Here in the Midwest, like everywhere else, we rent Dragonboat people from a company in Canada. Dragonboating is big there. Midwesterners assume the Canadians are good Dragonboaters. 

Don't think for a minute the best of their best choose a university event in Oshkosh Wisconsin over a city-wide festival in Miami or Los Angeles.  Don't think for a minute the Canadian company is going to send rookies to major money making events either. Rookies will be trained at minor events, marginal events, like Oshkosh. 

So, when some Canadian circus performer steers 20 feet outside his 8 foot lane crossing mine,  trying to cut my boat in half and see if my team can swim, it's no surprise to me. The rules are very clear, but evidently not taught before letting those of red nose behind the wheel in Canada. Just to show how clear they are, here they are.

R7.1 Correct Course and Clear Water.

The correct course for each boat is a straight ‘line’ down the course or down the middle of its marked Racing Lane, from the Start Line to the Finish Line.

Crews are responsible for their steering and leave their Racing Lane, or deviate from their ‘line’ at their own risk.

Even when crews are in their Racing Lanes or following a racing ’line’, at least two (2) metres of clear water must be maintained around each boat. For the purpose of this Rule, the boat includes the crews paddles and therefore the ‘clear water’ is between paddle blade and adjacent paddle blade.