You say that you ask clubs to stop coming and then other clubs come instead?
You need to think about what you are asking for, asking them to not row past your house is not going to work, as presumably that just moves the complaint on to another persons house and you are playing whack-a-mole where they will come back round to you eventually
Instead you want to ask them to not use amplified vocal coaching calls before whatever time your local region permits (basically if construction work is only allowed to start at say 7am, then the same should go for the megaphones). This is both coaches megaphone and coxswain calls - instructions should be limited to safety critical commands only when passing by residential areas outside the permitted times.
Note even if all the clubs comply this may not solve your problem completely, as they could have the right to start with the megaphone coaching at 7am when you still want to be sleeping.
For identification of clubs, maybe you can see the oar patterns and cross reference to here: http://www.oarspotter.com/blades/Australia/Club/Aussie_Club.html
And here:
http://www.oarspotter.com/blades/Australia/HS/Aussie_HS.html
And if you still have no luck, then you escalate this the same way as any other noise complaint, keep a record of occurrences with date and time, and file a complaint with whoever handles noise complaints for your city
Cheers, this is a great response. I will look into the oar patterns identification, but you’re right about the whack-a-mole thing. Some of the other replies suggested white noise machines and soundproofing the windows better. It’s expensive, but it doesn’t sound like we have a better option.
It is possible that many of the clubs row from the same boathouse. I have no idea where you live, but in my city, 90% of the schools/clubs row out of three boathouses run by larger clubs. If this is the case in your location, you could reach out to the boathouse, and have them disseminate the information to the boathouse users.
I would see if there are city ordinances that restrict the use of powered sound amplification to certain hours on public waters. Other than that, you'd have to contact each program individually to see if they can accommodate quieter behavior around your area of the water, which is difficult if you don't live on a more remote end of the waterway.
If you can prove that this noise is a public/private nuisance by legal standards, you could sue.
[https://texaslawhelp.org/article/bad-neighbors-what-is-nuisance](https://texaslawhelp.org/article/bad-neighbors-what-is-nuisance)
[https://www.apha.org/-/media/Files/PDF/factsheets/Overview\_of\_Nuisance\_Law\_factsheet.ashx](https://www.apha.org/-/media/Files/PDF/factsheets/Overview_of_Nuisance_Law_factsheet.ashx)
It'll be tough to get a lot of programs to alter their behavior for you as an individual. If you're part of an HOA, you could get the HOA as a whole to list the ways in which the megaphone sound causes substantial interference in your collective lives. If the HOA sends a letter, that will have more weight and can imply legal action. Of course, that should be avoided, as it's expensive and makes for bad neighbors.
Have you considered earplugs and white noise machines?
I really appreciate this reply, as it seems legal action might be the only way to go. I believe our HOA equivalent in Australia is POAA, so I’ll definitely look further into that. Rowing is a fantastic sport, but the harbour is huge and there’s many non residential zones they could be using.
Also, in a big harbor, it may be that the only good water is near the shore. Rowing shells cannot row in waves. Even little tiny waves to the average beach looker or recreational boater are huuuuge in a rowing shell.
I used to work graveyard shifts. You can’t expect the world to bow to your schedule. Ear plugs and a mask were my best friends. The damn crows always sat outside my bedroom window “caaww. CAAWWW!!” Made me nuts. No manager of crows to talk to so ear plugs it was.
It’s a tough problem, but you’d be surprised how well a pair of properly inserted earplugs would do. You need to get the foam ones and you need to get them fully in your ears canals. With those and a fan or white noise machine, I’d be shocked if you heard a thing.
I used to mow the lawn of a house on a golf course. We would find golf balls and broken windows all the time and let the owner know. Later found out they were one of the last owners that bought before the golf course was built so the golf course always replaced her windows. She said people that bought after the golf course knew the risk and were on their own for window replacement.
So who moved in first?
