Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

This year's World Championships saw a 104 gigs out on the island for what I'm sure was the biggest Championships yet.

ΜύOn Saturday morning the crew managed a quick session in order to make any last minute adjustments before racing began later that day. None these were major and most were just putting some extra tape onto our leathers.

Despite some confusion about cancellation due to the brief patch of fog that the islands experienced the Mens racing eventually got under way.

We positioned ourselves at the Westerly end of the start line as we felt that this would best allow for wind and tidal conditions.

The whole crew felt that this was an excellent stroke and in my opinion the best Alex has ever rowed for us. Apart from the second gears/power tens we were able to maintain it throughout the weekend. We used this stroke to row through what Judith (our cox) estimated to be about 30 crews.

By the time we were half way down St Mary's we had settled into a small group with Taran, Falcon and Old Harry. The use of three second gears towards the end of this race saw us able to pull clear of these three and hold our position (46th) until the end of the race.

The race had not gone without blips as Liam (second stroke) had caught three crabs. These crabs did not seem to matter much as when we got back to the shore we discovered that Josh (number three) had suffered a back injury that would keep him out for the rest of the weekend. This meant that the crew had to be reshuffled.

Brett Jose, a Cadgwith rower who had rowed in Royal for the Agnes race wasΜύ called up into our crew and was replaced by Steven Legge, again Cadgwith, in the Royal. As Brett was a stroke side rower I moved from number two into the bow seat, with Mark, our usual bowman, moving to number three. This was how the crew would stay for the rest of the weekend.

The position gained in the Agnes race saw us sitting in berth two in Group D for the first of the Nut Rock races. Despite a good start to the race we fell into the middle of the pack.

Using the stroke that had worked so well in the first race we managed to row through into fourth place behind Taran, Gallant and Mary Newman. A well called second gear / power ten from Jeb (chief trainer and number four) saw us move up on Taran and then row through them with the regular stroke.

Three quarters of the way down we did the same to Gallant and then it was just us and Mary Newman to fight for first place.

Sunday saw the wind and swell pick up, but not to the level that had been forecast. If anything these conditions would favour us in the Buller and so the crew was confident of two more good performances. Our plan for the first race was to, at the very least, secure our place in Group C.

The placing saw us drawn in Berth one in Group C. Given the changed conditions this seemed to be one of the best Berths available.

Our best start of the weekend saw us leap into the headboat position for the first 100 strokes. Despite the use of our power stroke we were overtaken by Merthen and Sir Tristan.

The crew made the most of the conditions but was overtaken by Isis (apologise if it wasn’t) about halfway down. We managed to hold off strong challenges from Idas and Fly to maintain our place of fifth until the end of the race. This was only held by calling up an extra (forth) seconds gear / power ten right at the end of the race in order to hold off Newquay. The crew had successfully secured its place in Group C.

We finished higher in the race than we had expected and our fifth place had given us 28th overall which would be our highest position of the weekend. Our new aim was to either win Group C or if not secure a top 30 finish. We would not however have the showdown with our A crew that we so wanted. They managed to finish third from bottom of Group B in order to stay up and secure their place there.

As conditions continued to worsen throughout the day Liam, Brett and Mark went in search of weights to hold the bow down, but instead managed to find 28 bottles of beer and ale!

With these stored away in the bow we set off for what could well have been our last row to the Nut Rock start line altogether in a Cadgwith boat. After warming up, practising a few starts and strapping our feet in, which we felt had been of great benefit throughout the weekend, we were ready to go and it was not long before we were called up to the start line.

Yet again our start saw us take an early lead but in repeat of the previous race we were overtaken by Sir Tristan. The stroke was the same as it had been all weekend and was still working well, managing to keep the race for what was now a close second behind Weymouth very much alive.

For this race we used the second gear / power tens to keep in touch with the other crews competing for second place (Jubilee, Fly and Melusine). The plan was to then row through them using the regular stroke and sprint for the line using the second gear / power ten.

A forth second gear was however called early and despite taking us up past the other crews we were not able to get past Sir Tristan. Jubilee went up to gain second place and we were left to fight for third with Fly and Melusine. The deceptive finish line favoured the other two crews and we finished fifth in Group C and 29th overall. The results of Group B saw us finish only 6 places behind our A crew who finished 23rd overall.

The crew was really pleased with this result and felt that being the fourth highest Men’s B crew (if my maths is correct) really did our efforts leading up to the Championships justice. All agreed that the second race had been our best race of the weekend. It stands us in good stead for what we hope will be a successful season.

Hi to the guys from the Faeroe Islands who we shared a few drinks with in the Scillonian and the guy from Bristol who I got talking to in the Mermaid.

As a crew we felt that this year’s event ran a lot smoother than previous Championships, simply because there was a lot less waiting on the start line. We would like to congratulate all those involved in making it such a brilliant weekend. The crew feel it cannot be missed next year.