Drones or UAVs have become a hot topic around the water cooler these days.  Ever since Amazon unveiled it’s plan to use an unmanned army to deliver our goods even faster, the debate on domestic drone use has reached new heights.  Amazon isn’t the only company trying to join the UAV party.  DHL and other parcel delivery services are looking into similar shipping methods to Amazon.  (Lets be honest, until we have a teleportation device that delivers goods to us the second we think of them, we will never be satisfied.)  With all of these UAVs roaming the sky dropping off packages, checking accident sites, monitoring our daily lives, one can assume drones will eventually make their way into the rowing world. 

To some degree, drones and rowing have already met.  Over the past few weeks, drone footage of rowing has made it’s way into row2k’s video of the day section.  Despite your opinion of drones, one has to admit that they provide a compelling angle to watch rowing that the common man hasn’t been able to see before (outside of London 2012).  I will have to admit I was on Amazon (of course) and a drone came across my screen… I couldn’t help myself.  Who wouldn’t want to see rowing from the air?  While I waited for the drone to arrive, I began to think about the positives and negatives of my rash decision.

The positives: What if a drone made it’s way into a coaching launch?  The possibilities are endless!  Catch angles would be very easy to see and you could email your coxswain proof that, no, they can’t steer a strait course.  With improved batteries, a coach could even send out their crew on a cold morning and watch practice from the warmth of their office (sarcasm rowing community, don’t freak out about safety!).  From a reporter’s perspective, I can provide row2k readers with a dynamic angle to the action that they haven’t been able to see before.

The negatives:  Could this be a distraction for a crew?  These devices do generate a decent amount of noise.  Every coach has said “keep your eyes in the boat” at least one time in their career.  Might this bright and shiny object be too much for even the most focused of rower to concentrate?  Operator error is also a major concern as.  I don’t believe there are rules in place in the referee handbook for drones.  What would a regatta do if a drone smashed into a shell during a race?  That would be one way to knock out the competition.

There are positive and negative merits for and against drone use in rowing.  Can I definitively tell you the use of drones is a good or a bad thing?  Not really.  For now I believe the rule of thumb may be moderation.  Most of us wouldn’t mind one or two Amazon drones flying by our house a day.  Would we mind if the 200 packages mailed out per second on Cyber Monday came buzzing by our house like an angry swarm of bees? Yes!  The same may be the case for regattas.  If there were one official drone for the regatta, I believe most wouldn’t object.  If every team and every parent brought their own drone however, we might have a problem.  I propose this question to the rowing community because I don’t have an answer.  Would you take issue with drones at practice or regattas?  Is judgment day upon us?!?!