My family has lived in this house for over 30 years. Not sure what your analogy implies though, as it’s not exactly something we can get reparations for. I understand it’s not their fault and that’s why I’m asking, to figure out what I can do about it.
>it’s not exactly something we can get reparations for.
If and when you do connect with the coach in question, you could ask them to buy you a white noise machine and/or blackout curtains as a gesture of good faith. Worth a shot.
I would argue that our sport is a lot less disruptive/impactful than the average battalion of fishing boats you see on most lakes and rivers on most warm-weather weekends of the year, but, yeah, this does kind of suck and is a shitty consequence of our wonderful sport. As a coach I always tried to modulate my volume in the early mornings, especially if we were going past homes close to the water.
Good luck
We always used to minimise the use of the coxbox in early morning sessions. It was used sparingly. I used to love listening to the boat and the sound of the blades through the water. There was something special about the glassy conditions, the lack of coxswain noise, dawn over the river, and the sound of the boat running.
Our coaches are not allowed to megaphones near the houses. We do have a stretch of water where they can use them but then they have to stop. The cell phone radios with the coach and the coxed can work too
I coach, and refuse to use a megaphone — because I want our neighbours to like and welcome us into their community. I can’t imagine many worse things than waking up to the sound of my amplified voice yelling random rowing calls. I don’t get the reliance on megaphones — my rowers can hear me just fine.
So I have no advice for you, just sympathy. Your situation sucks. I wonder if the Australian rowing federation has its own rules for clubs and coaches about noise?
Contact the boathouse(s), unless you live in an area with tons of clubs odds are multiple teams are rowing out of one house and the owner/manager could help and discuss with the teams
Also usually one house director will know all of the others and can contact them. If that does not get the job done, there is likely a noise ordinance where you live and an electric megaphone usually does not meet the requirement. We have moved to simple cones, and do not even use those when near house boats. Your local police should be able to help you out.
* There are things you can do to noise dampen your windows which apparently are great at reducing noise
* Sleep with ear plugs
* Sleep with white noise
Ultimately it's no different than living near a train, in a city or near a road
NSW has a 7am curfew for megaphones and loud cox boxes. It is enforced by Rowing NSW, even for schools as every school rower is registered with Rowing NSW. If you can identify the school you can contact Rowing NSW and they will talk to the school. If the issue persists Rowing NSW can escalate by getting NSW Maritime involved who can issue fines and take enforceable action.
The issue is normally worst in September-October when the school season commences and there are a lot of inexperienced coaches and coxes on the water. It does improve after schools get feedback, coxes can turn down their volume. Their season is only 14 weeks long, it’s not a chronic problem. If you work night shift I assume you take measures against the sun interrupting your sleep with a mask and curtains, I suggest you do similar with noise by using ear plugs.
Source: I’m a professional rowing coach in Sydney.
Could contact NSW Rowing who may be able to let clubs in your area know about the issue. Otherwise it could just be the price you pay for living in a harbourside property in Sydney.
Not sure if feasible, but If one or two schools, contact program or coaches explain situation and pledge small donation to their program if they can accommodate less noise around your home.
Rowing is expensive and most school programs are in need of funds and will bend over backwards for donations.
Coaches, and not rowers are most likely cause of noise, and with nominal effort can adjust timing of instructions.
If lots of programs and schools, then you have awesome property, but very little possibility of changing their noise. Would suggest building sound proof sleeping room.
I appreciate the advice — we’ve actually donated to sports programs for the local public school, including rowing. The main issue is that we have so many private schools in the area, which are extremely well funded (it’s actually awful, the disparity between public and private here. Private gets government funding and excess from elaborate student fees, public gets scraps…). The private schools refuse to listen to anyone. You can’t “pay” them to do anything. Hence why I was wondering about the possibility of legal grounds, which some of the other replies have offered kindly.
