LTRC NEWSLETTER

July 2017

Apologies for the Newsletter being a little late but I wanted to fit in last weekend’s Island Races

Now, after the Celtic Challenge across the Irish Sea now there is now The Scottish Challenge!

Ron has also released the Adventure Row Calendar for the coming Summer/Autumn.

We have a SPECIAL SOCIAL QUIZ NIGHT on the 28th June.

Plus, there is a special birthday celebration planned for July.

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The Scottish Rowing Challenge Graham Biner is taking part in the Rannock Adventure GB Challenge

in aid of Kidney Cancer UK.

Please donate to his just giving page if you haven’t already;-

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Graham-Biner

‘In 2008, during the same week that my late wife, Liz, was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was diagnosed

with kidney cancer. Thankfully my treatment was successful and I’m free to raise our son, Wilfie, and to live

life to the full. I have always vowed I would undertake some kind of challenge to raise awareness and funds

to support other kidney cancer sufferers. But until recently, I was not sure what that challenge would be!

In September 2011 I ran the 131 miles or the Scottish north

coast over 5 days in memory of my wife Liz.

On Sunday 9th July until Friday 14th July I will be embarking

on rowing the 160 nautical miles (184 land miles) of the

Scottish North Coast. This time in aid of Kidney Cancer UK.

I will be boarding ‘Lionheart’, a newly built ocean rowing

boat together with four other crew members, ready to row

the Scottish leg of the Rannoch Adventure GB Challenge

from Lochinver to Fraserburgh. We will be rowing a two

hour shift pattern, row for two hours, then do boat chores

and/or sleep for two hours.

It’s a stretch of water notorious for its challenging seas, and

that, combined with the little space, minimal sleep and

limited amounts of freeze dried food for 6 days will certainly

challenge (If not break) me!!’

‘If any of you would like to track the

progress of the ‘adventure’, just follow

this link;-

https://my.yb.tl/rannochadventure

The tracker will transmit every four hours.

I am covering all my expenses incurred in

participating in this challenge so all money

raised will be going directly to aid

Kidney Cancer UK, so please help my

determination by digging deep so I know

good thing will come from my participation!

Thank you.’ Graham Biner

Golfe Du Morbihan Maritime Festival

Saturday 20th May saw 14 crew set of for France, the Friday saw Tyson loaded with Dunkirk and Dauntless,

with associated oars, rudders and safety bags. The journey to the Gites was uneventful albeit long, the

minibus loaded and Tyson’s weight making slow progress on the many long hills as you cross from Dieppe

to the lower part of Normandy. The gites were excellent and we appropriately renamed Gabrielle and

Stuart Budds to Hansel and Grettel given their accommodation.

The crew being tired after the long journey soon met up for light refreshment then a glass or two!

Sunday dawned with great weather, so we set off to Larmor-Baden to launch the boats, this was a simple

operation and soon were afloat in new waters. Having checked conditions and Ron gave a safety speech

we set off, rowing in the sun and calm waters of the Golfe. Our end point was to be Port Blanc.

It is at this point I have to explain that the Golfe Du Morbihan is a lagoon as such fed by the Atlantic, the tide

surges in and out through a small channel and the various islands create some great water conditions with

rip tides, eddy’s and chop. More about this later.

The row to Port Blanc was simple and took almost no time at all, we moored as previously arranged and

awaited our taxi to the pontoon. Then we found the bar and relaxed with refreshment!

Monday was the opening parade and we basically rowed around a bit and watched the many boats that

were assembling. Celtic’s from Wales, 3 of them, St Isles skiffs from Scotland and Norfolk (Blackney Rowing

club). More boats from Bristol and everything else up to Galleons!! Dinner was created back at the Gites,

simple but good and filled all.

Tuesday was the first part of the festival proper, with “the day of Isle of Arz” This is where you row from

Port Blanc to Ile d’Arz. Then there is food and cidre, local folk music, which is like bagpipes! Shantys and

more, then the entire flotilla returns to Port Blanc. A great day in itself one which was very enjoyable.

Tuesdays dinner was at a restaurant this was truly a great meal and the wine even better!

Wednesday, was a long row day, setting off from Port Blanc via Montsarrac and finishing at Vannes.

