that the incident could prompt the team to reconsider its rules about when crafts can go upstream of the bridges.
Bowman said he was walking along the west side of the river when he saw the accident. From his vantage point, he said, it appeared that everyone involved remained calm.