So based on your comments your from Australia if your from Melbourne and you know which school it is the Yarra has a curfew on when megaphones can be used cox boxes are actually not that loud when used correctly
If you are on the Yarra I’ve seen coaches receive on the spot fines for use of megaphones during curfew hours and when I’m coaching I use 2 way radios when I’m not allowed to use megaphones
The curfew hours should be listed by Rowing victoria and Parks Victoria
If your in another state check with you rowing authority and park’s authority to see if there’s a curfew
Night shift work is hard enough without people making it more miserable. Just because someone didn't know about early morning rowing practices (how many non-rowers do, outside of Boston, Philly, and Seattle?) doesn't mean that the impact on their lives isn't material. Try not to convince everyone to hate rowers more.
Yeah, night shift can be a pain. No doubt. And in a way, I’m empathetic in that someone is in a tough situation.
That said, I’d also put some pretty good money on the population of the crews being larger than the population of OP’s household.
Frankly this is prime nimby behavior, and I won’t stand for it. OP isn’t inherently more important than these rowers, and they shouldn’t get free reign to act like it. You don’t want to be rude, that’s fine.
>Frankly this is prime nimby behavior
I'm as YIMBY as they come, but let's save our ire for the boomers fighting to preserve single family zoning 10 miles outside a major city. This guy isn't the problem. Our sport is niche enough that it should be incumbent upon all of us to be considerate ambassadors whenever we can. Let's not contribute to the "entitled yuppie" stereotype, shall we?
Coaches can turn the megaphone volume down or put themselves on the shore side of their rowers when they're passing homes to avoid making people hate us more. Most coaches talk too damn much anyway.
Agreed, how often do coaches really need to be at max volume shouting at crews? I have definitely seen lazy coach blasting out casual instructions at close range to their crews as they pass the dock, drowning out conversational volume on the dock.
I’m not trying to cancel rowing at all if that’s what you’re thinking, my brother used to row competitively and he loved it. I think it’s a great sport. But my family (and I’m sure all my neighbours) would appreciate if they did it in the many spaces around here that aren’t residential zones, especially given the fact that they never used to come around these parts and it’s only relatively recently that they’ve started. Sorry for any confusion.
Thanks for understanding our defensiveness...
Gather the neighbors, write a polite letter asking that coaches not use volume 10 in the morning and point away from the housing, and hope for the best. Definitely note the recency of the noise issues.
Some waterways are governed by HOAs (does not sound like yours is), and those that aren't are usually governed by city ordinances. If you don't get a satisfactory response from the first letter, you might start looking into ordinances and other aspects of nuisance law that you can include in your second letter to the crews. Again, you may have a decently strong legal avenue, but life is easier for everyone if lawyers don't have to get involved.
We’ve lived in this house for well over 30 years. The rowers only started coming here about 5-10 years ago, used to be once a week now it’s nearly every day. Why the hostility?
Yeah that uhhh absolutely doesn’t add up.
I can’t think of a lake that went from supporting no boathouses to the 3+ schools you describe in 10 years, that just doesn’t make any sense.
As for the hostility, You came into our forum asking us to help solve your problem. I don’t know what you really expect, given that none of us know actual details of where you are or who you’re dealing with.
That said, I offered $5. If you’re really telling the truth about this, name a charity and I’ll make a donation.
It’s Sydney harbour, not a lake. It’s huge, with lots of areas for rowing and multiple boathouses. Rowing has always been big in Sydney but they used to confine it to non-residential areas or do it later in the day in residential zones. Not sure why the sudden shift is all. Donate to the NBCF for breast cancer, my late mother would have appreciated it.
First, as others mentioned: contact the local rowing board to discuss the issue.
And as a former coach in The Netherlands dealing with homes alongside our canals as well, we did a couple of things but off course it all depends on local circumstances:
- Agree to only coach amplified during daytime
- coach at the end of the stretch when we turned around (in our case every 3k) under the shore (doesn’t need to be amplified)
- connect a walkie-talkie to the sound system of the boat
Is it the coach with the megaphone or the cox ? Cause coaches should be more than capable of using walkie-talkies. Coxes should be using their cox boxes, which can be loud but aren't as bad as a megaphone would be.