Unfortunately, as we had no real charts, maps we ending up rowing about 5-6 miles out of our way and

almost to the Atlantic! A lesson learned for the next visit in two years’ time. We eventually found the right

direction and Dauntless caught up with the flotilla at Montsarrac, more cidre! Then we all made the long

row to Vannes, right into the heart of the city a great days row.

Wednesday evening saw us arrive enmasse at the Nunnery in Vannes for a prebooked meal, this started with

yet more Oysters and red wine, lots and lots of both.

The meal was wholesome and much shanty singing in French, English and Dutch was had. Could be the Cidre

that helped all understand the other languages!!

Thursday saw us leave Vannes and regroup at Ile De Boedic, then row down to Port Navalo, this is the first

time we hit, what we nicknamed the washing machine!! The washing machine is the main flow of water

into/out of the Golfe, the current is strong, to say the least, there were many safety boats to ensure our safe

passage but words cannot really describe what it is like.

Dauntless had its strongest rowers in place with Norman as cox. Norman was cool calm and collected with

his role and navigated the “machine” very well, although when we were spun 360 degrees in seconds his

eyes did widen! The crew relished the conditions, all were exhilarated by the time we made safe harbour for

our stop over. The Golfe is renowned for Oysters and our stopover had them by the trayful.

Along with the now customary Cidre!!

After our stop over, back to the Washing machine and a quick return to Larmor Baden. Quick as we were

with the tide at some 12 plus knots!! Larmor Baden had a great band playing and again the Cidre was

welcome.

Friday, Larmor Baden, back to Port Navalo, then onto Le Logeo. This trip saw us enter the “washing

machine” again, as much fun as the last time and soon we were in the Atlantic heading for the designated

beach, to await the tide change and the simple row to Le Logeo.

Saturday, the final day of the festival. The row started at le Logeo and finished at Port Anna, a huge flotilla

congregated at Port Navalo and we all rowed up via Port Blanc, again with a swift tide, so we had to be

aware of all the boats about us. On the coastline were thousands of people all cheering and waving at every

craft, especially the rowers, as we all worked hard to complete the tour.

The final evening saw us back at the Nunnery, but we were almost alone, but as many were tired and the

next day would be the long journey back it suited us all.

To try and sum this trip up is hard, the washing machine was of course the highlight, but the comradery from

all crew, other boats was amazing. The Golfe is beautiful and the tour saw much of it. I only hope that in

two years time, when it is held again we can take part.

Adventure Row Summer/Autumn 2017

Ron has released the new Adventure Row programme for Summer/Autumn 2017

You will be able to find a flyer in the small container at Two Tree, the LTRC advertising board

in Old Leigh (On the quayside path in between the Crooked Billet and The Peterboat), and a digital version on

www.lowerthamesrowingclub.co.uk.

A Close Race To Rowhedge

On the 10th June, Lower Thames Rowing Club put a crew together to take part in the Rowhedge Regatta. In Dauntless were myself (John Riddle), Jyoti Chandola, Wes Burton, Matt Cutting and Paul Roberts. Ron and Jackie kindly towed Dauntless down to Brightlingsea. The race was from Bateman’s Tower in Brightlingsea, up the River Colne to The Albion Pub to Rowhedge. It was a handicap race and all the other teams seemed to be mixed. For us to qualify as mixed crew we required two female rowers. But as Jyoti was our only lady rower we were classed as a ‘mens’ team, so we were working against a handicap. At the briefing we were also informed that Channel 4 had been out with the Rowhedge Team during the week as they were filming a special about Rowhedge Village concluding with the village’s regatta. Here I noticed the other 6 boats were fielding strong experienced rowers and knew each club wanted to put in their best possible showing for the cameras. As three of Lower Thames were in their first race season (For Paul it was his first ever race), I kept this to myself so as not to dampen confidence. We wanted everyone to get a good row. So the plan was to get the new racers (Wes, Paul and Matt) to row consistently through the entire course so they had an idea of what a full race was like without a change.

