The Roth Pond Regatta is a boat race held at Stony Brook University's Roth Pond. The event, held annually since 1989, [1] involves teams of boat racers working towards the common goal of getting from one side of Roth Pond to the other. What makes the event challenging, however, is the strict restriction on the materials that contestants can use.
The tradition started in 1989, when the Roth Quad Yacht Club published an article in The Stony Brook Statesman declaring the date, rules and goal of the competition. [2] The original event was supposed to take place during the 1988 Roth Quad Olympics as part of a boating/sailing section, but the olympics did not occur that year. The yacht club decided to hold the regatta as a stand-alone event which would "be the opening event if [the Roth olympics] do take place". [2]
The Roth Regatta is now traditionally held during the last Friday of April [1] and run by the Undergraduate Student Government at Stony Brook, since the absorption of the Roth Yachting club by USG.
The judging is split up between two different types of boats: Speedsters and Yachts. The difference between the two categories is that speedsters can hold a maximum of two team members. Yachts hold between three and five team members. In either category, those who start the race in the boat must stay in the boat until it crosses the finish line. This is so that, among other things, speed isn't gained by a member pushing off the boat as they leave, and so that boats entered as yachts don't finish as speedsters.
The rules for the Roth pond regatta have changed since the first. Currently, the rules state that all boats must be made of only cardboard, duct tape and paint. Any string, glue, and cellophane may only be used for decorative purposes. Initially, the rules were broad, and only barred specific materials such as styrofoam, metal, wood and glass. [2] As late as 2009, the rules allowed for cloth sails and string for construction. [3]
Boats are only eligible to race if they meet the material requirements (see above) and if they fit the dimensions given by the rules. Traditionally, these are a maximum length of 20 feet, a maximum width of 15 feet and a minimum volume of 3 cubic feet per crew member.
There are three prizes for the winners of the regatta. [3]
The Roth and Seawolf cups go to the fastest boats in each category
The best of show has an additional basis for judging. The boats that are judged highest in apparent seaworthiness, appearance and originality are considered. Costumes worn by the crew may also be judged. The design of the boat and costumes must also pertain to the specific theme of the regatta for that year. The themes for the past few years have been:
Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars, one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.
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A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head.
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Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.
World Sailing (WS) is the international sports governing body for sailing; it is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad. With the exception of the 1904 and the canceled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 1908 was open for a total of five sailing classes (disciplines), but actually only four Sailing events were contested. The planned venue of all races, named matches, was Ryde, Isle of Wight.
The 12 Metre class is a rating class for racing sailboats that are designed to the International rule. It enables fair competition between boats that rate in the class whilst retaining the freedom to experiment with the details of their designs. The designation "12 Metre" does not refer to any single measurement on the boat, and is not referencing the vessels overall length, rather, measures the sum of the components directed by the formula which governs design and construction parameters. Typically 12 Metre class boats range from 65 to 75 feet in length overall; they are most often sloop-rigged, with masts roughly 85 feet tall.
The One Ton Cup is a trophy presented to the winner of a sailing competition created in 1899 by the Cercle de la voile de Paris (CVP).
The International Six Metre class is a class of classic racing yachts. Sixes are a construction class, meaning that the boats are not identical but are all designed to meet specific measurement formula, in this case International rule. At their heyday, Sixes were the most important international yacht racing class, and they are still raced around the world. "Six metre" in class name does not, somewhat confusingly, refer to length of the boat, but product of the formula; 6mR boats are, on average, 10–11 metres long.
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The Twelve Foot Dinghy was designed by George Cockshott, an amateur boat designer from Southport, England in response to a 1912 design contest. It became the first one-design racing dinghy to achieve international recognition. The class was granted the 'International' status by the IYRU in 1919 and remained this status until 1964 when it was revoked by the same authority. The class was selected as the dinghy class for the Olympics in 1920 & 1928. In 1924 the French wanted to use an alternate French design.
The sport of sailing involves a variety of competitive sailing formats that are sanctioned through various sailing federations and yacht clubs. Racing disciplines include matches within a fleet of sailing craft, between a pair thereof or among teams. Additionally, there are specialized competitions that include setting speed records. Racing formats include both closed courses and point-to-point contests; they may be in sheltered waters, coast-wise or on the open ocean. Most competitions are held within defined classes or ratings that either entail one type of sailing craft to ensure a contest primarily of skill or rating the sailing craft to create classifications or handicaps.
Stony Brook University is the largest residential campus in the State University of New York system, with approximately 54.5% of its students living on campus. Housing at Stony Brook is issued and controlled by Stony Brook University Campus Residences, which provides 9,445 spaces in its 11 corridor style buildings, 19 suite style buildings, and 23 apartment style buildings to Undergraduate students, Graduate students, and students' families. The large majority of on-campus housing is provided to students on the university's west campus, but housing is available to those on east campus, and for Stony Brook Southampton students.
The Star Sailors League (SSL) is a sports governing body in sailing in charge of the SSL Ranking, the SSL Circuit and the SSL Gold Cup.
Oxford Brookes University Boat Club is the rowing club of Oxford Brookes University, England. Its large base is on the longest reach of the non-tidal parts of the Thames, at Wallingford, in Oxfordshire – about 6 miles (10 km) of easily rowable, little-congested river. The club has been very successful at pre-training and co-training many Olympic competitors including those for Great Britain who won 6 golds at Olympics spread across three consecutive games, starting with the games of 2000.
Reading University Boat Club is the rowing club for the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. It is based at a boat house in Christchurch Meadows on the River Thames in the Reading suburb of Caversham. The club has a focus on sculling. It has consistently been one of the more successful university rowing clubs in Britain, including topping the medal table at the BUCS regatta in 2011 and at the BUCS small boats head in 2014 and 2015, as well as wins at Henley Royal Regatta in 1986, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013, and is considered one of the top six university rowing clubs in the UK. A number of former members have competed at the Olympics, including double gold-medallists James Cracknell and Helen Glover. The club has organised the Reading University Head of the River race since 1935.
The campus of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, consists of 213 buildings over 1,454 acres (588 ha) of land. It is the largest public university in the state of New York in terms of land area. The campus was moved to Stony Brook in 1962 after originating in Oyster Bay, New York.