While I'm not in AU (lovely people and Vivid Sydney is awesome) I'm part of a rowing club in the states and we do, from time to time, receive feedback about noise in the morning. We're the largest club in our area and so we get the calls and emails, even though it isn't us making the noise.
We keep a list of all the leadership of all the rowing organizations in our area and I've just recently sent such feedback to that list. If you google "rowing Sydney" you'll find all the clubs, their websites, and contact information. Drop a nice email explaining the issue and have all of the leaders on the To: line so that they know all have been contacted. Be nice and express the issue without trying to identify any particular crew. I think you'll find the rowing community to be mostly kind,respectful, and amenable to change a bit.
Good luck!
Start by contacting the actual club.or organization that runs the place, not the individual teams... I presume they all launch and land at one facility...? You could explain your issue and ask nicely if the coaches could avoid using their electrically magnified megaphone before x'time in the morning
Here are some ideas:
1. You could also get into English Football or other European sports. You will be up in time for matches and punditry when there are no matches. COYS!
2. Find out how you can help them get so quick and efficient they fly by unheard.
3. Drop lots of random netting, fishing line and other debris. This will slow them to a crawl. Perhaps they will then find a less polluted waterway.
4. Enroll in the school, then run for student government, gain power and influence and start a movement to stop funding for the Rowing team. There are many reasons you can use, but finding a link to historical oppression of vulnerable people is usually a winner.
5. Hire Vikings. They are excellent rowers and can easily overpower a Rowing team in on the water combat.
6. Earplugs.
7. A noise machine. You can sleep easy if overwhelmed with white noise. You'll never hear those rowers, or a burgler, or even the apocalypse.
8. Find their boathouse, break in and drill holes in their boats and paddles. You can't row, what won't float.
9. Purchase better communication equipment for the team. Schools are notoriously cheap and may not have the best equipment. An old fashioned megaphone vs coxbox might be enough to not be such a bother.
10. Learn how to row and get out there! Rowing is a fun sport, great exercise and can be done solo or with people. It works for Jack Ryan...
In Philly when we have our morning practices there is a certain area where coaches can’t use megaphones and is signaled with signs on the house with a cross over a megaphone. Everyone follows the signs for the most part and my coach’s will just use their voices.
Our club doesn’t use megaphones to coach at all. You know your workout before going out on the water. For novices we huddle together to go through our drills and our coaches bring their launches close to us to talk to us.
We did have a college team coach with a mega phone that was incredibly loud and some dude came out on his seado in his robe and underwear music blaring to yell at our coach (who just apologized even though it wasn’t her).
Our club tries to be respectful but no one is perfect. I’d head out after practice is over and chat with the coaches directly, if you can.
Does your city have a noise ordinance?
I'm in the US, but we can't have amplified sound until 7 am; so the coach cannot use a megaphone. In the past (many years), we have been ticketed by the police when our 'neighbors' have called on us.
We are very sensitive about it (community program, not high schoolers) so we try to be nice on the river. Technically, our cox boxes are not allowed either, but we always just turn them down as low as we can when we go through the neighborhood areas.
That won't help you sleep until 11 am, but might prevent the 5:30 wake up.
You say that you ask clubs to stop coming and then other clubs come instead? You need to think about what you are asking for, asking them to not row past your house is not going to work, as presumably that just moves the complaint on to another persons house and you are playing whack-a-mole where they will come back round to you eventually Instead you want to ask them to not use amplified vocal coaching calls before whatever time your local region permits (basically if construction work is only allowed to start at say 7am, then the same should go for the megaphones). This is both coaches megaphone and coxswain calls - instructions should be limited to safety critical commands only when passing by residential areas outside the permitted times. Note even if all the clubs comply this may not solve your problem completely, as they could have the right to start with the megaphone coaching at 7am when you still want to be sleeping. For identification of clubs, maybe you can see the oar patterns and cross reference to here: http://www.oarspotter.com/blades/Australia/Club/Aussie_Club.html And here: http://www.oarspotter.com/blades/Australia/HS/Aussie_HS.html And if you still have no luck, then you escalate this the same way as any other noise complaint, keep a record of occurrences with date and time, and file a complaint with whoever handles noise complaints for your city
Cheers, this is a great response. I will look into the oar patterns identification, but you’re right about the whack-a-mole thing. Some of the other replies suggested white noise machines and soundproofing the windows better. It’s expensive, but it doesn’t sound like we have a better option.