I coxed for the first half and swapped with Jyoti in stroke for the second half of the race, so Jyoti and I could really put in a big, powerful twenty minutes each. Despite the wind being up and having to keep rowing back to avoid jumping the start, we got away clean with the lead pack of Tyrant, Aqualine, Velocity and Vanduara. For the first 15 minutes we all had to deal with a strong cross wind with a very tight field of boats all trying to get in on the inside line of the buoys. For the last five minutes before half way through the wind changed and was funnelled down the river behind us, edging the lead 4 onward, and Defiance slowly past us! At half way Jyoti and I changed positions and she did a brilliant job of getting us back in front of Defiance by beating them into the inside of the next buoy and picking the best line in the channel to make use of the incoming tide. Just goes to show what good coxing can achieve! After breaking Defiance, we raced through the Wivenhoe Barrier from where the tail wind played less of a part in proceedings. Here we chased down Brightlingsea’s Velocity, passing them before earshot of Rowhedge.

We pounded out the last 50 strokes to keep Velocity behind us and to desperately try and catch Vanduara, but the line beat us.

It was a fantastic race with a very tight competitive field. All of Dauntless’ crew could not have put in any more effort, and they should be very proud of themselves. Even though everyone was running on empty by the final stretch, timing was good and no one was pulled up for shortening their stroke length. It looks like Race Training is paying dividends. After watching the Smacks race past, sampling the food stalls, and a couple of well-deserved pints, we made our way back. It was a fantastic village festival and I wish we could have stayed longer but the tide was on its way out. We were offered a tow but being gluttons for punishment as all LTRC seem to be, we rowed all the way back, waving off a couple of motor launches who kindly offered us assistance.

Once back passed the barrier at Wivenhoe, we got a full on taste of the strong head wind and took on quite a bit of water due to the heavy chop. It took a good 40 minutes for the motor launch towing Velocity back to Brightlingsea to catch up, due to the rough conditions at this stretch of the Colne. By the time Wes came to cox we were in the more exposed part of the river and the headwind now became a crosswind as before, pushing us toward the bank. Wes got a crash course in crabbing the boat round, keeping our bow into the wind and letting the outgoing tidal current carry us through the main channel. Even though we came in 4th on the water, the handicap pushed us down a position by .03 of a second. I’m not really concerned about the handicap as we had three new racers against their more experienced mixed crews. All of Dauntless showed great resilience especially to dig deep and fight back the place after Defiance passed us. And well done to Paul who rowed the whole race and all the way back to Brightlingsea. (We got back to Brightlingsea just before his turn to get a rest as cox). The Lower Thames RC’s reputation for hard rowing is very much intact. Especially, with Dauntless being the only crew to row back against that headwind and chop, this was noted by all the other crews who arrived back to Brightlingsea under tow.

For Wes, Matt and Paul rowing all the way in such a tight race will be invaluable to their race experience and will push them on to greater things in the future. A big thank you goes to Ron and Jackie for getting Dauntless there. It was great to see them at the finish line in Rowhedge to celebrate a fine effort.

And congratulations to Rowhedge Village and Rowing Club for putting on such a great event.

Avast!!! The LTRC Orange Navy went Dutch to play the bad guys at

The Liberation of Queenborough

On a cold, frosty and foggy morning in January you can only dream about the weather that we had on

Saturday 17th June.

On arrival at Queenborough there was a barrier across the High Street which we had to penetrate in order to

launch our two gigs. Weaving through the side stalls it was obviously the foundation of what proved to be a

very busy day. Having achieved the launching by 9.30am we had to row down to the Queenborough spit

buoy that divides the Medway from the Swale. There we joined the flotilla which was assembling.

There was the Queenborough ocean going life boat, the large Reliance fishing boat, extra pilot boats, many

yachts and rowing boats from Queenborough rowing club and ourselves.

Aboard the large pilot boat was a mistletoe bunch of English pirates (grenadiers?) with rifles and canons.

Soon after getting underway there was clear light between the thorpes and our back sides when a volley of

canon fire went off without warning. This continued as we rowed in the flotilla. As you can see from the

photo, we were apprehended on arrival! After that, apart from many other attractions and speeches, the

micro pub with beer and hog roast was all we could have wished for!

Race Training

From 22nd June onward Race Training will be Crew based rather than Open Training. If you can get your individual race crews together for further training. If you want to ensure resource please email me at jmrriddle@gmail.com and I will add your row to the web calendar. For those who attend Open Race training but do not actually race keep an eye out for emails. Some crews may need people to fill in, and we will also endeavour to add midweek Social Rows in the evening but that will be dependent on getting Duty Officers to host.

