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USRowing
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36th AnnualTextile
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National Head Race Championships
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River Regatta
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SAT. 2015
oct 03
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04 oct 2015 SUN.
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TRAILERS
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AND PARKING
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Home
Trailer Talk: For Drivers and Coaches Pulling Boats
Trailers are a constant source of amusement and anguish at the Textile. While we haven't changed much for 2015,
we are making an attempt here to give better guidance on how to arrive and depart with a trailer
and also offer some common sense guidelines to streamline the process.
With two days of back-to-back regattas, a few basic guidelines apply:
- The Trailer Lot has been renamed "Hotel California", because like the lyrics in the song "you can check out anytime you want,
but you can never leave", at least until Sunday afternoon. Translation: If you arrive in time to park in the main Trailer Lot next
to the boathouse, be aware that we cannot guarantee a way for you to depart until Sunday afternoon after all the racing is done.
If you're coming on Saturday and wish to leave on Saturday or mid-day Sunday, then put your trailer on the boulevard to be
assured that you won't be boxed in. We expect trailers to arrive for the Textile starting Saturday afternoon and we'd like to
start loading the lot by around 4pm.
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The maps found below show a suggested loading pattern for the main Trailer Lot. We continue to think about this, so
be assured that we will be on site to assist.
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NO CABS LEFT WITH TRAILERS. After you unhitch the trailer, all cabs should be moved to the Elks Lot on the "Varnum Loop" where
are allowed to park cabs. On Sunday we'll have a shuttle bus running the Varnum Loop that can bring drivers back to the venue
and return them there at the end of the day. It's also a short walk. What we DON'T want is a boulevard with unusued
capacity because the cabs are taking up valuable space.
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COMMON SENSE: If your trailer is a side loader, that's great. But before you butt up against other trailers on the boulevard,
consider that those trailers may not be side loaders and will need space to get boats on and off their center racks.
Leave adequate space to accommodate your neighbors, and that will also leave you enough space to reattach your cab when
it's time to leave.
Key Trailer Elements of the Venue.
Key Notes
Roughly working from the top of the map to the bottom:
- The SDAFL Launch Site is NOT operational for 2015. It will return in 2016. If your coach gave you instructions to
put your trailer in the SDAFL lot, that won't be a good idea since there are no docks at this location. Rethink the
plan with the coach.
- The Team Tent Area A is closest to the Rourke Bridge. Absolutely DO NOT move cones on the boulevard to squeeze
in "just one more trailer" to be close to your camp site. There is room for approximately 3 trailers on the boulevard
above the trailer lot, and if the fourth trailer extends into the cone area, it will be towed. This is a traffic pinch
point for vehicles coming off the bridge, and it's going to be a major inspection point for the Lowell PD.
- If you "always" use the Trailer Lot when you come to the Textile, consider that this year if you do, you have no
guarantee of being able to leave until late Sunday afternoon. We expect/hope that the Trailer Lot will be available
on Friday night by around 7pm, but we'll have to be chasing out cars. If the lot is unavailable and you definitely
want a spot in there, put your trailer on the boulevard and plan on bringing it into the lot early on Saturday morning.
- Absolutely DO NOT leave your cab with the trailer. Unhitch and take your trailer to the Elks Lodge parking
lot on the Varnum loop (white dots).
- Absolutely DO check-in at the registration desk when you arrive to secure a cab pass for your truck. Leave you
name and contact information with the folks at the registration desk so we can contact you if necessary.
- Note that we will try to load the Trailer Lot in a particular order. See the Trailer Lot Detail Map below
for the order of loading. The current plan is to fit 8 trailers in the Trailer Lot, but we consider spots #5 and #8 to
be optional at our discretion. It will depend on how efficiently we can space your trailers with sufficient room
for rigging.
- Coaches: The theme for the Trailer Lot should be to (a) remove your boats for rigging, and then (b) either launch for your
event or put the boats back on the trailer. In other words, space in the lot will be limited, and boats sitting in slings
for extended amounts of time makes matters worse.
- Absolutely DO NOT park in the Handicapped or Vendor spaces immediately below the boathouse. Zones are marked in RED on the map are considered tow zones by the mercenary towing companies we have on call.
- The general rule is "no trailers on grass". Absolutesly DO NOT don't put trailers on the big grassy field down near the
finish line, known as the "pavilion". Massachusetts DRC controls this space and also has mercenary towing companies on speed dial.
- Absolutely DO NOT park cabs in the handy parking lot near the pavilion. That lot is reserved for HP, and venue and DCR staff.
- For more information on where to put your truck after unhitching your trailer, visit the Parking page.
- Given all the restrictions named above, it might sound like trailers are a big headache. Actually, there's ample room
for all trailers so long as we all act rationally and follow the guidelines and hard rules. If you have a preferred place
to locate your trailer, the best advice we can give you is to show up early and not at the last minute. At some point on
Sunday morning, your best options will be down near the Beach Launch site - and that's a perfectly good place to set up
your team and trailer, but it's not ideal if your team has already located themselves up closer to the boathouse. Work
together with your team to plan out your arrival and departure and things can go very smoothly.
- While we expect our signage to be obvious and ubiquitous, always observe local road laws.
Boathouse Trailer Lot Area
We try to manage the arrangement of trailers in the main Trailer Lot a little more carefully than we do anywhere else. Everyone wants
to be close to the main docks, and that puts this popular location right on top of the dock queues. For 2015, with the NHRC on Saturday
and the Textile on Sunday, this is what we think we know at this point.
Key Notes
- After the turn off the Rourke Bridge heading toward the boathouse, there will be a line of orange cones to shift vehicle traffic to free
up the breakdown lane for trailers. DO NOT rearrange the cones. There is room for 3 forty-foot trailers in the zone. The first
trailer in the zone (#21) should pull up to the entrance of the trailer lot but leave sufficient room for other trailers to
enter the lot. Keep in mind that those trailers may be making a wide turn from the opposite direction which has a left-turn lane into the lot. We
will entertain exactly zero complaints if bows collide when a trailer tries to enter the lot and #21 is in the way.
- The only chance for 4 trailers to occupy this zone is if everyone cooperates, everyone has side loaders, and one or two
of the trailers are of the 32' variety carrying only fours.
Boathouse Trailer Lot
The map and notes below are trying to show that trailers entering the trailer lot should meet a few nominal conditions, and arrival timing has a lot
to do with how successful we are in packing the lot.
Key Notes
- Position #1 is key in setting the tone for the entire lot. Please make sure to have a Textile Certified Lot Technician (Carl) assist
you if you're the first one into the lot. If we get that one correct, then we might be able to fit position #5 while maintaining
useful rigging space between trailers.
- Postion #6 should back into position parallel to the road, backed in far enough to maximize space for other trailers
but without impeding flow into the lot. Position #7 should be a side loader, otherwise position #8 might not be usable.
- On the boulevard adjacent to the Trailer Lot, we think there is room for 3 long haul trailers, but
position #10 may need to be a side loader. We'll make a game day decision based on who shows up.
- Timing: For those of you new to Textile, the Trailer Lot and adjacent boulevard parking in its vicinity usually fill between
4pm and 8pm on Saturday.
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Textile River Regatta Committee
P.O. Box 1493
Lowell, MA 01852-1493
info@textileriverregatta.org
©2024 The Textile River Regatta. All Rights Reserved.
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