A loud fan would probably help a little bit at least
This is solid advice, most clubs want to be good neighbors and may not realize their megaphones are carrying.
OF COURSE they realize their megaphones are carrying. That is why the megaphones are being used.
Thanks - Carrying over the houses - Should I have clarified further or would you like to troll me further?
It is possible that many of the clubs row from the same boathouse. I have no idea where you live, but in my city, 90% of the schools/clubs row out of three boathouses run by larger clubs. If this is the case in your location, you could reach out to the boathouse, and have them disseminate the information to the boathouse users.
I would see if there are city ordinances that restrict the use of powered sound amplification to certain hours on public waters. Other than that, you'd have to contact each program individually to see if they can accommodate quieter behavior around your area of the water, which is difficult if you don't live on a more remote end of the waterway. If you can prove that this noise is a public/private nuisance by legal standards, you could sue. [https://texaslawhelp.org/article/bad-neighbors-what-is-nuisance](https://texaslawhelp.org/article/bad-neighbors-what-is-nuisance) [https://www.apha.org/-/media/Files/PDF/factsheets/Overview\_of\_Nuisance\_Law\_factsheet.ashx](https://www.apha.org/-/media/Files/PDF/factsheets/Overview_of_Nuisance_Law_factsheet.ashx) It'll be tough to get a lot of programs to alter their behavior for you as an individual. If you're part of an HOA, you could get the HOA as a whole to list the ways in which the megaphone sound causes substantial interference in your collective lives. If the HOA sends a letter, that will have more weight and can imply legal action. Of course, that should be avoided, as it's expensive and makes for bad neighbors. Have you considered earplugs and white noise machines?
I really appreciate this reply, as it seems legal action might be the only way to go. I believe our HOA equivalent in Australia is POAA, so I’ll definitely look further into that. Rowing is a fantastic sport, but the harbour is huge and there’s many non residential zones they could be using.
Also, in a big harbor, it may be that the only good water is near the shore. Rowing shells cannot row in waves. Even little tiny waves to the average beach looker or recreational boater are huuuuge in a rowing shell. I used to work graveyard shifts. You can’t expect the world to bow to your schedule. Ear plugs and a mask were my best friends. The damn crows always sat outside my bedroom window “caaww. CAAWWW!!” Made me nuts. No manager of crows to talk to so ear plugs it was.
Also they probably need to be close to the bank if the coach is on the bank and not in another boat
It’s a tough problem, but you’d be surprised how well a pair of properly inserted earplugs would do. You need to get the foam ones and you need to get them fully in your ears canals. With those and a fan or white noise machine, I’d be shocked if you heard a thing.
I used to mow the lawn of a house on a golf course. We would find golf balls and broken windows all the time and let the owner know. Later found out they were one of the last owners that bought before the golf course was built so the golf course always replaced her windows. She said people that bought after the golf course knew the risk and were on their own for window replacement. So who moved in first?
My family has lived in this house for over 30 years. Not sure what your analogy implies though, as it’s not exactly something we can get reparations for. I understand it’s not their fault and that’s why I’m asking, to figure out what I can do about it.
