This crew took to the water for the first time in its entirety on the day, but we had enjoyed close to a full crew for 3 previous weeks. The weather was good, we had enjoyed a fabulous outing on the Saturday, and we were convinced we were going to win our class. This would involve beating Molesey, Upper Thames and Crabtree and the usual suspects! The Quintin beach was a hive of activity, and it was fun seeing lots of boats taking part in the Head. After a sound warm up, cox Sune took us off at a respectable 34, and down to a stride of 32, our race plan to push at all the milestones – and some of this went to plan. Despite having Great Expectations and a strong engine-room of Ken, Big Dave, Mark and Mark, reality trumped hope; lack of training together took its toll, and we came 10th out of 18 in the Class of Vet E in a time of 21.41. We did beat Putney Town, overtook Kingston, went away from a chasing crew of Smoggies (Teeside RC) and were finally blocked from passing at the finish by Norwich RC. Perhaps the accolade of the day came from Geoff Peel in the Supervets (20 secs faster) who said we would soon be doing pieces and sparring together…..praise indeed. Well done to the crew, good building blocks for the future, and to more fun and greater successes in the summer season.
From L-R Simon Wood, Simon Hunt, Ken Creighton, Sune Keyser, David Allen, Marc Fleury, Mark O’Brien, James Spicer, Laurence Kurzner
