All this led to the boat being rather late, in fact only being at Kew Stone when the race was supposed to start. Disappointing that the boat didn't race, but the squad is improving all the time and there will be many, many races in 2010!

The story for the 1st boat was a little different: unencumbered with a cox weighing more than the rest of the crew, Marj's lot not only managed to get to the start on time, but actually win the whole thing! It may have helped that the crew was seeded to go off as crew number 6 (we're still not sure why!) even ahead of the majority of the ladies. The reports were that it was an exciting race with a very close finish (even going off 6th you have a huge gap to make up)! Congrats to Marj, Neil, Andy, Barry, Guy, Dave, Matt, Laurent and Novice Gav (first win!) - enjoy the wine.

A big thank you must to Quintin for organising this too - it really is a highlight of the year.

Christmas

We're now well and truly into the festive season, I imagine that tonight may well be my last erg of 2009 before heading to the heathen erg wastelands of Yorkshire / Croydonia.

There will probably be a few people around the club during the festive period; however there will be no organised outings this weekend. I will look to do something on New Year's Day, 2nd, 3rd January if there are enough people down - so get yourself on the spreadsheet if you're up for it!

Training will start again properly from week beginning 4th January, with a meeting for the senior squad at 7:30pm on Tuesday 5th in the bar.

NYE

For any of you who have not planned anything yet for NYE and fancy doing something, there will be quite a few of us (last count it was well into double figures) celebrating the new year at the boathouse. If you're up for it, just drop in. Gents are encouraged to bring something sweet to eat, ladies something savoury.

Circuits on Thursday

Circuits will now take place on Thursdays, due to Greg's study commitments. It will be at the same time and still at the school. This means that novice land training will move to Wednesdays from the new year.

That's it from me for now. If I don't see you before January, have a fantastic Christmas and a great new year,

Rob.

Captain's Update, 04/12

Afternoon all,

It's been a couple of weeks since my last mail, so there's a bit to report on.

6:19.1

First off, a final congratulations must go to Julius for his extremely impressive 6:19.1 2k at the BIRC, putting him 6th in the 30-35 Hwt category - just over 5 seconds off a podium placing.

Even more impressive given that Julius is relatively new to the sport; who knows what the score might be in 2010!

Kingston SBH

Well done to Mr Pickford, who successfully managed to beat many a larger crew en route to 134th in the head, 9th our of 12 IM2 scullers.

And a big well done to the Open IM2 4+, 92nd overall and 7th out of 10 in IM2 4+. Even more impressive when the boat was mixed (Cox: Gledders, Str: Ricky, 3: Gav, 2: JoMo, Bow: Susannah). And even even even more impressive that this was at IM2…and one of the crew is still novice!

Scullers Head

Congratulations to Pickford and Wylie for completing the insane championship course. On their own. In the cold:

This weekend

Outings are as follows:

Please add your availability ASAP if you are planning on coming down.

We then have the annual Christmas quiz at 12 on Sunday. I believe it's £5 to enter and you get a roast lunch included - bargain! Any entries to Marj please.

BBLRC ball - Sat 12th December

It's that time of year; the BBLRCers are building up to the annual Christmas ball. It's a great time to dress up, have the obligatory Cygnet Waddle and then get some festive eating/drinking/dancing. More info to follow, but tickets are now on sale. Details are on posters at the club, or let me know if you're interested. It's at the White Hart this year, so if the stumble home is too far the boathouse sofas shouldn't be!

Circuits

There are 2 more sessions before the Christmas break. In 2 weeks we'll be rounding it off with a visit to strada, however, we are looking for volunteers to cook for next week. Please let me know if you'd like to don the chef's hat!

Bungalow

Bookings are starting to fill up for 2010. There are still some weeks left though, so if you (of friends/family) are interested in spending a relaxing week/weekend at Shepperton, then please let either myself or Ronnie know.

That's me for now, hopefully see you all around in the build up for the festive season!

Rob.

Boathouse Xmas Quiz, 01/12

See here for details of the upcoming Boathouse Xmas Quiz.

Quizmistress Tammy will be sharpening her pencils for a midday start on Sunday 6th.

BIRC, 25/11

HUGE congratulations to novice Julius Lamos who represented Cygnet at the British Indoor Rowing Championships last weekend and came away with a fantastic 6th place (6:19.1) in the men's heavyweight 30-34 category.

Full results here.

Weekly Update, 09/11

Afternoon all,

A good weekend was had, including some full course action for the 4x and 4+ on Sat and some duelling (leapfrogging) between the 4-/4x on Sun. A rogue 2- and 2x were also spotted, as well as a novice 8+ making it all the way to Fulham - well done lads!

4s Head

Is this weekend. Racing starts at 1:30pm with the following crews racing:

The very best of luck to all!

Of course, there will be celebrating into the evening (including fireworks I have been told), so come on down; friends/family are more than welcome too!

Vets Head is the next day - race starts at 2:15pm, so please come along and cheer!

We have a Cygnet/AK composite 4x going off at 108, so there will be an extra cheer for them, as they're cruising past crew 103 by Barnes Bridge! There are also 3 BBLRC crews: 81 (4x), 84 (4x) and 152 (4+) - good luck to all!

Scullers Head - last orders

Entries close this Saturday (14th) - please let Matt know if you want to do it - I have no idea why you would, but it's a free country etc. and so on.

Kingston - last orders

If you're up for Kingston, your last chance to let me know is by lunch tomorrow. We can get any small boat in, including a mixed 4+ with the ladies. Let me know asap.

Walton Small Boats Head - 12th December

There has been some interest in this already, so please let me know if you're down for some WSBH action. Details of the race are here: http://www.waltonrowingclub.co.uk/walton-small-boats-head/how-to-enter-2007.html

If that's not enough, you could be privileged enough to row in the same race as these two fine specimens (photo taken at the pairs head):

http://www.naturesimages.co.uk/PH095desti/pages/_PLU7722.htm

Holiday

Yep, I'm off on holiday for 2 weeks after the 4s head - hurray! In my absence, any entry/money queries to Matt B, any novice/spreadsheet queries to Laurent.

See you around,

Rob

Stop Press, 30/10

It's the Pairs Head prizegiving this coming Sunday, 12pm for a 12:30pm start and Katherine Grainger will be presenting the prizes.

Be there or be square.

Head Of The Charles, 27/10

From Kelly, our American-exile in Scotland:

Our Cygnet 4+ traveled to Boston, Massachusetts with great enthusiasm to race in the Head of the Charles Regatta. The Charles is held over two days to accommodate 30 categories and over 1,000 crews, and it is promoted as the biggest autumn regatta in North America. The course is almost 3 miles long, but is very difficult to steer because the river is narrow and there are bridges at almost every turn. Luckily we were able to practice the course twice before our race and our host club, Riverside Rowing Club, were able to give us some racing guidance as well.

The race on Saturday started on time and we were able to overtake the crew ahead of us within the first mile. We executed an exciting handbrake turn to get through the Weeks Footbridge, which just about the halfway point in the race and is a notorious spot for multi-crew collisions. We were able to overtake another crew with less than a mile to go, and the push for the finish line was solid and strong.

We placed 41 out of 55 but our time was still competitive. On Sunday the guys enjoyed watching the Championship categories compete (despite the snowy conditions!), while I stayed indoors and watched American football all day. Besides coming to Boston for the race, we were all able to explore the city and go sightseeing, which included famous places (Boston Common, Harvard Square) and historical places (Cheers bar, both locations and gift shops). Overall it was a great trip and it was a pleasure to be in the first Cygnet crew to compete in the Charles.

Captain's Update, 27/10

Afternoon all,

HotC Photos

Most importantly, here are the first couple of photos from Head of the Charles:

https://www.sportgraphics.com/events/3946/photo_browser?school_id=2710&e

http://www.row2k.com/hocr/photo.cfm?action=pf&dir=2009Fall/HOCR/ClubFour&start=46&offset=36&label=2009%20Head%20of%20the%20Charles%20-%20Club%20Four&hi=yes

Good snaps there, and I think we will see some more over the coming days. Well done again to the crew!

Henley Lunch

A good time was had by all, with some excellent fayre (champagne jelly anyone?) and sublime company. A lovely day was predictably concluded in the boathouse bar (with some drunken CS rugby boys as a bonus), followed by curry pizza and a Scottish sleep over. I wasn't present for the last two 'events' of the evening, but it's all fact I'm told.

Photos to follow.

Vets 4s Head

Please let me know if you are interested in racing the Vets 4s head on Sunday 15th Nov (the day after the 4s head). You are a vet if you were born in 1982 or earlier (so not me - haha!).

It can be a serious crew, or a bimbler - just let me know.

If you are interested, please let me know (by Wednesday if possible):

Iain G / Nick W - could you please forward this on to the 'usual suspects' - thank you!

Kingston SBH (21st November)

Entries for this will be soon. If you are interested, please let me know:

Scullers head (28th November)

Entries will be open soon - please let Matt B know if you want to enter.

4s Head help

We will be looking for marshals / launch drivers for 4s head (14th November). It will be a very similar deal to pairs head, so please let me know if you are free / interested in helping out.

Spreadsheet

The spreadsheets will be updated for November soon. In the meantime, please record what you're up to, as well as adding your availability (it makes things a lot easier!) I'd appreciate it.