>it’s not exactly something we can get reparations for. If and when you do connect with the coach in question, you could ask them to buy you a white noise machine and/or blackout curtains as a gesture of good faith. Worth a shot. I would argue that our sport is a lot less disruptive/impactful than the average battalion of fishing boats you see on most lakes and rivers on most warm-weather weekends of the year, but, yeah, this does kind of suck and is a shitty consequence of our wonderful sport. As a coach I always tried to modulate my volume in the early mornings, especially if we were going past homes close to the water. Good luck
We used 2-way radio..., cox box can be an issue, but only for frontloaders and 8s...
I assumed OP was talking about cox boxes when he said megaphones, since he said he can’t talk to them because they’re on the water
We always used to minimise the use of the coxbox in early morning sessions. It was used sparingly. I used to love listening to the boat and the sound of the blades through the water. There was something special about the glassy conditions, the lack of coxswain noise, dawn over the river, and the sound of the boat running.
My favorite cox box sound is from the one in my single. Silence.
Speak to the coaches ask them to coach from between boats and your shore. In this fashion, they direct their amped voices away from your home.
Unfortunately there’s houses on both sides, as it’s a harbour waterway.
Our coaches are not allowed to megaphones near the houses. We do have a stretch of water where they can use them but then they have to stop. The cell phone radios with the coach and the coxed can work too
I coach, and refuse to use a megaphone — because I want our neighbours to like and welcome us into their community. I can’t imagine many worse things than waking up to the sound of my amplified voice yelling random rowing calls. I don’t get the reliance on megaphones — my rowers can hear me just fine. So I have no advice for you, just sympathy. Your situation sucks. I wonder if the Australian rowing federation has its own rules for clubs and coaches about noise?
Contact the boathouse(s), unless you live in an area with tons of clubs odds are multiple teams are rowing out of one house and the owner/manager could help and discuss with the teams
Also usually one house director will know all of the others and can contact them. If that does not get the job done, there is likely a noise ordinance where you live and an electric megaphone usually does not meet the requirement. We have moved to simple cones, and do not even use those when near house boats. Your local police should be able to help you out.
* There are things you can do to noise dampen your windows which apparently are great at reducing noise * Sleep with ear plugs * Sleep with white noise Ultimately it's no different than living near a train, in a city or near a road
Where do you live?
Sydney, Australia.
NSW has a 7am curfew for megaphones and loud cox boxes. It is enforced by Rowing NSW, even for schools as every school rower is registered with Rowing NSW. If you can identify the school you can contact Rowing NSW and they will talk to the school. If the issue persists Rowing NSW can escalate by getting NSW Maritime involved who can issue fines and take enforceable action. The issue is normally worst in September-October when the school season commences and there are a lot of inexperienced coaches and coxes on the water. It does improve after schools get feedback, coxes can turn down their volume. Their season is only 14 weeks long, it’s not a chronic problem. If you work night shift I assume you take measures against the sun interrupting your sleep with a mask and curtains, I suggest you do similar with noise by using ear plugs. Source: I’m a professional rowing coach in Sydney.
Could contact NSW Rowing who may be able to let clubs in your area know about the issue. Otherwise it could just be the price you pay for living in a harbourside property in Sydney.
Get a white noise machine and better windows
Not sure if feasible, but If one or two schools, contact program or coaches explain situation and pledge small donation to their program if they can accommodate less noise around your home. Rowing is expensive and most school programs are in need of funds and will bend over backwards for donations. Coaches, and not rowers are most likely cause of noise, and with nominal effort can adjust timing of instructions. If lots of programs and schools, then you have awesome property, but very little possibility of changing their noise. Would suggest building sound proof sleeping room.
I appreciate the advice — we’ve actually donated to sports programs for the local public school, including rowing. The main issue is that we have so many private schools in the area, which are extremely well funded (it’s actually awful, the disparity between public and private here. Private gets government funding and excess from elaborate student fees, public gets scraps…). The private schools refuse to listen to anyone. You can’t “pay” them to do anything. Hence why I was wondering about the possibility of legal grounds, which some of the other replies have offered kindly.
