The Albano lane system is a method of marking kayak,

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

and

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

racecourses using lines of buoys. It was first used internationally in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

held on

Lake Albano Lake Albano (Italian: ''Lago Albano'' or ''Lago di Castel Gandolfo'') is a small volcanic crater lake in the Alban Hills of Lazio, at the foot of Monte Cavo, southeast of Rome. Castel Gandolfo, overlooking the lake, is the site of the Papal Pal ...

, Italy. It has since become an international standard for most

FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and the collection of "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign pow ...

events and is used in Olympic rowing events.

Technical description

The marked course is typically straight, and 2000 meters in length. The buoy system usually consists of six adjacent 13.5 meter-wide lanes, outlined by 7 lines of small, spherical buoys placed 10 or 15 meters apart. The buoys are red for the first and last 100 meters, the rest being white. The six lanes are used for racing, and there may also be a separate lane for boats moving from the end of the course to the start line (the up channel). Some courses have as many as eight racing lanes. Distances along the course are often marked at intervals, usually every 250 metres, with prominent numbered signs on the shoreline. The lane buoys remain in place in most water and weather conditions due to longitudinal wires that are suspended from the buoys at a depth of about 1.5 metres. Depending on local conditions, cross-links between the longitudinal wires are attached every 500 metres along the course.Rowing Olympic Handbook of Sports Medicine Ed. by S. Volianitis and N.H. Seche. Wiley-Blackwell. 2007. . Chapter 1: History. The system is anchored at intervals and tensioned with weights both in the water and on the shore. This allows the entire system to ride up and down with varying water levels. In some locations, the entire Albano system can be removed from the racecourse in as little as four hours.

References

{{Rowing (sport) Rowing equipment Canoeing and kayaking equipment 1960 in rowing