If you don't have access to the senior or novice (depending on your persuasion) spreadsheet, then please let Matt B know and he'll invite you.

Membership forms

For any of you newbies, there are membership forms in the changing room to be completed ahead of our Cygnet committee meeting on 8th November. Please talk to either myself, Matt B or Laurent and we'll let you know what you have to do.

That's me for now, see you around,

Rob.

Captain's Update, 21/10

Morning all,

It's been yet another international weekend of competition for the club:

Pairs Head:

Yet another successful event, organised by Ali and the BBLRC elite - a big thank you must go out to them. I believe they even managed to chivvy 2 crews that capsized to get back in and complete the course - incredible!

A doffing of the cap also goes to 'Medium' Mike Collier who - yet again - ruled the hard with an iron fist, marshalling his troops and successfully coordinating a larger than usual number of boats onto the water in time for the race start; truly impressive, so well done to all!

And a final thank you must go to the BBLRC catering juggernaught who covered all our culinary needs pre and post race / drinking.

To the results (if anyone has some good pictures, please pass them on):

Well done to all.

Head of the Charles:

A full report / pictures will be coming out soon (once the jet-lag has worn off), but congratulations to the crew of Bart, Matt D, Pete H, Stu and Kelly who braved reportedly cold conditions to post a time of 19:15 in Boston. This gave a placing 41st out of 55 crews in their category (beating university crews from Miami, MIT, Tufts and Vermont to name a few). This is an excellent placing - I remember many a Durham college crew coming rock bottom when they made the trip over the Atlantic!

Well done to you all as well for being the first Cygnet crew to race the Charles. Who knows, depending on the stories and pictures that come out from the weekend, maybe it will become a more regular part of the calendar??

Amsterdam Marathon:

Our 3rd event from the weekend comes in the form of the Amsterdam Marathon, where Nick Wyatt was flying the Cygnet flag. An excellent time of 3hrs 4minutes was posted - although it was a 'bloody long way' according to our correspondent.

Well dones to Zoe (3hrs 51mins) and Bea (1hr 44mins in the half marathon) as well.

Circuits:

Will be tonight (7pm at the club), although Greg is doing some bean-counting practice tonight, so Neil 'The Beard' Pickford will be taking over. I'll sign off now, but please see the note below from Greg [redacted - Ed].

Have a good week and see you around,

Rob.

Captain's Update, 12/10

Morning all,

Right, there's a load to get through today, so apologies in advance for some serious wibble:

Misplaced mobile:

I have had a request to see if anyone has noticed a mobile phone (in waterproof bag) left in the changing rooms over the weekend. It would have been hanging up on a peg in the changing rooms. If anyone has seen this, or has put it somewhere safe, then please let me know.

Rowers Revenge:

A belated congratulations to those that competed in the Rowers Revenge last weekend. A crack team of 3 (4 if Elle's other half Alistair is counted, and at 14th overall, he most certainly is!) comprising of Nick Wyatt, Mark Wilson and Elle Bennett were representing both clubs on the erg, bike and, er, feet. Congratulations to all for the excellent results, including a spectacular 10th place for Wyatt! Full results can be found here: http://www.f3events.co.uk/results.php

Pairs Head:

Good luck to all crews racing on Saturday. We have two doubles (Shea/Rawkins & Pickford/Davidson) and 3 pairs (Bates/French, Johnston/Stephenson [Geordie] & Thomas/Naylor) all aiming to dominate the event…and ensure they are quicker than the BBLRC combos.

Anyone who is free in the afternoon and would like to help out with marshalling, please let either myself of Mike Collier know and we will be forever grateful.

The evening will also, I'm sure, be busy with celebrations of the day's racing, as well as our very own celebration for Vice Captain Laurent's birthday (actually, it's today!) - so please come along for a fanta or two...

Head of the Charles:

Not only will Cygnet be represented on the Thames this weekend, but also across the Atlantic in Boston on the River Charles, a first I believe for the club. An elite, multi-national crew of Bart, Matt D, Pete H, Stu and Kelly will be flying the flag over there, showing those Americans how to real rowers do things...before descending into the traditional evening of polite conversation (do they have Killepitsch in the States?).

Good luck to you all, looking forward to the pictures!

Circuits:

Are this Wednesday at the school (7pm sharp). I have had a message from Greg this morning, thanking everyone for their hard work last week and (to the disappointment of Gav) advising that there will be no burpees this time around - sorry Gav!

I can't remember who is cooking this week, but I pity them, as the bar was set so high with my Chicken Tonight last Wednesday.

4s Head:

We are entering boats for this and will be announcing potential crew combos very shortly - exciting! On a related note, if anyone is interested in rowing the Vets 4s Head the next day (Sunday 15th), then please let me know and I will look into it. It's open to anyone born in 1982 or earlier (not me - haha!) and could be a very good way to round off the weekend.

Kingston Small Boats Head:

Saturday 21st Nov, 4.8km. Anyone interested in this, please let me know. The trailer will be heading over with the ladies for this, so even if you just want a scull, give me a shout and we'll chuck it on.

Right, that's it for now, see you all around - good luck again to the Boston and Pairs Head crews,

Rob.

Captain's Update, 06/10

Afternoon all,

I hope you all had a good weekend and are raring to go:

Rhine Marathon:

Congrats to all those who competed in Germany at the weekend. A great time was had by all, even in The. Biggest. Headwind. Ever. that hit with about 15km to go - watching Neil cry like a little girl was not as enjoyable an experience as you would think*.

Congrats to Matt B and Pete G who, along with Sue G and Sarah D of BBLRC fame were the quickest Cygnet/BBLRC crew of the day. Luckily the Pickford/Henderson/Keyser/Israel 4 were a few minutes quicker than the BBLRC quad, so everyone was a winner (sort of).

I won't go into too much detail on the rest of the weekend (I'm sure an official report will surface soon), but needless to say there were a couple of Alt beers (and a suggestion of Killepitsch) on the go after the race...

Pairs Head:

Is next week (Saturday 17th). Anyone not racing who fancies helping out after the morning outing, please contact Mike Collier at mcollier[at]btinternet[dot]com.

4s Head:

Is Saturday 14th November. Entries are now open, so the plan is for us to enter crews as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Could all seniors please let me know if you want to race (or not) in the 4s Head by Wednesday. We will then go about setting up the runes for crew selection.

That's it for now, see you all around,

Rob.

Farewell Then ARA, 05/10

The ARA has gone. Long live British Rowing.

From their website:

1882 - 2009: On Monday 28th September The Amateur Rowing Association changed its name to British Rowing. Our new website address is www.britishrowing.org and emails firstname.surname@britishrowing.org, except for the GB Rowing Team staff whose emails will be firstname.surname@gbrowingteam.org.uk.

Sculling Camp Directions, 14/09

Dear all

Hope this correspondence finds you in great shape!. This is the last one before D-day, and mainly for those who've never been to Hamhaugh.

Here is the full address to paradise island:

'Cygnets' Bungalow
38 Hamhaugh Island
Shepperton
Middlesex
TW17 9LP

Now then, if you type this postcode into something like streetmap.co.uk, it will point to the right location, however if you type into something like AA Route Planner, it will send you onto the M3 & via the M25 which is completely wrong. God knows where a Sat Nav will send you!!. The only access to the island is by foot, from Shepperton Lock, i.e from the Middlesex/ North side of the river.

If you are driving from the A316 you need to exit at the last junction before hitting the M3. At roundabout take the A308 Staines Rd West exit, then left onto A244 Windmill Rd and all the way down till you meet the junction with B375. At roundabout, take 3rd exit onto B375 Russell Rd. Then all the way to Shepperton High St Roundabout, first left onto Church Rd, then left onto Ferry Lane. Please note that this is an approximate guide!!. There should be ample of parking space by the lock, on Ferry lane.

Hope this helps and just shout should you need more assistance.

See you on Saturday morning.

Laurent.

Sculling Camp Reminder, 09/09

From the vice captain:

Just a quick reminder that sculling camp is now upon us. I can confirm that the bungalow will only be available from the Friday afternoon and not from Monday 14th as initially reported in my first correspondence. Those of you going for the Friday socialising, I will confirm the check-in time later this week!

For those who haven't yet replied and are still interested, we would like to hear from you in a near future so I can get a final number.

For the newest members, I will send out directions by the end of this week, but in the meantime, if some of you are driving down from Chiswick and willing to give a lift to your fellow crewmates, please let yourselves known to me and state how many people you are willing to carry so we can arrange a meeting time/ point for the Saturday morning. You will sort out petrol costs amongst yourselves on the day!

The other alternative is to train it down there, the nearest station being Shepperton on the SWT network, then it should be approximately a 20mins walk (my rough estimate!) to the island or else cab it.

Third option would be to cycle it, I know some of the chaps did it last time, not too sure of the exact route to take but again if some of you are keen to cycle, give me a shout and we could arrange a meeting point.

Remember to get there for 10.30 or slightly before on the Saturday morning, if at all possible, for the registration and safety briefing.

That's it for now, any suggestions/ comments addressed to me only please.

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Laurent.

New Arrival, 07/09

Congratulations to Big Dave French and his wife Long Suffering Anna on the arrival of their little girl Eliza Mae last Friday, weighing in at a little over 6 lbs.

