Saturday
Distance: 1000m
Luckily the draw meant I had a late start on Saturday. I say luckily because it had rained non stop all morning, turning the event into a wet and muddy quagmire.
I met up with Sandy and Steve, who’d made it through their sculling heats, and contemplated the weather situation. We had planned to camp overnight but this was quickly ruled out.
After waiting for our opposition to turn up and rig we boated for a straight final in the novice double. Steve had rowed the course earlier and with that knowledge opted to leave the rudder on to help with the bends.
The start was free, meaning a guy at the side of the bank call go when he thinks you’re in line. These type of starts are always tricky as you tend to drift; I also find it hard to relax. The start wasn’t amazing but it pulled us ahead and by 10 strokes we were clear. After that we heard umpires shouting at the opposition, who were heading straight for a row of boats. They didn’t stop and hit them. This put the win in our laps and we cruised the rest of the course. Shame it wasn’t a hard fought win but I’ve been in the same situation as them before and am happy to have the luck this time.
Sunday
Distance: 500m
Early start for me on Sunday for a single scull race. Didn’t get a good start, if you can call it a start, and ended up a length down. It stayed this way to the finish. Was a neater row than previous races. Definitely need to get more sculling practice in before single racing again.