A Weekend of Island Races The weekend of the 24th and 25th June was a busy couple of days with 2 races around 2 different islands.

On Saturday we had The Round Osea Island Race:

We loaded 5 boats and headed north to Stone Rowing Club at on The Blackwater. The crews were as follows: Victory;- Stewart Taylor, Graham Biner, Tony Peck, and Simon Roberts.

With William Peck as Cox, and Wilfie Biner as Passenger.

Dauntless;- Michelle Edwards, Laura Dunmow, Pat Woodbury, and Vanessa Bradford with Michelle Holmes as Cox.

Proud Mary;- Jyoti Chandola, Jo Murray, Dawn Henning, with Mel Johnson and Sally Jackson-Robins alternating between Cox and Stroke.

Leigh Ho;- Mike Quinlan, Matt Cutting, with Myself (John Riddle) and Gary Fisher alternating between Cox and Stroke.

Vagrant;- Gerald Turner

There were a lot of varying types of boats entered in this race so the short run from the start to the first turn was a pretty crowded affair for all apart from the Lead boat Victory. Dauntless also got round without incident.

Unfortunately just as Proud Mary’s crew made the turn they took a ‘nudge’ on the stern from Stone RC’s Harker FLY. But this allowed Leigh Ho through the gap made on the inside of the turn to cut in front of the Blakeney’s gig and make the turn clean. However, it pushed Proud Mary behind this group. They recovered valiantly to get back in the chase. Even with their rudder now hanging by only the top pin!

From here Victory galvanised their lead pulling out from Southend Coastal RC’s ‘Rosinante’ with the rest of the field pushing on behind despite the rough water for this part of the race. Once round the island and heading back to Stone the going was easier with the wind behind us. The winning crew were Victory with a raw time of 1.07.15

Dauntless were 3rd overall and the 1st ladies with a time of 1.15.38

Proud Mary were 6th in a time of 1.22.52. (I’m sure they would have been faster without the incident at the first turn)

Leigh Ho were 8th overall and 2nd in the Skiff category in a time of 1.26.05

And Gerald in Vagrant was 12th overall and 2nd in the Single Sliding Sculls

Tony Peck will get the handicap times in his race report on the website Lower Thames took silverware yet again but there are some members lower down the field that deserve a mention:

It was Mike Quinlan’s first ever race and rowed the whole distance in fine form. Matt Cutting, who hadn’t sculled before in a race, and pulled out the stops to give a sterling

performance in Leigh Ho rowing all the way. He was absolutely shattered afterward Sally Jackson Robbins who coxing at the first turn got her crew round safe dispite a harker

colliding with Proud Mary

Dawn Henning who bravely took a live fish to the face as it jumped into their boat (Maybe that’s Karma for ordering all the fish suppers for the quiz night)

Gerald Turner who pushed on alone for the most part of the race.

And thanks to Linda Nawrat and Dodi who came down to give their support. They took lots of pictures and looked like they were having a wail of time on the rib. And a special pat on the back goes to one of our cadets William Peck for coxing Victory in for the overall win. ‘Well done everyone who came to Osea today, great to see so many supporting the club and having fun. Thanks to everyone helping with the loading and unloading of the boats. Many thanks to David Boosey and all the members of Stone for putting on such a great event.’ Stewart Taylor LTRC Chairman

On Sunday we had The Round Hayling Island Race: Apologies for the lack of pictures as we were busy rowing hard to an improvised course. Thank you to David Large for getting us down there and Langston Cutters for organising an event so professionally in very difficult circumstances. ‘A great day yesterday down at Hayling Island. The conditions were tough with a strong heading on the anticlock start of the race. We were warned that the seaward side of the island were slight to moderate!! The outward row was tough with the wind increasing, so they took the tough decision to abort, turning at their Mulberry harbour.

Picture taken of the sea state that day by the safety boat Returning was just as tough as the tide was turning. We returned in a good time under two hours, but were beaten by Cornish 6 oar gigs. At the end after handicaps we finished 5th. A great day out with a even better crew of Mark Chinery, Sid Viner, John Riddle. Coxing us was our awesome Cox Jo Murray. Well done to all concerned.’ David Large

MAINTENANCE DAY

The last Maintenance Day was a great success. Dave Large reckoned we got ¾ of the existing work list done.