Shed News, 07/09

From the Boathouse Captain:

Ladies and Gents,

You will notice that the equipment in The Shed has been rearranged. This has been done partly to make it more convenient and safer to use the weight training equipment and partly to accommodate two additional ergs and a bench pull that we intend to acquire in the near future. Please direct any comments or suggestions about the new layout to me please.

I also spent a considerable amount of time cleaning as it was all in a frankly disgusting state. Please try to keep The Shed clean and tidy from now on - there are cleaning facilities in the corner so don't be afraid to use them occasionally.

A quick reminder of Shed etiquette.

As of the beginning of September, erg priority nights are as follows -

The rule of thumb is that if you are on an erg and it isn't your night, you can only stay on if you have less than 10 minutes or 2000m left to go, otherwise off you hop in a gracious manner!

Cheers,

Neil.

BBLRC Management Reshuffle, 03/09

Just a heads-up that Bea and her team stepped down at the recent BBLRC captain's meeting. The new roster reads:

Good luck to them all.

R R Reminder, 02/09

A reminder from Wyatt Minor, RR coordinator - we have half a dozen Cygnet/BBLRCers taking part so far and more are welcome:

You may have heard a rumour that this event wasn't happening this year, well it seems that the organisers have sorted themselves out and it will indeed take place. It will be on Sunday 4th October, in the same format as previous years - a 4k erg swiftly followed by 25k bike and 7.5k run all in and around the lovely countryside of Marlow.

In the past few years we usually had about a dozen Cygnets and Barnes Bridge Ladies take up the challenge and almost everybody seemed to have fun. So do ask around if you want to know more.

The entry system has changed this year and they are only taking online entries so if you are interested please enter yourself here (it costs £33). If you let me know if you enter I'll get the organisers to make sure we are all in the same wave and we race together. I suggest you get your entry in reasonably soon as it has been known to fill up before time.

I believe it clashes with the Rhine Marathon this year (an equally fun event), so you will need to choose one or the other.

And finally also a chance to plug the helldownsouth on 15th November that a few of us are doing, link here, it was originally a substitute for the cancelled rowers revenge but we are now lucky enough to be able to do both. Fabulous.

Cheers.

Nick.

From The Captain, 01/09

Hello all,

So, summer is over. No more sunshine for the next 6 months, no more boozy weekend regattas / club days and it's going to get effing cold soon I'm sure. Still, the good news is that everyone should be nice and rested and raring to go for the new season: Bring. It. On.

Training:

There will be a structured training plan from Kirsty, along with new google spreadsheet for the squad as of next week, so look out for that e-invite dropping in your inbox soon.

In the meantime, there will be one set erg for you to do this week. It'll be one you might see quite a lot over the next few weeks as a fitness builder. Please note down your split / rate and add to the new spreadsheet once it's out:

2 x 6k UT2, rate 18-20. 2 minute rest (drink / walk around) between the 6ks. I'll be doing this tonight (Tuesday 1st) at 6:45 if anyone fancies joining me.

This is the only set training for the week, however I'm sure most of you will be doing far more!

We are moving to winter training as of now, so lights on any boats please. We are fully stocked on batteries, so there shouldn't be any excuse! There is show and row this Tuesday and Thursday and 10am Sat / Sun; more organised outings will start as of next week.

The shed will start to get busy from now on, with all squads from both clubs getting back into the swing of things. Initially, the plan for use of the shed is as follows. Please note that the girls and guys will have priority nights as of next week (Monday 7th). There will, however, be a rule of thumb that if it is not your night but you have less than 10 minutes or 2,000m to go, then you should be allowed to finish. Otherwise, you're off! Likewise, please don't boot a lady off an erg if they have the same time / distance left. Unless it's Coyle.

The plan from 7th September is:

Circuits:

Circuits will also be starting from the middle of this month - everyone to attend as it will be an integral part of our training / selection for crews. Location is TBC (we're hoping to go back to the school we used before last year) but the first session with Greg will be Wednesday 16th at 7pm in the Shed. Greg will be running them every Wednesday (around his studies on other days in the week). The 16th will be a short introductory session, along with some top tips from Greg on stretching, good training practice in general and injury avoidance.

Details on how circuits will run after the 16th, including cost, will be passed on once we know all the details.

Pairs Head:

We have 6 crews who have put their names forward for pairs head. We only have 4 boats, so I have written out to a few of the nearby clubs on the off-chance that they have any free. I don't hold out much hope though, so I will be consulting with Kirsty (and others) to work out a way of allocating boats to crews. Watch this space.

If you want to train in your potential pairs head crew in the evenings, please give me a heads up and I will see if I can arrange a launch to go out with you as the nights draw in. It's not a guarantee, but nice to have if we can do it.

I think that's it from me for now; see you all around,

Rob.

Darkness Falls Across The Land, 26/08

A note from the WSA:

Sunset was at 8.00pm yesterday (Tuesday 26th) and it got pretty dark, pretty quickly thereafter. So unless crews can be out on the water by 6.30 it's going to have to be very short outings or more preferably, lights on the boats and definitely lights if you think that you won't be back before sunset. Sunset times are up on the board in the boatshop and also available on the BBC weather website.

Just as a reminder; lighting should constitute a constant white light visible through 360 or in practice, a constant white light on either canvass pointing fore and aft. You are permitted to have an additional flashing white light on the bows to indicate direction of travel. There are some lights in the cupboard but they almost certainly need (AA) batteries and you will also need some duct tape to stick them on with.

Beware the power of the Dark Side.

Neil.

Reminder Club Day Sunday, 25/08

A reminder from the Soc. Sec.:

Just a quick reminder about the club day and boat naming on Sunday.

If you haven't already done so, please let me know if you are planning to attend and indicate whether you’ll be staying for food and racing or just for food.

If you intend entering the bake off also let me know if you haven't done so already.

Also be aware that you will need to make alternative travel arrangements if coming by train. Network Rail will be carrying out engineering works between Barnes and Hounslow via Brentford on Sunday. Therefore, Barnes Bridge train station will be closed all day. Contrary to rumour, the footpath across Barnes Bridge will be open so those of you south of the river need not worry.

Looking forward to see you all on Sunday.

Stu.

Blygnet Bog Sheet Edition One, 25/08

Edition 1 of the Blygnet Bog Sheet is below. "Enjoy".

Worlds, 21/08

A reminder that the World Championships start next week in Poznan. Details of the coverage on the BBC can be found here.

Sculling Camp Details, 19/08

From Laurent:

Good day to one & all.

Sculling Camp, the highlight for this coming season is once again upon us. It's also a reminder that these greyish winter days would be fast approaching from then!! (Just a reminder). On the positive side though, it's going to be another great weekend as one happy family and with lots of interesting newbies from both clubs hopefully as well as senior people. I strongly believe that there will be some Killepitsch around as has become the tradition recently, and I'll twist the bar stewardess's arm to allow some Jagerbombing experience as well.

For those who have recently joined the clubs, we have a bungalow on Hamhaugh island in Shepperton, and it is a tradition to organise sculling camps there twice a year. More info about the bungalow is available on Cygnet RC website.

Fingers crossed our 'ute' will get back to us in time for towing all the equipment down there, otherwise we'll beg around.

Officially the sculling camp starts with week beginning Monday 14th September, I was told, but the days of justice will be Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th. There will be some stuff going on from Friday 18th i.e carrying boats & equipment down to base camp and some potential cheeky sculling/socialising, let me know if you are planning on coming over from Friday afternoon.

The Formal Plan:

We'll get everyone who can make it down for 10:30am on the Saturday morning for the safety briefing. Alan might be there to help with the coaching, I still need to confirm with him, and Neil should be there too. For the newcomers, the idea is to get everyone do all sorts of manoeuvres in order to gain confidence and stability before letting all loose on the river.

This will be followed by lunch, more sculling, newspaper reading and sunbathing for the rest of the day. We'll then (weather permitting) get a bbq going outside and start the descent into a night of drinking and polite conversations. Everyone is more than welcome to stay overnight, although there is a very limited number of beds, so if you do have a tent that would be great.

The Sunday will be more sculling, some brunch and then a general tidy up; aiming to leave in the mid afternoon.

Fees:

This does totally depend on numbers - the more we have the cheaper it will be - but the rough cost of last time is below. So my suggestion is that we supermarket it on the day and work out cost from there.

What a bargain!

Booze not included - will update you on that in due course once I know more. (Am sure a few of us will take turns in volunteering to cook the food as well.)

Your Duty:

If you're coming over, please email me as soon as possible to let me know, as well as when you're planning on coming and how many people you're bringing. This is to get an idea of numbers for food/cost/beds etc. As always, friends, WAGs and HABs are more than welcome too.

Also any specific dietary requirements and any moans & groans to be addressed to me only!

I reckon that's it for now, let me know your plans, ask me any questions, directions if need be and I'll hopefully see you all at some point on the 19th/20th.

Laurent.

Henley Town S1 Coxless Action, 15/08

Nail-biting stuff (at 2:10 in).

CSBH Boating Diagram, 15/08

In preparation for the upcoming Head season, Neil's prepared a fantastic boating diagram for visiting crews. It's at the top of the Exec website's boating page. Why not take a look.

Performance, 14/08

It's all about performance. Yeah!

