Rowing club conducts 'capsize drill demonstration'

Kolkata: The Calcutta Rowing Club (CRC) demonstrated capsize drill with the help of a single Scull, as per international norms, for the rowers on Sunday in compliance with the recently circulated standard operating procedure (SOP) prepared by Kolkata Police. The main intention of the drill was to apprise the rowers how to save themselves when the rowing boat capsizes.

All rowing activities at Rabindra Sarobar has been suspended temporarily following an unfortunate incident in which two rowers—Pushan Sadhukhan and Souradeep Chatterjee—drowned at the Lake on May 21 after their rowing boat capsized during a squall.

"Boats turning upside down are part and parcel of rowing. The thumb rule is the rowers should hold the boat and never leave the same so that the rescue boats can rush and rescue them. We have been trying our best to instill this among the rowers," Chandan Roy Chowdhury, honorary secretary of CRC said.

Sib Sankar Basu, Fisa level II Coach and certificate holder of "Capsize & Recovery Training" and Firstaid conducted the session followed by a half-an-hour slide show. "I have tried my best to boost the confidence of rowers and I am hopeful that they will be able to save themselves in case of a mishap," Basu said. About 30 rowers from CRC will be taking part in a rowing competition at Srinagar which is scheduled to start from June 24. "The rowers were not able to practice for the event because of the temporary suspension of rowing here. So we are sending them to Srinagar in advance so that they can do the needful there," added Roy Chowdhury.

The Kolkata Police SOP has made it compulsory for the rowing clubs to have rescue boats before the commencement of activities in Rabindra Sarobar. The clubs will soon hold meetings with manufacturers of rescue boats and accordingly take a call about which type of boat would be used. The rowing clubs have demanded at least one diesel-run motorised speedboat during rowing events as it will take a lot of time for battery driven boats to rush to a spot in case of an emergency. Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) may move the National Green Tribunal with the plea of allowing motorised speedboats for the sake of rowers' safety.

They have asked the clubs to provide them details regarding use of such boats in rowing events at Dal Lake in Srinagar and Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad.