Nottingham and the summer has arrived

Nottingham and the summer has arrived

 Wonderful weather, a new marquee, two full crews again and good paddling with teamwork and support from everybody; a day to remember.

Now that we have lost Cardiff as a venue the trip to Nottingham definitely gets my vote as the most civilized. Picked up at a quarter past seven I was on the side of the River Trent by nine o'clock ready to help with the boat. Although there was a hint of rain in the air and certainly some patchy fog on the M42 the overcast soon burnt off and people were looking for shelter again this week but from the sun not the rain.

A little ironic perhaps as we finally had a full size marquee. Researched by Nicky and organized and marshalled by Helen. I think that the 'circus tent' will be a great asset which should obviate the need for club members to huddle beneath boat covers while lashed by tropical storms. If you do not understand this reference you were not at last year's Nottingham regatta,although Bristol 2007 might give you a clue. In fact it was so hot that it was necessary to open the ends of the marquee just to get a small breeze

This was the day that Worcester Dragons confirmed their position as one of best teams in the country. Completely untroubled by competition from any standard league boats they beat several premier crews. Pushing Thames and Henley hard in the Minor Cup final, Worcester seemed to be in a separate race of their own away on the north bank of the river and might have faired better a little closer to the action. Even losing to premier crews gave us full points in the standard league and 6th position overall. Mind you if they had not scored those sixteen points the club would have been very disappointed; we have come a long way in a short time. Two maybe three of the crews that finished above us are beatable in the not to distant future although an imperious Amathus and resurgent Batchworth maybe a step to far at the moment. But hey! We need goals in life.

Dragonflies did not have such a good day, missing five or six of our stronger paddlers; we were short of power in the middle of the boat, However the technique and discipline in the boat was good and we were always competitive. Winning is great but even more important is the boat. Did it feel like a unit? Was it really together? Anyway you get the idea, because if the answer is yes it is only a matter of time until we start to win.

Spiritz very bravely went out against the G.B. juniors. This was by way of being an exhibition which gave both boats,neither of which had opposition of their own standard, the chance to paddle as a crew. Following this the Ladies raced with a composite crew, looked very strong and finshing a valient third.This all goes to show that we love winning but win or lose we are always ready to paddle.

We are also becoming good at working together as a club. With everybody working so well we had things tidied and packed away and boats on trailer etc. remarkably smoothly. Hopefully this will contiue and with people such as Ray and Rob to help with the driving we can spread the load.