The Club's Results

I was lucky to be given the station I was more used to steering the start from, and to have such an experienced bank party. Having lost the Maiden Sculls earlier in the day by not rating high enough, I spacked around trying to find something high but sustainable until about First Post, when the corners I loathe so much came into play.  

Fordy did an obviously wonderful job of steering me, after weeks of tireless bank-partying and developing our own special brand of calls, but I lacked the light touch required for effective singles racing on the Cam. I watched my zig zagging wake in slight despair as Lucas gained ground on me almost every stroke, but resolved to make the distance up on the straights.  

Plough Reach was decent, but I was wary of steering too early for Ditton, as I had done on so many occasions before. A combination of fear of crashing and an ill timed crab caused my bows to swing out on Ditton, just as Lucas was attempting to come by me. While I tried to get back on course and get out of the way, she slightly overcorrected and ended up in the reeds. Watching this, I figured either way this race was pretty much over. She did a fantastic job of extracting her boat and passed me around the posts on the Reach.  

I don't think I've ever been so demoralized in a race as when my opposition crossed her finish line and could sit in the middle of the reach celebrating while I had to row on another 100m. Next time I'm hoping for top station.

The reach never seems quite big enough, and I wasted a fair bit of time and energy between shaky strokes rowing much too far in one direction or another, ending up on the wrong station. Luckily my opposition was far enough ahead at this point that it didn't make much difference whose water was whose.  

A late crab by Littlewood gave me some hope that I might be able to come back late in the race, but I only managed to shorten, rather than overcome the gap. As Fordy put it "You were taking more effective strokes, but she was taking a lot more of them." I guess I have my answer now to the age-old rate vs power debate.

I had a significant weight advantage over my opposition in the headwind, and once I was a few lengths up adopted a very conservative race plan of trying to get my catches in, not crab and not capsize. Fordy attempted to call a wind for the finish, but this was met with disapproval.