Fantasy Rowing

Two years ago, in the summer of 2007, a friend of mine started up a Fantasy Rowing league for a bunch of us who rowed together. We all had been playing Fantasy Football together for two years, and this just seemed the next logical step for us rowers. I happened to win that league that summer.

This summer I've brought it back to my friends I row with currently. Remembering most of the details of the league we had run two summers ago, I drafted out a set of rules for our league to run by. This is how it is working:

Each participant drafts a team with nine roster slots, and must field a lineup of seven slots for each of the big international summer regattas: World Cup 1 in Banyoles, Spain; World Cup 2 in Munich, Germany; World Cup 3 in Lucerne, Switzerland; and the World Championships in Poznan, Poland. Their lineup must consist of three singles, three team boats, and one National Team. Their full roster has two bench spots, and they may use those for one additional country and an additional boat, or two additional boats.

At each regatta the lineup a participant fields earns points depending on how the boats in that lineup fare at the regatta. 1st: 10, 2nd: 8, 3rd: 6, 4th: 4, 5th: 3, 6th: 2, 7th: 1
National Teams on a participant's roster earn 1.5 times those point values: 15, 12, 9, 6, 4.5, 3, 1.5
At the World Championships, all point values are doubled.

The participants could select singles from the following racing classes: M1x, W1x, LM1x, LW1x. They could select team boats from the following racing classes: M2x, W2x, LM2x, LM4-. Any National Team could be selected.

Participants drafted their rosters before the start of World Cup 1. Each participant compiled a list of at least 20 boats/National Teams they wanted. A random draft order was created, and snaking through the draft list, each team's rosters were filled. After each World Cup, a free agent list is generated, and particpants submit add/drop requests that are met in a rotating basis from last to first.

If a country sends a sculler to the regatta as the LM1x, and that sculler is not sent to the next regatta but another sculler races instead in their place as that country's LM1x, the participant with that sculler on their roster does not own the new sculler. For a team boat, if at least one member of a team boat is retained between regattas, the participant retains that crew; otherwise they do not own a fully new crew.