Boat Naming Club Day BBQ, 07/08

From the Soc. Sec.:

Yes folks, it's that time of the year again. The festival of fun that is Club Day is now almost upon us and it's my duty to set out what's on offer this year.

First up, we have a Cygnet boat naming ceremony at 1pm. Many of you will know that we took delivery of a brand new coxed four from New Zealand (in "sheep white") last month. It now awaits its name and a number of our more senior club members will be joining us for the naming ceremony, an important moment in any boat's life. Of course, where there's a ceremony, there's champagne (or fizzy substitutes) so please join us as we formally introduce our newest boat to the delights of Cygnet racing at [ BMI and St Neots / Dorney Lake and Henley ].

Club Day will then begin in earnest at 2pm and feature:

As always the boathouse bar will be open (and hopefully/helpfully staffed) throughout the afternoon and drinking/singing will no doubt go on into the night.

Cost of the day will be GBP10 each for food and rowing, GBP5 for food or rowing only.

Hope to see you all there. To help our planning, can you please let me know by 25 August if you are coming along and indicate whether you will be staying for food and racing or just for food.

In the meantime, you would have seen that the Bungalow BBQ is fast approaching on 22 August. A quick reminder that if intend you heading over to the Bungalow in Shepperton, please let Ronnie Lambe know by 12th August.

Have a great August everyone.

Stu.

Rubbish Tidy At Kew Road Bridge, 04/08

Advance warning from the River Manager (via Neil):

Please be aware that the driftwood craft will be placing some yellow cages just upstream and downstream of Kew Pier for a clean up this weekend. It is planned that the cages will be as close to the river bank as possible, but please be aware of the risk to navigation at a middle tide.

"Sculler take a look."

Captain Rob's Report, 03/08

Afternoon all,

Right, I've got work to do, so it's short and sweet (although I'm sure I'll start to wibble after a bit). Here goes:

Belated de-novicing chat:

Must go to the 7, yes 7, Cygnets who crossed the line ahead of Maidstone Invicta in a blaze of glory:

Laurent, Ricky, Josh, Paul, Nick, Pete G, Simon - congratulations! A small nod of appreciation must also be directed to a certain 'Katie' Coyle, BBLRC sub extraordinaire and token North East club member (ours was sitting at 5).

And, or course, a huge nod of appreciation must go towards Marj who emphatically steered, cajoled and intimidated to ensure victory was ours. She did remain dry on the day though, so maybe a dunking in our beautiful clean river might be in order...

Well done all, a very good race and now welcome to the bitter, unforgiving and ultimately spirit crushing world of senior competition. You'll love it. For the rest of you who weren't there at St. Neots; your time will come (apart from Gav).

Henley T&V:

I wasn't there, so I've done a bit of copying and pasting from some roving reporters. Well done to all there though; shame we couldn't defend the tug of war:

From Roving Reporter 1: A competitive end to the season for the Senior Squad. Undeterred by the constant rain (and the great disappointment of not being able to defend or tug-of-war triumph), we came close, but no cigars.

IM3 4+ rowed well, but unfortunately their oppo rowed better. Ditto for Pickford in the 1x, who fought valiantly to the end, but it wasn't quite enough at IM2 - that'll learn him for picking up a point at the St Neots pot-fest.

IM2 4+ were farcical in the run-up. JJ arrived, then immediately left for London for his ARA card. Bates' d1cky back had tweaked, which required attention from most of the rest of the crew and the St John's Ambulance men. (With thanks to Gavin for jumping in the boat to help test Bates' fitness, whilst JJ was hammering up and down the M4). A very close race saw Cygnet overlapping with Stratford-upon-Avon all the way down the course, with the boys finally losing out by 3/4 length. Stratford went on to win the final, and afterwards told us our race had been tougher - the boys weren't sure whether that made them feel better or worse.

IM3 8+ got properly beat. Was that because of the biblical rain? Were their hearts not it because they were thinking of the 4+/-? Or was it because Zac Purchase was apparently spotted stroking the opposition crew?.

From Roving Reporter 2: The IM1 4- was a veritable feast of action – a good row reported by all but sadly lost by 1ft. Neck and neck all the way and great for the spectators as it turned out to be the last race of the day. If only Rob had been in the power seat, we'd have probably won by a couple of lengths.*

* the last sentence may not have been in the original text.

Spreadsheet:

I've added August to both the novice and senior spreadsheets - please add your availability.

Beyond:

Peterborough domination was planned for this Saturday. Unfortunately, due to a very high level of entries, there will be no mixed crews and our double entry didn't get through either. With only one 4+ entered, we have decided to scratch.

The good news is that it means we can have some random outings on Saturday and Sunday. I propose some good old fashioned 'show and row', either in mixed, sweep or sculling crews. Let's go for a civilised 10am start on both days.

If anyone is around to sit in an VIII with the new novices on Sunday (midday) that would also be fantastic. The 'old' 'novice' squad have done some sterling work and I expect will be there in force on Sunday, but any of you 'seniors' who are around; please do help out.

Tuesday 11th August will be a 7:30pm in the bar job where we'll go over the plan for the next few months.

Sunday 16th August - Coyle and Ciara's joint 54th birthday bash at the club. All are welcome.

Saturday 22nd August - BBQ at Cygnets bungalow. All are welcome, any questions to Stu.

Sunday 30th August - Club Day. Awesome.

See you around,

Rob.

Neots, 27/07

Confirmed results are now in and on our racing page. Our roving correspondent reports:

It was a cracking St Neots, with a few notables:

Cygnet were the curtain raisers and lowerers on Saturday - the IM3 8 was the first race of the day (8.45!), which was won to go through to the final which was the very last race of the day at 7.30, by which time the sun was setting on a beautifully flat (and clean!) river - sadly the boys lost that one.

In between that, Andy & David won through three rounds in the IM2 2-. Helped by the fact that 2 of their competitors crashed into stationary objects (note - they were ahead by that point anyway, hence could see them in their wake). Neil & Davo were also unassailable in their IM3 2x.

The Novice 8+ won as well. 7 Cygnets have now been de-noviced. "Seven?" you may ask. One got ill during the week, so rather than scratching, a Barnes Bridge Lady was drafted in. Katie Coyle is, we think, the first ever Barnes Bridge Lady to lose her novice status in a Cygnet boat (technically a composite crew, but Gledders was going on and on about it regardless).

Sunday saw hangovers and unfortunately less sunshine and pewter. The Novice 8 were by this point most of the IM3 8, with the wake-up call that entails (in a sign of the times, Andy earned the IM3 8+ an Official Warning: Kit Violation for the old Cygnet all-in-one). Mixed 4 made it through 2 rounds to the final, in a desperate bid to get some pewterware for our captaincy, but no luck in the final.

Best regatta of the season? [as usual - Ed]

Lost Straw, 27/07

Did you lose a straw hat at HRR? If so the (Honourable) Treasurer has found it. See below:

I have this straw, which was left at Mme President's place during HRR.

It is of a nice ripe straw colour, roundish, with a brim turned up all round, and trimmed with a loosely knotted bunch of raffia.

Built for a head quite a lot smaller than mine, but aren't they all?

It will make useful kindling, unless its owner wishes to claim it swiftly?

Contact the webmaster.

Winning Ways, 27/07

STOP PRESS:

Lots of wind, erm, wins at St. Neots - including a novice eight, we hear.

More information as it arrives...

Bungalow Barbecue, 24/07

The annual bungalow BBQ is taking place on the afternoon of 22nd August.

See here for all the information you need.

Shite Happens, 21/07

Via the Boathouse Captain:

Please get your members to look at the Tideway Slug. The Slug will be giving the information on the campaign against the sewage discharges from Mogden, and suggestions for people who need to be approached. The greater the number of people who show their anger, the more likely that Thames Water will be forced to do something about it. The TRRC campaign is gathering momentum, and hopefully, there will soon be lots of publicity.

Captain's Report, 13/07

A busy last month since my last report with the business end of the racing season.

We attended Reading Regatta in mid June, entering an 8, 4+ and 4-. Not a bad regatta, very competitive as it is a pre-qualifier for Henley Royal. Reading was followed by Marlow regatta - the last of the 2km Dorney regattas. Marlow was unfortunately the first and only opportunity for the Henley combinations to race prior to qualifiers the following week and it was hard racing the young gun college crews.

We were able to enter an 8 and a 4+ for Henley qualifiers this year but unfortunately neither crew made it through qualifications. It is a shame given the volume of training that some of the squad did and of course the hours of time put in by our coach Sarah and our 2 coxswains but unfortunately with a lack of water time in the racing combinations the crews simply were not up to scratch.

Henley Royal was an opportunity for a club day out and Pat and Peter Sly graciously hosted us again for a picnic at Old Blades on Henley Friday. It was great to see some of the new blazers out on display (unfortunately they were not all available to be proudly worn as the tailor has some issues with measurements obviously). A great turn out of both Cygnet and Barnes Bridge ladies and it was great to see a number of our novice guys taking the opportunity to enjoy the day, and sporting our cygnet tie. Thanks Pat and Pete Sly.

Rob has been doing a stirling job with the burgeoning novice squad, and he is being assisted now by Neil and Marj. This is a fast growing group and thoughts need to turn to resourcing for that group as it is important to ensure people are taught to row properly early on so people are cementing proper technique rather than poor technique which is very hard to change later.

The new bow loader coxed four arrived recently and was used for its first race last weekend at Kingston. It is a top quality racing boat which means its difficult to row well and should only be used with the captains permission which will only be given for crews in proper racing combinations, rather than simply for random jollies.

It is of course very nearly the end of the captaincy year and as most of you will know I am not standing again, having been in the captaincy for 2 years as well as holding the bar steward role. The OGM (or whatever the meeting is called for captaincy elections) is on 8.15 on Tuesday 21 July. Please attend to vote in the new captaincy for the coming year.

On housekeeping issues:

Please note the front door lock is not working well and care needs to be taken ensure the lock springs back out when you turn the handle so it locks when closed.

Please notify one of the captaincy if you have damaged a boat so we can attend to its repair. You wont get into trouble or be told off (unless you deserve it) but we cant fix things if we dont know they are damaged. I only found out the single was damaged by overhearing people complaining it was damaged.

Important to note that the relevant authorities have dumped a whole lot of raw sewerage into the Thames recently and its pretty grim out there, Boats MUST be washed after use and I highly recommend you take care to wash after an outing.

Coming up events:

Pete.

Hiatus, 25/06

The blog's on holiday until 13 July. Keep racing!

Cutting A Dash At HWR, 22/06

You've either got, or you haven't got, style...

...and if you've got it, it sticks out a mile...

Brand new blazers, same old rowers - see them all week at HRR.

Henley Qualifiers, 22/06

Two Cygnet crews and one BBLRC crew will be taking part in the qualifiers this coming Friday afternoon. Details:

Best of luck to all 3 crews.

Boathouse Security, 11/06

From the Boathouse Captain:

Please be aware that there was an attempt to break into the boat house last weekend (6/7th June) by levering open the lock on the inside door. Fortunately the lock held but the incident follows several thefts and attempted thefts from Thames Tradesmen in the last fortnight. Both have been reported to the police who believe that these incidents are most likely to be because of the work currently being done to Barnes Bridge.

Pleased be more alert than usual with regards to security; make sure that doors and windows are closed when the building is unoccupied, challenge anyone you don't recognise and don't be afraid to call the police if necessary. Also please don't leave the boat shop keys in the boat shop when you are on the water or the shed unoccupied.

There is little we can do to secure the boat shop whilst we're out on the water but it would be good practice to not leave petrol cans or kit in the launches or anything obviously valuable in the boat shop, rowing equipment notwithstanding.

We have been warned...

Reading Draw, 11/06

The draw for Reading Regatta (this weekend) is up on the regatta website.

We've an eight and two fours racing on Saturday. Nothing on Sunday.

Best of luck to all crews.

Not Another One, 09/06

Many congratulations to Nick and Annabelle who, on Saturday, became the latest in a long line of inter-club marriages. A good time was had by all. Here are few shots:

Captain's Update, 04/06

The novices are now a good large bunch and have been representing Cygnet on and about the Tideway at the recent regattas - including most recently Twickenham a few weeks back. They seem to be enjoying themselves and I think they're off to Peterbrough Spring this weekend. Special thanks to Deputy Captain Rob who has been looking after them for the regatta season and to Vykki for helping him with the coxing.

The seniors have not been attending the Tideway regattas (thanks to the new points system which means points collected even if only 2 boats enter your category). They have however been training, making good use of the ergs and water. We attended Wallingford at Dorney at beginning of May and The Met also out at Dorney at end of May. Racing at these serious regattas has proved very difficult again this year and even more so because the squad has had a few valuable members pull out and illness and other commitments meant late substitutions for the Met crews.

This month sees us attending the Reading regatta, and Marlow (at Dorney) in preparation for the Henley Qualifiers.

A fair chunk of the senior squad are off down to Devon this coming weekend to attend Nick Bates's wedding to BBLRC's Annabelle Hall. Congrats to them both.

For those who have ordered Blazers they are supposedly being brought to Marlow Regatta. Closer to the time we will hopefully be able to confirm this.

Thats all for now.

Pete.

Peterborough Spring, 02/06

The draws for Saturday and Sunday's racing are now up on the Peterborough website. We've a couple of coxed fours racing both days. Good luck to the crews.

Should Have Gone to Specsavers, 01/06

From our boathouse correspondent:

It's a lovely sunny morning for the second day of The Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake. At the top of the rowing-up lane the IM2 VIIIs are gathered nervously awaiting the first heats of the day. The umpire on the bank calls Marlow through for the first heat, nobody moves. It's actually LBH who have similar kit but no matter, they get the message and paddle through. The umpire consults his notes and calls on Belfast. Nobody moves. "Belfast?" again. The umpire consults his clipboard again; "Elizabethan?" Nobody moves. With some urgency the umpire consults his notes, flicking through several pages, evidently a little confused. "Elizabethan?" again. Everybody looks around for Elizabethan to show a hand. Not a sausage. "Er, boat 3, who are you please?"

Cygnet Wylie, we're Cygnet.

[For newer members, umpire Wylie is infact Chairman of Cygnet RC - Ed]

Met Regatta Draw, 27/05

The draws for the Saturday and Sunday of this weekend's Metropolitan Regatta are now up on their website. See our links page (Regatta section).

Barnes Bridge are also racing both days. Good luck to all crews.

Banyoles GB Crews, 22/05

The crews have been announced for the first World Cup regatta at the end of the month.

Geordie seems to have been overlooked!

Twickers, 20/05

The draw for Saturday's Twickenham Regatta can be found here.

Best of luck to all crews.

We hope that the fact that most of the Cygnet novice squad were beering-it-up in YWH last night won't effect their performance. Yes you were spotted and you know who you are...

RBeebies, 19/05

Excitingly there's some international rowing coming up on the Beeb.

Details of programme times can be found here.

Set your Betamaxes / VHSes / PVRs / Humaxes / Sky Pluses early to avoid disappointment.

Haircut One Hundred, 18/05

Sadly no wins to report from Putney Town, so back to training before more racing at Twickenham on Saturday.

Anyone who has 15 seconds to spare this week might like to try a 100 metre challenge against the big boys. How hard can it be?

Exec AGM, 13/05

Just a remider that the Boathouse Executive AGM is this Saturday, 16th May at noon. Be there or be square.

Agenda to follow, apparently?

Putney Town Draw, 13/05

Saturday's PT draw/timetable can be found here.

Lots of Cygnet action in novice fours (two crews), eights, IM3 singles and VetD doubles. If you're near Putney give them a shout.

Best of luck (also) to the BBLRC crews racing. LOTS of eights and fours.

Novice News, 12/05

The first of what we hope will be a regular update of the latest news from our very active novice squad:

Hammersmith Regatta

We entered an VIII and a IV. The VIII raced first and it was indeed the first race ever for half of that crew. They lined up against Kingston and flew off the start at a rate of 42 - pretty impressive I think you'll agree. Unfortunately, the red and white hoops of the oppo must have really done something to our guys as they then strode out to 41! It was pretty unsustainable and I think the margin was one length of clear water in the end.

The IV had a better first race, beating a Thames RC boat easily - a very impressive feat (and it's always nice to beat one of the big boys!). They then met a very very quick Norwich School crew in the semi, losing by 3 lengths. I believe Norwich won the final against Vesta by 4 lengths, so a pleasing start to the season for us.

The winner of the day however had to be the bar profits. A reasonable contribution was made during the afternoon/evening festivities.

Chiswick Regatta

Was more successful for our VIII, lining up against Vesta and Sons in the semi. According to Vicky, Vesta "looked pretty stacked" (eyes in the boat please Castro!) and therefore favourites to win. However our boys weren't about to let that happen to them, beating Vesta by about a half a length! Unfortunately, neither crew reckoned on Sons who beat us by another half. Still, I count that as a victory!

The IV lined up against Trinity Oxford, who whizzed off the start and won by a long way, as well as St George's College who went off at a more civilised pace. It was neck and neck until about half way down the course, when a largish wash hit our crew, resulting in a mini crab on stroke side and then: The. Biggest. Crab. In. The. World. Ever. On bow side. It was a boat stopper. It was a "turn the boat 90 degrees" sort of thing. Needless to say we didn't come second.

Again, an afternoon of polite conversation ensued.

Borne Regatta

An VIII and a IV again - the VIII was off first against Canford School. The boys have obviously learnt a load in the past few weeks - they were up at the start, settled to a much better rate and everything was going swimmingly until a wobble towards the end lost us some speed, which by all accounts was grasped by the well drilled opposition. One length was the distance.

The IV came up against Thames in the final. A straight final, but still a final. They were advised that the club would be happy should they win and turn senior, but bl**dy happy if they lost. Like the good boys they are, they allowed* Thames to get a seat or two off the start, and then allowed* them to gradually increase the lead to two lengths by the finish. Thank you guys!

*in case anyone ARA related is watching, 'allowed' may not be the most accurate word!

What have we learnt?

...bring on Putney Town, and Twickenham, and Peterborough, and BMI (or maybe Durham?), and Neots, and T&V and Peterborough II.

Looking forward to hearing the cheers...

Rob.

Captain's Report, 11/05

Right well we know its an awfully long time since I sent a report, my sincere apolgies for those of you who look forward to them with eager anticipation. In my defence we did take off to NZ for 5 weeks the day after the Head of the River. So, its been quite a while and tons has happened so I'll have to give you a brief summary rather than a full account.