There is still a lot to do and the next one is planned for Sunday 3rd September before The Great River Race.

Both containers are now spotless and all equipment now has a proper storage space. If you take any

equipment out remember where you got it from. If you are unsure where something goes, just ask your Duty

Officer as they are responsible for not only their crews’ well-being, but any equipment used.

As always, if you find an issue with our boats or equipment please let the Duty Officer in charge of your

rowing session know.

He/she will report it on the LTRC Website under the ‘Rowing Calendar’ dropdown, on the first option

‘Maintenance request’, and fill in the form.

Once reported the LTRC Boson Team will action and update the status as required.

Please report any issue as soon as you can so it can be circulated and highlighted to the

Boson Team and all Duty Officers before the next rowing sessions.

Just to note that I went to deliver the new adventure row calendar to the containers at 2 Tree one

Thursday afternoon and found Ron, Ken, Dave, Gerald and Pierre working hard getting the boats finished.

If it wasn’t for them (and the others I didn’t see) who put in this fine additional effort we wouldn’t have

had Proud Mary for Osea

A MASSIVE LTRC thank you boys

LTRC Community Youth Invitationals On the 6th June, Simon Roberts hosted an Invitational Row for the local Scouts Group

‘A big thank you to all those that helped with the Scouts today either out on the water or on the base: Stewart, Sid, Laura, Vanessa, Dawn, Mark C, Jo, Alan, John, Jyoti, Gordon. If I have left a name out, I apologise. I appreciated everybody's help. You were all brilliant. The Scouts all enjoyed themselves.’ Simon Roberts

Also, on Sunday 11th & 18th June, Tony Peck hosted an Invitational Rows for the Under 13 Westcliff RFC

11th

June

‘Big thanks to Simon, Laura, Vanessa, Dawn, Mark C, Jo & Dodie for helping take the Westcliff RFC U 13s out rowing. Watching them racing the four gigs side by side across the ray was fantastic.’ 18

th June

‘Thanks to Simon Roberts and John Riddle for helping take the Westcliff RFC U13s rowing again. In a four years time we could have the best men's gig rowing crew in the country.’ Tony Peck

Keep an eye out for Tony and Simon’s emails for future events as they need LTRC members to volunteer to help.

As well as being altruistic having these youth outings aids the club when we apply for funding.

And like any petulant teenager wants a party with their friends!!!

Therefore we will be holding a BBQ on East Beach on Sunday 30th July Tickets will be £5 and for that you will be fed and watered.

Jyoti’s last Summer BBQ was very successful.

Hopefully the weather will hold out like it did last year.

Save the date in your diarys and we will email further details soon.

Any money raised will go to the LTRC Maintenance Fund

And Remember…

For June’s Social we have the

If you haven’t got a ticket please check availability with Dawn Henning.

July’s Social Night on 27th July, is back at the Old Smack front bar from 7.30pm.

EVENTS FOR JULY Along as the regular rowing sessions for June, here are some upcoming events for your attention,

(Look on the Website Calendar for further Details)

8th July – Round Canvey

Contact Tony Peck for inclusion

13th July – Committee Meeting

8pm at the Leigh Constitutional Club (Watch out for the Club Minutes)

15th July – Midsummer Sports Day (Static Boat)

Watch for the email from Dave Large regarding this event as it is a very rewarding day.

15th/16th July – Row to Burnham from Leigh

Simon Robert’s is hosting this endurance adventure row as a thank you for those who helped with the Scout Rows.

If there are additional places he will put in a crew call via email.

22nd July – Scouts Row.

Another Invitational organised by Simon. Watch out for the crew call for volunteers.

23rd July – Crouch Cup.

Organised by SWFRC. Look out for Tony’s crew call.

29th July – Learn to Row

Another introductory row, run by Alan Lissamore for potential new members.

If you are available to assist please let him know.

30th July – 15th Birthday BBQ

Save this date in your diarys. More info will follow

To conclude; it has been a fantastic month of events with a beautifully varied calendar.

I think the following picture of both our Ladies crews going toe to toe at Osea

sums up the friendly competitive spirit of our club.

Long May it continue!

If there are any contributions for the next newsletter please

email me at jmrriddle@gmail.com with the title ‘Newsletter’ before 20th July.

Issue 4 LTRC0717