Our last session OTW before heading over to Gloucester was in an 8+ on the Saturday morning, strong stream due to recent rain meant ‘Yellow boards increasing’, eventually went to ‘Red boards’ by the afternoon, this was the only way everyone was going out as we had some less experienced rowers in the crew.
Loaded up our 4- and my single on to the trailer with the ladies double and I headed off on the 3 hour drive towing the trailer to my parents place which is only 30 minutes drive from the event.
Up early on race day with some serious butterflies and struggled to eat my breakfast.
Dropped off the trailer, prepared my single and signed the club in whilst waiting for the masters ladies to arrive to set up their double.
Boating at about 09:15, and a 7.1Km (ish) row to the start against a pretty strong gusting head wind.
First problem was near Netheridge Bridge where an 8+ pushed me into the side as they forced their way past me through the bridge. I then had to back myself out of the bank to then go through the bridge.
Bridges are only wide enough for a single boat at a time, the 8+ should have given way to me as I was closer, but hey/ho.
The rest of the journey to the start was uneventful, but was very heavy going and took me just over an hour. Some of the gusts of wind at over 25mph practically brought me to a standstill.
I was cautioned when I was about 1.2K from the start that if I didn’t get a move on I would be ‘scratched’! Of course this is also when I was experiencing the worst the weather had to offer with regards strong gusts.
I finally arrived at the start and slowly negotiated my way through the assembled boats, all of whom were getting entangled due to being blown about by the wind. Way too many scary moments when my oars were caught above those from a double or a quad and trying to get free without tipping over.
Finally my time to start, turned and headed off into my first steering issue, at about 2 minutes in, where I nearly hit a narrow boat that was double parked, reset and off we go again.
Much easier going with a tail wind, although on occasion the strokes almost feel ‘too easy’ and equally as offputting as a tail gust.
All was going fine until just after 2,100m when some tree branches suddenly jumped out at me, I hoped that they were just going to be loose and I could brush through them and this was true for the first few, but with the next stroke I hit a more solid branch, the world spun and I was under the water.
I got my head and torso back above the water, put my arm around the boat and told myself to calm down while I looked to release my feet.
Unfortunately the blade of my right oar that was caught in the tree next to me and the handle was trapped across my feet so I could not release my feet from my shoes.
So I was now trapped between my boat and the tree unable to free myself floating in water that was around single digits celcius, wearing a racing All In One, ankle socks and a spandex tshirt awaiting rescue.
Each time I attempted to free my feet, I could feel my calves cramping and ultimately had to give up as there was no way I was releasing them while that oar was across my feet.
Help had been called and one of the marshall’s launches came over to me to check I was OK and they in turn called the nearest SARA (Severn Area Rescue Association) launch to rescue me.
After they had released my oars and half turned the boat, I was able to release my feet, my single could be moved out of the way and I could be hauled into the SARA launch.
They then took me the short distance to Sellars Bridge where I was transferred to one of their Land Rovers and driven back to the boat house shivering and wrapped in a blanket.
Next up was a warm shower, some dry clothes and something to eat before preparing for the next race.
To make matters worse, I had set up my GoPro to film the session, but had forgotten to hit the start button, so no footage whatsoever, at least having footage of the ‘splashdown’ would have made entertaining YouTube footage.
The other members of our 4- had arrived by now and were somewhat confused that my boat was back at the start but I was nowhere to be seen.
By the time I was returning the blanket to the SARA gazeebo and thanking profusely them for saving me, our masters ladies double were carrying my single back to the trailer.
Of all the things I had with me in the boat, the only items not recovered were my sunglasses and one of my trainers (they were old and in need to being thrown anyway).
We took the 4- off the trailer and re-attached the riggers and were ready to boat in good time.
We had a good run up to the start, the wind was not much better than the morning, but with four of us in a much more stable boat it was mostly uneventful, although we still managed to tangle with a few hanging branches on the way up.
We were the first to the start area so had around 30-45 minutes to wait for everyone else and then also for the short course to set everyone off before we could leave.
The race was good, we had a crew from Warwick to chase down, the other crew in our category had scratched.
We started at around 26spm then slowly built the speed over the duration of the course with several calls for more power whenever it was felt we were going ‘soft’.
At about 2,500m the girls J18 8+ from my old school, Wycliffe College, who started just after us came powering past – that was one strong crew!
We had another couple of brushes with the local flora, but nothing that significantly hampered our progress.
We were gaining on another other crew, although we were unsure if this was in our category or a mixed quad from the category ahead.
With the finish in sight we had one last push and had the rate up to around 32spm, crossed the finish line and then promptly crashed into some trees.
Moments later, as we were attempting to extract ourselves a junior girls quad from Exeter did exactly the same thing and I caught their bow ball to prevent them from hitting us.
After extracting ourselves from the tree, we had a leisurely row for the remaining 2K (ish) back to the boathouse.
Our official time was 21:04.1, the crew from Warwick was 8 seconds slower at 21:12.9, but as they were Masters E and we were Masters D, they took the win with an adjusted time of 20:47.9.
De-rig the boat, repack and re-hitch the trailer for the 3 hour drive with the trailer back to Staines, where we unloaded the boats before heading home.
Closing thoughts:
The conditions were terrible and we feel we acquitted ourselves in the 4- and were pleased with our efforts.
Were the conditions too much for me in my single? quite possibly. I was right on the edge of what I was comfortable with. If I hadn’t hit the tree, I would have completed the course, my fitness level was never in question.
I can tell I put in a good effort yesterday as I ache everywhere, no rowing today.
The biggest irony of the whole event is that the last time I capsized in a single, was nearly 40 years ago in the exact same canal, albeit about 8K further down!