Quintin Boat Club was represented at the Twickenham Regatta joining over 20 other clubs with a full day of racing. The 850 metre 2 lane course was a gently curving stretch of the river above Richmond Rock near Eel Pie Island. We were accompanied by our neighbours from Mortlake, Anglia and Alpha who kindly transported our boats. This made quite a social gathering on the bank around their trailer watching races, providing vocal encouragement with the backdrop of Richmond Hill. Sadly the weather was bleak with intermittent rain. Sadly several crews from other clubs further upstream who were rowing to the event fell foul of a lock malfunction at Twickenham – with one womens 4x being completely swamped which was quite distressing for the crew.
Quintin fielded crews in MasCD 4x (2 crews), WMas C 4x and Mixed Mas CDE 2x. With the draw the 2 MasCD 4x were drawn to race Fairlop – with the potential of an all Quintin semifinal. The Quintin crew comprising (Duncan Reid-Thomas (stroke), Roman Kolcun (3), Andy Reynolds (2) and Jose Gonzalez Cotera (bow/steer) were quickly on the water up against a Fairlop crew in the second race of the day. Ultimately Fairlop came out ahead with a margin of 4 lengths.
Next up were the Quintin crew – Sophie Robinson (stroke), Ainslie Rimmer (3), Roberta Gargiulo (2) and Liz Bushby (bow/steer) in the Womens Mas C 4x. They were up against a crew from across the river – Quintins opponents in the Hilda Mitchell Cup. Ultimately Putney prevailed and came through ahead by 5 lengths .
In Race 10 another MasCD 4X with Quintin represented by Gideon Fackrell (stroke), Yan Tordoff (3), Can Yildirim (2) and David Nicol (bow/steer) were up against Walbrook RC. This race was one of many elements. The Walbrook crew were one of the 2 involved in the lock incident. Before boating it was noted that the steering wire was frayed at the junction of the footplate – with essentially only 2 fine wire threads intact. Repair would have required new cable and thus not feasible. After discussion it was felt that withdrawal was not an honorable option – and that chancing our luck that the tenuous state of the cable would hold. The crew thus went to the water and paddled towards Richmond with a few start practices which went smoothly. On moving to the start the Walbrook absence was noted with the officials electing to wait for them as an issue out of their control with the news of the lock disaster emerging only at that stage. Consequently the crew went for further paddles and waiting for the opposition. At this stage Quintin felt they would be at some ‘advantage’ as the near sinking would have impacted on our oppositions confidence. This however was shattered as they moved to full slide at the start when it became clear that the steering had broken with the rudder locked at an angle. To avoid hitting their opponents an emergency stop was called to allow them clearance. Determinedly with hand steering the crew battled on to finish 5 lengths behind Walbrook.
In the final Quintin event Ken Creighton and Kirsty Russell-Duff were up against old rivals of theirs from Twickenham RC in the Mx Mas CDE 2x. This was their 3rd consecutive encounter at this regatta. Quintin as a Masters D crew were handicapped as their opposition were Masters E. This was 7 seconds – which in the context of an 850 metre course and the fact they were in the longer lane near the Middlesex bank, as well as now rowing against the stream a very tall order. The Quitin boat went well and fast but unfortunately the handicap was too much to close. This will be a confidence boost for their next outing against this crew with hopefully a result reversal next time.
The outing concluded with refuelling with ‘home-made’ fruit pies provided by Roberta which were much appreciated after a rather cold morning. The regatta provided a great experience for the crews – with many very early in their race experience. All the rowers had a great day and valued the experience
An important lesson from this regatta was the need for crews to critically assess all elements(rigging, steering and seats) of their boats before transport to racing events and as a drill undertaken before all outings. Lesson learnt the hard way by one of the steers!!! Nevertheless mistakes create experiences – which are hopefully not repeated.
Words by David Nicol