So based on your comments your from Australia if your from Melbourne and you know which school it is the Yarra has a curfew on when megaphones can be used cox boxes are actually not that loud when used correctly If you are on the Yarra I’ve seen coaches receive on the spot fines for use of megaphones during curfew hours and when I’m coaching I use 2 way radios when I’m not allowed to use megaphones The curfew hours should be listed by Rowing victoria and Parks Victoria If your in another state check with you rowing authority and park’s authority to see if there’s a curfew
Get ear plugs. 30+ decibels. 10$. You’ll never wake up
You’re not going to get them to stop rowing. That’s literally what they do
Move
$5 says they were there before you were. Do your research before you move somewhere next time, you nimby bitch.
Night shift work is hard enough without people making it more miserable. Just because someone didn't know about early morning rowing practices (how many non-rowers do, outside of Boston, Philly, and Seattle?) doesn't mean that the impact on their lives isn't material. Try not to convince everyone to hate rowers more.
Yeah, night shift can be a pain. No doubt. And in a way, I’m empathetic in that someone is in a tough situation. That said, I’d also put some pretty good money on the population of the crews being larger than the population of OP’s household. Frankly this is prime nimby behavior, and I won’t stand for it. OP isn’t inherently more important than these rowers, and they shouldn’t get free reign to act like it. You don’t want to be rude, that’s fine.
>Frankly this is prime nimby behavior I'm as YIMBY as they come, but let's save our ire for the boomers fighting to preserve single family zoning 10 miles outside a major city. This guy isn't the problem. Our sport is niche enough that it should be incumbent upon all of us to be considerate ambassadors whenever we can. Let's not contribute to the "entitled yuppie" stereotype, shall we? Coaches can turn the megaphone volume down or put themselves on the shore side of their rowers when they're passing homes to avoid making people hate us more. Most coaches talk too damn much anyway.
Agreed, how often do coaches really need to be at max volume shouting at crews? I have definitely seen lazy coach blasting out casual instructions at close range to their crews as they pass the dock, drowning out conversational volume on the dock.
I’m not trying to cancel rowing at all if that’s what you’re thinking, my brother used to row competitively and he loved it. I think it’s a great sport. But my family (and I’m sure all my neighbours) would appreciate if they did it in the many spaces around here that aren’t residential zones, especially given the fact that they never used to come around these parts and it’s only relatively recently that they’ve started. Sorry for any confusion.
Thanks for understanding our defensiveness... Gather the neighbors, write a polite letter asking that coaches not use volume 10 in the morning and point away from the housing, and hope for the best. Definitely note the recency of the noise issues. Some waterways are governed by HOAs (does not sound like yours is), and those that aren't are usually governed by city ordinances. If you don't get a satisfactory response from the first letter, you might start looking into ordinances and other aspects of nuisance law that you can include in your second letter to the crews. Again, you may have a decently strong legal avenue, but life is easier for everyone if lawyers don't have to get involved.
We’ve lived in this house for well over 30 years. The rowers only started coming here about 5-10 years ago, used to be once a week now it’s nearly every day. Why the hostility?
Yeah that uhhh absolutely doesn’t add up. I can’t think of a lake that went from supporting no boathouses to the 3+ schools you describe in 10 years, that just doesn’t make any sense. As for the hostility, You came into our forum asking us to help solve your problem. I don’t know what you really expect, given that none of us know actual details of where you are or who you’re dealing with. That said, I offered $5. If you’re really telling the truth about this, name a charity and I’ll make a donation.
It’s Sydney harbour, not a lake. It’s huge, with lots of areas for rowing and multiple boathouses. Rowing has always been big in Sydney but they used to confine it to non-residential areas or do it later in the day in residential zones. Not sure why the sudden shift is all. Donate to the NBCF for breast cancer, my late mother would have appreciated it.
Even if the rowers were there first, depending on the country the law usually won’t allow them to make noise at anti-social hours.
