Team Captain Information – What you need to know (PDF)

 

Team Captain Information – What to Bring, Hand-off Notes and Split Estimator (Excel)

 

  1. Team Captain Rules and Responsibilities

a.      Each team that enters the Texas Water Safari must have one team captain, and the option to designate a second team captain, if desired. Teams are strongly encouraged to designate co-team    captains. Every team captain must sign a liability waiver and every team captain must be at least 18 years old. Team captain(s) shall be responsible for:

i.          Signing their team through each of the eleven (11) official checkpoints.

ii.          Making contact with their team at each official checkpoint or at any other legal access points to transfer water, ice, and/or any other items provided for in Section 4d and to assess the team's health and ability to continue the race. It is not the responsibility of the TWS board or the race officials to determine whether or not a racer is able to continue or pull out due to health issues the racer may be experiencing, it is the sole responsibility of the race participants and their team captains to make that determination.

iii.          To notify race officials if unable to make contact with the team at any checkpoint, or in the event, in their sole judgment, there is reason to be concerned about the health or safety of the team. The team can be disqualified if one of the team captains fail to make this contact, fail to enter it on each Check In/Out sheet, and/or fail to know, at all times, the team's location (between consecutive checkpoints).

iv.          If, during the race, a team captain has to drop out, substitutions are allowed. The team must notify a race official at the earliest opportunity. It is also the responsibility of the "replacement" team captain to sign a liability waiver. If the substitution is planned, the race officials should be notified in advance.

b.      Team Captain(s) must display a placard with boat number on the dashboard of the vehicle in which they are traveling.

c.      Team captain(s) must report to a race official as soon as their team, or a team member, drops out of the race and sign them "Out" at the appropriate checkpoint.        

i.          If a team drops out of the race, then either team captain will sign his or her team out at the checkpoint where the team stopped, or if between checkpoints, at the next downstream checkpoint.

ii.          If, due to an emergency, he/she cannot get to the next downstream checkpoint, the team captain should contact a race judge via the ham radio operator, race official or a TWS Judge in Seadrift 361-785-5500. The team captain must give their name, team's boat number, name of team members, where they dropped out, and the time they dropped out. This information prevents wasted energies and/or a needless search for a "lost team."

iii.          It is the responsibility of a team captain to inform race officials when the team has a serious medical condition or the location of the team is in serious doubt. It is then a race official’s decision when, or whether to initiate rescue effort. However, should any team captain at any time feel that an emergency requires doing so, he/she should immediately contact 911.

d.      Team captains may deliver items of food, ice, drink or medical materials at any time during the race which they, in their sole discretion, deem necessary for the health or safety of the team.

i.          Delivery of these items must be done from the river bank or permanent docks.

ii.          Only re-usable mesh bags may be used to help the team captain make any such exchange. (This is to prevent littering or any other use of bags or other containers).

iii.          Food Items may be individually waterproofed in seal-a-meal type bags or zip-lock bags.

1.      No Zip-lock bags larger than one gallon may be used. 

iv.          No other items of any kind can be supplied to the team by the team captain(s).

1.      No paddles, lights, repair equipment, or any other supplies or materials may be provided to the paddlers

2.      No chairs, tables, eating untensils, tarps, sleeping bags, tents or pads may be provided to the paddlers

3.      Glasses, sunglasses, mosquito repellant, sunscreen and pain medicines may not be provided to the paddlers

4.      Paddlers may not sleep in vehicles

e.      If a boat loses its number during the TWS it is the responsibility of the team captains to replace the lost number, with the same number when it is no longer attached to the boat.