Hammersmith Head, in the build up to the Head of the River saw us fielding 3 eights, 2 senior crews and a novice 8. The crews came in 48, 53 and 81. Unfortunately for the HoR we were only able to secure 2 places in the draw so our novice 8 missed out on racing. We were pleased to have a top 200 place again this year with the first 8 coming in at 181 and the 2nd 8 came in at 271.

Vets head - I think, trying to decipher the codes on the results that we had a Vet D crew entered, and I think it finished 62nd overall - but forgive me if I'm wrong on that score.

Sculling camp took place whilst we were down under and I understand from my capable deputy Rob that the weekend was very successful and well attended.

The summer short course racing is now upon us and it started with Hammersmith Regatta on the Tideway on Sat 25 April. The novices and vets made sure Cygnet was represented. The novice 8 lost to Kingston in round one but the novice 4+ won its first race against Thames - verdict easily! they went on but unfortunately lost to Norwich School later in the day. The vet D double of Shea and Rawkins bet Vesta by 1 1/4 lengths. Well done guys.

Chiswick Regatta was held the following weekend and our novices and vets were out in action again. Unfortunately none of the crews made it to the finals. The following day the senior squad was out at Dorney for the first of the punishing 2k regattas. We had crews in the IM3 8+ and IM2 8+ and the IM1 4- (thats code for the new categories of Intermediate 1, 2 and 3). Not great results on the day but a starting off point and we are looking ahead to hopefully stronger more competitive performances for the Met in a few weeks. The racing was followed by a bit of a jolly at the club ahead of the bank holiday - with karaoke too - thanks Stu!

This weekend saw the novices and the vet double back in action again for the Borne regatta - am not sure of the results as this goes out but its great to know the club is being represented at the tideway regattas and its especially great we have a growing number of novices getting in race experience. We're looking forward to further racing for the novices with Putney Town regatta next weekend. Thanks to Richard Keyser for his great job getting this bunch of guys up and rowing and into a proper squad and thanks also to Rob for taking them on in Rich's recent absence. Its the first time in a number of years we have a proper novice squad and its great to think we've got new people helping to fill our club.

A few housekeeping matters -

1) I understand there have been some altercations over boat use in my absence. Regular racing crews do have priority for boat use but we obviously want to give everyone the chance to row/scull as much as they can. The senior squad now have their sqaud outings Mon, Wed and Fri nights and double outings on Saturday mornings. Although the senior squad are intending to field and 8 and a 4 for the major regattas and Henley, the squad do on occasion need to use a pair in training when numbers so require so if possible please leave a pair available at those times. Otherwise, I dont think there is too much conflicting demand but if it becomes a problem we will have to revert to a system of asking for my permission in advance of outings so we can avoid clashes but I am very loathe to move to such a system which means more admin. Lets keep an eye on it and remember to revert to me if you have any queries or concerns over boat use.

2) As you know the bar and kitchen have recently been renovated and it would be nice if we could keep it looking like a place we can be proud of, rather than reminiscent of a student flat. The ute has been replaced with a mitsubishi pajero so there is no reason people cant do their bit for around the place and do a run to sainsburys to drop off a load of plastic and glass bottles at the recycling. If you cant drive do your bit by taking a rubbish bag out back to the bins, empty the bin in the shed or perhaps put dishes in the dishwasher and/or unload it - these things dont do themselves and it always the same very few people who end up doing it so spend a few minutes helping make the place a bit more pleasant.

3) I understand there's still a chance to order a blazer if you missed out on the previous fitting, contact Stu.

4) As mentioned we have replaced the ute with a pajero which has been fitted with a tow bar and had its first serious towing duties out to Dorney. We do have only a handful of people between the 2 clubs that can and do tow - and by handful I'm being generous. We do need more people to learn to tow as this could prevent us attending regattas in future. Neil is happy to teach anyone who will volunteer, with some lessons up on Duke's Meadow. It is a very important part of rowing - boats dont get to regattas or to the repair shop otherwise! If you are interested and willing to learn please contact Neil.

Finally, I know you are all eagerly looking forward to the arrival of our new bow loader coxed four. I understand it should be arriving in Germany in a few weeks and should be with us shortly thereafter.

Thats definitely enough for this report, I'll make sure the next one is not so long in coming.

Cheers,

Pete.

Commitment, 08/05

Thrillingly, our committee page has now been updated with all the latest runners and riders. The link is somewhere over there on the left if you haven't anything better to do, although judging by the general lack of 3x2k pieces in the xls you might all have something better to do.

We watch those scores with interest...

Borne Draw, 05/05

The draw for Saturday's Borne Regatta can be found here. Novice 8+ at 10:00 and 4+ (straight through to the final) at 14:40.

Boring, 05/05

From Neil with his WSA hat on:

Follow the link for details of the bore-hole work starting on 18th May. We should only really be affected by the one at Putney Pier. Please see the linked-to "chartlets" for specific info.

chart-let n. a small chart, as for navigation, highlighting a particular feature.

Wobbly Bottoms, 01/05

This looks like it might cause hours of fun, particularly during the old midnight 100m challenge!

Click the image to go to their website.

Rosslyn Park Sevens, 30/04

A reminder that it's the RP 7s on the 6th May and a few Cygnets will be making their way there to watch the rugby after work/outings. All welcome.

Full details on the event's website.

Chiswick Regatta Draw, 29/04

Saturday's Chiswick draw is available here. We've 2 novice crews racing in the morning and then a couple of Vet doubles later in the day.

Best of luck to all 4 crews. If you're in the area go along and give them a shout. First race times for each crew below:

Post-Wallingford Drinks, 28/04

A note from Stu. All welcome:

Following our return from Wallingford regatta on Sunday, the boathouse bar will be open for post regatta drinks as per usual. To spice things up a bit, we've managed to rig up some karaoke kit so those of you of the singing persuasion can warble away into the evening. Those not up for singing can just sit there and laugh at your friends. At some point in the evening, we'll all pitch in some cash for a food run to Tania's Fish Bar. Nice and simple post regatta entertainment. Hope to see you there.

BBLRC Head Of The River, 28/04

Well done to the Barnes Bridge four who took the Head of the River title at Saturday's City of Oxford Bumps. Their crew comprised Zoe, Jo, Rachael, Michelle and Dave. Nice Bumps, Ladies!

Wallies, 27/04

The Wallingford draw is up for those that are interested. Hope your alarm clocks are all functioning.

First Regatta First Win, 27/04

Well done to our VetD double, comprising Chris Shea and Andy Rawkins, who raced in Saturday's season-opening Hammersmith Amateur Regatta and beat a crew from Vesta by 1.25 lengths. See the results page for more details.

It was also good to see a couple of novice crews race for the first time.

Unfortunately the eight went down to Kingston by 2.75 lengths in the 3rd race of the day

The coxed four (comprising half the eight) got through its first heat - beating Thames B easily. They then lost to Norwich School A by 4.5 length in the semi-final.

The guys were subsequently spotted drinking beer in AK's bar and plotting their comeback - at Chiswick on Saturday!

Belated Congratulations, 23/04

Belated congratulations to (ex?) Cygnet member (does he still pay his sub?) Peter Leffler and his wife Melissa who gave birth to a baby girl, Amelie Althea, at 10am on the 10th April. She weighed in at 7lb 2ozs and all were reported well.

We at the blog hadn't heard the name Althea before so we looked it up:

The girl's name Althea \a-lthea, al-thea\ is pronounced al-THEE-ah. It is of Greek origin, and its meaning is "healing herb". From Althaia, and of a different root from Alethea. The name is derived from a shrub that is also called a marshmallow. Greek mythology: mother of Meleager. The name was revived in the 17th century by poet Richard Lovelace, as a poetic name for his beloved. Tennis celebrity Althea Gibson.

So now you know.

Go Go Novo, 23/04

Good luck to our (very active) novice squad most of whom will be side-by-side racing for the first time in Saturday's Hammersmith Regatta.

The first heat for their eight is at 08:40 and their four races at 10:05.

If you're around give them a cheer.

You're Driftwood, 23/04

From the River Manager for our bit of the Tideway (via Neil):

A passive drift wood collector is shortly to be moored to the Putney Town Buoy (the black buoy). Those of you who have ventured downriver will have seen these in action in various places along the river - notably opposite wandsworth park and above some driftwood barges at Chelsea.

These devices collect tons of rubbish from the river every year and work on the simple principle that they are put as close to the current as possible and simply scoop up the rubbish. The only problem with them is that the further downriver you go the less rubbish they collect as the current becomes much wider. A collector behind the black buoy is likely to pick up a lot of driftwood (along with the thousands of plastic water bottles lost off the putney embankment every year) and so the PLA in agreement with the TRRC is carrying out a trial to confirm this.

For those of you who navigate without looking behind you there is a slightly increased risk of collision, as it is somewhat wider than the black buoy - but I am sure everyone else would agree that the positive environmental considerations (and the decrease in random bits of wood banging off your hulls) will be worth it.

Sculling Camp, 26/03

From Mr. Henderson:

Afternoon all,

Right, Sculling Camp, the highlight of the year: it's coming. It's going to be good. Oh yes, it's going to be really, really good. I've been informed we have Killepitsch...all we need now is to get that pole up in the sitting room and we're away!

