Are there sometimes more than 6 crew members in a distance race?
13.0 Distance Races Yes. In cases where distance races exceed a certain length, a factor known as changeovers can be implemented. The basis behind this is that fatigued paddlers are replaced with fresh paddlers and this requires that their is a change of paddler. Races of this nature usually allow for crews of up to 9 per canoe in the case of men’s crews and for women’s crews, up to 10. 13.4 How do they change paddlers during the race? In theory it’s simple. A paddler rolls out of the canoe and a fresh paddler waiting in the water, grabs the canoe as it passes, pulls themselves in and takes over paddling. However, it requires many good qualities of strength, timing, swimming ability and a degree of nerve. Having a 40 foot canoe weighing over 1,500lbs being aimed pretty much right at you, requires nerve. You only get one shot at it. The art is to enter the canoe with as minimum disturbance to the canoe’s momentum as possible and start paddling as soon as you can. 13.5 So who decides whe