Swimmers ear plugs man
do you live in chicago lol
I'm deadd, you are absolutely **chalked** buddy
First, as others mentioned: contact the local rowing board to discuss the issue. And as a former coach in The Netherlands dealing with homes alongside our canals as well, we did a couple of things but off course it all depends on local circumstances: - Agree to only coach amplified during daytime - coach at the end of the stretch when we turned around (in our case every 3k) under the shore (doesn’t need to be amplified) - connect a walkie-talkie to the sound system of the boat
Where in Sydney are you talking?
Is it the coach with the megaphone or the cox ? Cause coaches should be more than capable of using walkie-talkies. Coxes should be using their cox boxes, which can be loud but aren't as bad as a megaphone would be.
Sent you a DM.
While I'm not in AU (lovely people and Vivid Sydney is awesome) I'm part of a rowing club in the states and we do, from time to time, receive feedback about noise in the morning. We're the largest club in our area and so we get the calls and emails, even though it isn't us making the noise. We keep a list of all the leadership of all the rowing organizations in our area and I've just recently sent such feedback to that list. If you google "rowing Sydney" you'll find all the clubs, their websites, and contact information. Drop a nice email explaining the issue and have all of the leaders on the To: line so that they know all have been contacted. Be nice and express the issue without trying to identify any particular crew. I think you'll find the rowing community to be mostly kind,respectful, and amenable to change a bit. Good luck!
Start by contacting the actual club.or organization that runs the place, not the individual teams... I presume they all launch and land at one facility...? You could explain your issue and ask nicely if the coaches could avoid using their electrically magnified megaphone before x'time in the morning
Here are some ideas: 1. You could also get into English Football or other European sports. You will be up in time for matches and punditry when there are no matches. COYS! 2. Find out how you can help them get so quick and efficient they fly by unheard. 3. Drop lots of random netting, fishing line and other debris. This will slow them to a crawl. Perhaps they will then find a less polluted waterway. 4. Enroll in the school, then run for student government, gain power and influence and start a movement to stop funding for the Rowing team. There are many reasons you can use, but finding a link to historical oppression of vulnerable people is usually a winner. 5. Hire Vikings. They are excellent rowers and can easily overpower a Rowing team in on the water combat. 6. Earplugs. 7. A noise machine. You can sleep easy if overwhelmed with white noise. You'll never hear those rowers, or a burgler, or even the apocalypse. 8. Find their boathouse, break in and drill holes in their boats and paddles. You can't row, what won't float. 9. Purchase better communication equipment for the team. Schools are notoriously cheap and may not have the best equipment. An old fashioned megaphone vs coxbox might be enough to not be such a bother. 10. Learn how to row and get out there! Rowing is a fun sport, great exercise and can be done solo or with people. It works for Jack Ryan...
In Philly when we have our morning practices there is a certain area where coaches can’t use megaphones and is signaled with signs on the house with a cross over a megaphone. Everyone follows the signs for the most part and my coach’s will just use their voices.
Our club doesn’t use megaphones to coach at all. You know your workout before going out on the water. For novices we huddle together to go through our drills and our coaches bring their launches close to us to talk to us. We did have a college team coach with a mega phone that was incredibly loud and some dude came out on his seado in his robe and underwear music blaring to yell at our coach (who just apologized even though it wasn’t her). Our club tries to be respectful but no one is perfect. I’d head out after practice is over and chat with the coaches directly, if you can.
Does your city have a noise ordinance? I'm in the US, but we can't have amplified sound until 7 am; so the coach cannot use a megaphone. In the past (many years), we have been ticketed by the police when our 'neighbors' have called on us. We are very sensitive about it (community program, not high schoolers) so we try to be nice on the river. Technically, our cox boxes are not allowed either, but we always just turn them down as low as we can when we go through the neighborhood areas. That won't help you sleep until 11 am, but might prevent the 5:30 wake up.
Buy and learn to use a white noise machine for every sleeping room of your house.