Fingers crossed our 'all singing-all dancing' 'new' 'ute' will get it's first bit of work in shifting the trailer over in time for the camp...otherwise we may have to put our bribery caps on and approach MAA again...

There will be some stuff going on the week before, especially some potential cheeky sculling/socialising on Friday 3rd (contact me if you are planning on coming over then), however, Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th are the Days Of Justice.

Here's the plan:

We'll get everyone who can make it down for 10:30am on the Saturday morning for the safety briefing before letting you all loose on the river. Alan has put his hat in the ring for teaching the rookies the ways of sculling and imbibing German booze; I haven't asked him yet (!), but Neil will be there too; feet in the river and making you all do silly things in the boat. While he take photos of you.

This will be followed by lunch and more sculling/newspaper reading/meat cooking for the rest of the day. We'll then (weather permitting) get a bbq going outside and start the descent into a night of drinking.

Everyone is more than welcome to stay overnight, although there is a very limited number of beds, so if you do have a tent that would be great. Sue E has very kindly (some would say naively?) offered an enormous 8 man tent; please contact me if you're interested in borrowing it.

The Sunday will be more sculling, some brunch and then a general tidy up; aiming to leave in the mid afternoon.

The money:

This does totally depend on numbers - the more we have the cheaper it will be - but the rough cost of last time is below. We don't have Pete and Bookers this time, so my suggestion is that we supermarket it on the day and work out cost from there. Also, if any one fancies volunteering to cook I would be eternally in their debt, as would the local hospital, as that's where you're all going if I'm chef!

Any profit we make goes to the bungalow, the club and me*

What I need from you:

If you're coming over, please email me to let me know as well as when you're planning on coming. This is to get an idea of numbers for food/cost/beds. As said before, friends, WAGs and HABs are more than welcome too.

A few of you have mailed me before, but if you could just confirm again that'd be great as I know plans can change!

Also, any hippy vegetarians any other 'unorthodox' food requests to me please! By the way, I can mock veggies as Becky is one, so it's fine. Sort of.

I reckon that's it, let me know your plans, ask me any questions and I'll hopefully see you all at some point on the 4th/5th!

*hugs*

Rob

*profits will not go to me

Old Old Old Old Men, 24/03

Cygnet's VetD crew came in 20/36 in their division in Sunday's Vets Head of the River. Full results here.

HoRR 2009, 24/03

What a beautiful day. Warm weather, efficient boating, tasty cakes, a fire-safefy incident on the barbecue and proof (if it were needed) that "random" single scullers dumped in an eight are better at rowing than a training eight all contributed to Lech-like a warm and fuzzy feeling throughout the day.

Cygnet's crews came in 181st and 271 respectively. Full results can be found here.

All were sad that Wyatt Minor couldn't stay for the post-race drinks, but he did have to take his cat to visit his Mother, so fair enough.

Tree Lopping, 10/03

A note via the Boathouse Captain. Watch your heads...

As confirmed at January's public meeting, the PLA intends to commence works to those trees identified by Bartletts as needing urgent work on or about the 11th of March.

This work is to be undertaken by two local contractors; the London Tree Company and Edward Payne & Co. It will involve felling some trees, and also include pollarding, crown cleaning and crown reduction works. The PLA has engaged ecological consultants to provide the contractors with a methodology that minimises the impact these works will have on the environment and the PLA has retained Ian Barrow to oversee the work.

The work will involve some brief temporary closures of the towpath and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. For any further information please contact the River Manager [email removed - Ed].

Oar For Sale, 05/03

A note from Mr. Leffler below. Please contact the webmaster if you're interested.

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, an enthusiastic young oarsman bought a wooden Cygnet oar in support of Club funds. Since that time the not so enthusiastic, or indeed young, oarsman (read, hasn’t darkened the door of the boathouse for several years) failed to find somewhere to display said oar and has now reached a stage of ultimatum with his long suffering other half. In short, there is a surplus wooden oar, in Cygnet colours, that I would be happy to deliver to the boathouse or its environs (negotiable) in exchange for a good donation to club funds with a reserve of 50 GBP. It comes either complete or with the blade cut off with an amount of shaft as agreed with the new owner.

Captain's Log, 26/02

Giddy all

Time for another update and quite a lot to impart in this one.

AGM

We had the AGM last Sunday, it was well attended and the new committee was voted on. Only major change is that Ronnie, after many many years service has stepped down as secretary - rumour has it he was only meant to fill the post for a year in 1946. Marj was voted on as the new secretary. The meeting also approved the purchase of a new bow-loader coxed four.

Blazers

Fitting for new blazers 5th March - as some/all of you know we are in the process of getting club blazers - the sample material of the semi-leary but not too leary strip is available for viewing on the board in the changing room. 13 or more of you have already put your name down for the measuring- up night to take place on Thurs 5th March at the Dukes Head in Putney. If you have not already told Stu you are attending and would like to order a blazer and want to attend the fitting next Thursday, please let Stu know by Monday. His email is in the cc line. There will a further date early April for those of you who want a blazer but cant make next week's date for measurements to be taken. Please get in touch with Stu about that.

Capsize Drill - Fri 27 March 7pm

As we spend so much time out on a big, busy river in flimsey little boats, it makes sense to know what to do if you should the worst ever happen. So rather than find out the hard way our water safety officer has arranged another capsize drill and swim test in the comfortable, warm and safe environment of a local swimming pool.

This session is not obligatory (be warned, it may become so) but very, very highly recommended, particularly for those new to the sport and/ or club. More experienced members are also encouraged to attend if they haven't done so before and those that have already done a capsize drill are more than welcome to refresh their skills - it is of particular relevance to those likely to go out in smaller boats or who have never experienced the real thing.

The session will be run by Jenny Hawtin from BBLRC who is a qualified coach and will be held at New Chiswick Pools which is ten minutes walk from the club. Alas they can only accomodate us on a Friday night but we could always sneak out for a quick beer after!

If you've never done a capsize drill before please make every effort to attend. Please let Neil know if you will be attending - his email address also in the cc line.

WHoRR

The women's head is on Saturday 7th March and as always Mike Collier is looking for a handful of volunteers to help with boating on the day. The race starts at 12:30pm and we have about 50 visiting crews. He'll need 3 people from 9:30am to man the numbers desk - handing out numbers to crews and collecting boating fees. From 11:00am he'll need 5 people to help with boating. If you can help please drop Mike a line - also cc'd above Ordering Kit

As some/all of you know we recently changed kit suppliers to DiBi sports and changed the strip. DiBi have kit ordering windows, the upcoming windows for ordering are:

6-27 March and 17 April - 8 May.

These windows allow the supplier to do the kit in batches to help keep prices down. To order visit the dibi website and look up Cygnet you need the User name: [removed] Password: [removed]. Senior and Novice squad guys you will be expected to be racing in the new kit this season so if you haven't already ordered, please get on and do so.

Sculling Camp

Week commencing Monday 30th March, culminating with the 'Weekend Jamboree' (sponsored by Killepitsch) from the evening of Friday 3rd to the afternoon of Sunday 5th April.

See the cygnet website for Rob's email with details of the weekend but essentially its a lovely opportunity to escape the city for the weekend or the day and tootle around on a lovely picturesque and sheltered stretch of the Thames. Let Rob know if you are planning to attend or have any queries.

Safety Tip of the Week

When using one of our club boats you are representing the club and it is important you obey rules of the river and act with courtesy and common sense. Not only is it for your own safety but the club does get "told off" and can earn demerit points for rule breaking or unsafe conduct. This includes the launch and remember to use the kill switch.

Summary of upcoming up events:

Until next time

Pete

Barnes Bridge, 25/02

BARNES BRIDGE SET TO RECEIVE GBP 3 MILLION FACELIFT

One of London's landmark bridges is to get a GBP3m makeover, courtesy of Network Rail. Barnes Bridge, in the London Borough of Richmond, will be refurbished starting next month.

The refurbishment will see 16,000 square metres of wrought iron trusses and arches on the grade II listed bridge being cleaned, stripped down to the bare metal and re-painted in two tones of grey. In addition, work will also be undertaken to remove algae and replace corroded metal and damaged brickwork. The work is expected to commence at the end of March 2009, and is expected to be completed early in 2010.

Richard O'Brien, Network Rail's Wessex route director, said: "Barnes Bridge is an important river crossing for one of our busiest commuter services, with a history going back to the 1840s. This bridge is a source of pride for Network Rail, so we have planned the work to reflect the bridge's importance to the community, both as a river crossing and a local landmark. We hope the long- term positives of this scheme will outweigh any short-term disruption while we undertake these vital improvement works."

Much of the work will be done during the day, but in order to keep rail services running, some trackside elements will need to be carried out at night. It will also be necessary to close the footpath across the bridge for up to six weeks at a time during different periods of the work. Network Rail has been working with Richmond Council's environmental health officer to help minimise disruption for residents and businesses during the works. Network Rail will provide advance notification about planned footpath closures and will be communicating directly with the community about the project. The refurbishment works have been staggered in order for the Thames to remain open to river traffic throughout.

Notes to Editors:

The wrought iron bridge structure was constructed by Joseph Locke in 1891, replacing the original cast iron bridge which was built in the 1840s. It was last painted in the early 1970s. It is fairly unusual in that there are very few railway bridges over the River Thames which also incorporate pedestrian footpaths. In years gone by, tickets were sold to spectators who used Barnes Bridge as a vantage point to watch the University boat race, as it sits within the final mile of the course.

MOST IMPORTANTLY FOR US:

Furthermore, there will be a number of periods when the footbridge over the river will need to be closed, generally between the hours of 09:30 – 15:30hrs, to allow safe installation of scaffolding:

We understand the effect our activities may have on the local community and we can assure you that our team is familiar with working in close proximity to residents on schemes of this nature. Some of the work will generate noise, but we will try to plan such activities to daytime periods where possible.

Bungalow Report 2008, 23/02

Ronnie's annual bungalow report can now be found on our docs page.

On Account, 20/02

The 2008 financial statement has been agreed by the Club's independent examiners, who have carefully appraised all collateralised debt obligations and credit default swaps, and rightly determined that they are valueless. So ..... the Club has less of a balance sheet than [insert name of your High St bank] but at least what there is, is true.

This will be presented briefly at Sunday's AGM; the Hon Treasurer will have the temerity to offer himself for re-election yet again. [but he's waived his bonus]

Any burning question, do feel free to e-mail him.

He WON'T be chopping down much forest for Sunday - if you'd like your own paper copy, please print one?

Click here for the document.

Spring Sculling Camp, 17/02

Boom! Yep, that's right. The most scullerific event of the best season (chocolate eggs, days getting longer, chocolate bunnies, my birthday, getting to laugh at all the financial people slaving away for the 'end of the year', chocolate and Spurs/Newcastle getting relegated from the Premiership) is in the diary...

Spring Sculling Camp is going to be:

Week commencing Monday 30th March, culminating with the 'Weekend Jamboree' (sponsored by Killepitsch) from the evening of Friday 3rd to the afternoon of Sunday 5th April.

This is conveniently the week after the Boat Race and just before Easter weekend, when I'm sure training will step up for everyone in preparation for regatta domination. In fact, I believe that Sarah and Kathryn are right now thinking of even more ingenious ways of making us Cygnets suffer...in their "Cave of Doom" (Cafe Nero).

For all you lot who are new to the club or have never been before, the bungalow is on a very nice, calm stretch of the Thames at Shepperton.

There may well be a few people taking advantage of the place the week before, however the weekend is the main focus with sculling lessons for anyone that wants them on the Saturday morning, followed by food, more sculling and an evening of polite conversation*. Sunday involves even more food and more (perfect) sculling, before we pack up in the afternoon.

Everyone from both clubs is more than welcome, as are friends/family/randoms off the street; in fact the more the merrier! You can also certainly come along for either day if you're far too busy and important for the whole weekend.

I will be sending out more information about the camp closer to the time, but if you do have any questions, give me a shout and I'll be happy to answer them...or make up an answer if I don't know.

If anyone is definitely planning on coming then I'd be grateful if you could let me know when you get the chance so I can start thinking about numbers.

Ta!

Rob.

* If you are planning on staying on Saturday night then a tent may be required as bed space is pretty limited. **

** If you don't have a tent then ask Josh if you can stay in his. ***

*** You're more likely to get a 'yes' on this one if you are a BBLRC, rather than Cygnet member.

Capsize Drill, 17/02

As we spend so much time out on a big, busy river in flimsey little boats, it makes sense to know what to do if you should the worst ever happen. So rather than find out the hard way we have, in conjunction with the BB Ladies, arranged another capsize drill and swim test in the comfortable, warm and safe environment of a local swimming pool.

This session is not obliatory (be warned, it may become so) but very, very highly recommended, particularly for those new to the sport and/or club. More experienced members are also encouraged to attend if they haven't done so before and those that have already done a capsize drill are more than welcome to refresh their skills - it is of particular relevance to those likely to go out in smaller boats or who have never experienced the real thing.

The session will be run by Jenny Hawtin from BBLRC who is a qualified coach and will be held at New Chiswick Pools which is ten minutes walk from the club. Alas they can only accomodate us on a Friday night but we could always sneak out for a quick beer after!

If you've never done a capsize drill before please make every effort to attend.

Neil.

Captain's Report, 09/02

Hi all, not much of huge importance has happened but its a month since my last report so its time to drop you a line. In the last month the senior squad has picked up the pace of training in preparation for the Head of the River. Complaints are running high about the 16k ergs and their effect on the rear end but its all in the name of base fitness. We entered one boat for the Quintin Head but a minor clash with London 800m's from the finish line which hampered the speed somewhat - never mind, all good preparation for the main event. We have a burgeoning novice squad and they too have picked up the pace of training as they contest for seats in the novice 8.

We are fielding two senior 8s at least once on a weekend and the novices are also out in an 8 both days so space in the changing room on some weekend mornings is now at a premium. Circuits on a Thursday night is also proving popular, with 17 turning out last week - all in the name of strength and fitness. Our new coach Sarah is drilling us like a sergeant major!

Hopefully by now you have all received your copy of the annual report from Ronnie. Subs are now due, see my previous emails. There are rumours afoot about the fitting for our new club blazers - I understand Geordie and Stu are organising one or two sessions at the Duke's Head in Putney for you to attend and be measured up - we would love to see you all kitted out in club blazers for Henley this year. One or other of them will no doubt let us know the details in due course. For those that have not seen the sample it is pinned to the notice board in the changing room.

Coming up events:

We will need to field our launch plus a driver for each of the above heads so for anyone not racing your volunteering to drive would be much appreciated - its an important obligation we need to fulfill so please consider it.

Spring Sculling Camp, 05/02

Just a quick heads-up from the SC co-ordinator:

It's looking like Sculling Camp will be Mon 30th March to Sunday 5th April.

We can almost hear the diaries rustling!

Kit Dates, 03/02

Kit order closing dates, 2009:

Your orders will be collated and sent for manufacture as each closing date expires and you can expect your delivery from 4 & 6 weeks thereafter.

Quintin Head, 26/01

New Year racing commenced on Saturday with the Quintin Head. One Cygnet eight raced and (we hear) had some fun-and-games with a London crew.

Full results can be found here.

Xmas Puddings, 20/01

It's great to see everyone back in the swing so enthusiastically, but even more encouraging was the amount of training done over the Christmas break itself. Some recent examples from the squad training log:

30th Dec: "broke world record in 110m hurdles on the Wii". N.Wyatt

31st Dec: "[for erging 11k rather than prescribed 15k] gym shut so had to stop". A.Naylor

3rd Jan: "Wii fit 20min". S.Gibbons

An inspiration to us all...

Subs, 12/01

A timely reminder that your subs are now due. Here are the pertinent facts:

We look forward to investing your cash...

Captain's Log, 05/01

Happy New Year to all,

Well we finished the year with a good result at the Plum Pudding race which we were invited to by Quinten. It is a very enjoyable way to start the Christmas festivities and many thanks to Quintin for the invite. This year 2 crews were entered and the novices plus one BBLRC in the crucial bow seat managed to secure a hard fought 2nd place and in the process, won the prized Christmas Puddings. Festive drinks were had in the recently refurbished club bar. Music kindly provided by the Dobbo.

The 8's head training started seriously on the 28th with a senior 8 venturing onto a rather quiet Thames for a very productive and successful coached outing. Monday and Tuesday also saw a coxless 4 making the most of the quiet Thames and near perfect but rather chilly conditions. The training was not only isolated to the water, the shed saw quiet alot of action including some committed members down to do ergs and guns on New Years Eve.

With all the festivities over for a while it is back into a new year of training. This weekend the river was treated to a senior 8 and coxless 4 laying down slabs of raw power. This was witnessed by the odd duck and a Heron on the river bank, and the rest of the returning clubs on the Thames. Outings were followed by a fast-paced run on Saturday and weights on Sunday. Not a bad way to work off those extra helpings of beer and dessert. Training is now back into full swing and places being sort for the Head races will have to be fought for, we should all be in for a hard but rewarding start to the New Year. With Sarah focusing on technique and pushing all of us on the fitness on and off the water we are off to a positive if not tired start.

NEW ADDITIONS:

We would all like to welcome a new addition to the Cygnet Junior Club. Barry and Becs gave birth ( Becs mostly) to a baby girl on December the 23rd at Chelsea hospital. Isabelle was good enough to arrive a month early allowing her father the opportunity to participate in the Head race season which is much appreciated. We are well now on our way to a junior mixed 8. Plans are now been submitted to the Hounslow Council for the building of a push chair parking bay and jungle gym.

SAFETY ON THE WATER: As the temperatures drop warm clothing is essential both on and off the water. Dress for the occasion and ensure you are well prepared for the conditions." We hardened southerners can cope in shorts but the rest of you make sure you've got your longs on!

KIT:

As most of you are aware we have changed the Cygnet row suit style, the new design enhances are positive muscular areas of the body and minimizes the flaws. For all those who intend to race in the head and summer season this dynamic outfit is compulsory kit by the Hammersmith Head - get on and order it now - you wont regret it - Kathryn says I look like I've lost 2 stone and 10 years younger. ( it has nothing to do with the fact that she is doing more of the cooking now )

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Pete.

We Have Been Here Before, 01/01

HAPPY NEW YEAR from all at the blog! More soon...