News & Events
Cygnet Weekly News
21st February 2016
Main event of the weekend was Hammersmith Head with our novice crew getting more battle hardened and used to marshalling for an hour is heavy rain and strong winds. They put in a solid performance and tidy rowing to keep Marj happy coming 94 out of 147 overall and 13th out of 17th in category. The crews were tightly bunched and a 14 second improvement would have gained 5 places in the category.
As well as the race we had 4-, 2- and 2x out in windy conditions on Saturday and 4-, 2x and 1x on Sunday morning and we can vouch for how much effort it takes to get to the Pink House against wind and tide at the moment. The 8+ can vouch for how rough it was on the flood tide with wind against tide. And it was good to welcome Tom McCauley to the 4- crews and I hope your hand recover soon.
So we are now 4 weeks away from Head of the River weekend. We have all of 3 weekends to get out on the water. 2 crew have been entered at IM3, we need to see two crews on the water in training. It's asking a lot just to turn up on the day and expect a good result. So please please please make every effort to make the outings for the next 3 weeks. Get your availability up to date on the spreadsheet. Time together as a crew improves performance, cuts your time and gets a better finish position. We will publish the provisional crews shortly, but they are not set in stone (we had to get the crews entered by last Friday's deadline). I we can get two eights out we can do race pieces side by side or chasing each other. It gets us fitter and race ready. Make it happen!!!
So...
This week,
Tuesday 7:15
Circuits with Maxi at Cavendish School. I hear guys on squad erg night complaining how much it hurts SO IT MUST BE WORKING. Only 4 more sessions to go before HoRR so make them count!.
Thursday 7pm
Squad Erg
Sorry guys it's time to put in the miles. So its 50 mins made up of 10 mins repeats of 4 mins r20, 3 mins r 22, 2 mins r 24, 1 min r26.
Weekend outings at 8am Saturday and Sunday
Please make every effort to get on the water and get two crews out. Sue is available to coach on Sunday and will put you through your paces, Alan with coach on Saturday. As per the squad erg it will be about the hard miles and hard pieces on the river
Further Ahead
Sculling Camp is coming up on the 15-17th April. This is a unique opportunity to get in a single scull on a quiet and calm stretch of the river at our lovely bungalow at Hamhaugh Island. For our new novices you can get the basics of sculling in the Weybridge play pen then develop them back at base over the summer. Sculling is fab fun, singles are scary and exhilarating and a great thing to master, great satisfaction as your skills improve and you gain control of the boats and freedom of the Tideway.
It has also been suggested that for more experienced rowers we make it more of a training camp ie more work less beer, or no beers before 6pm. If there is the interest we could get the boats to the bungalow early and take the Thursday and Friday as additional training camp days. I think it's a great idea. Let me know if you are interested.
That's all from me, have a great week, see you for the erg on Thursday
Jez
Cygnet weekly update
9th February 2016
Dear All,
Hats off to all those who got out on the river on Saturday in extremely challenging tide and wind conditions. It's a while since we had a calm day so when eventually spring turns up we will row like the Masters of the Tideway that we are. We are very much in doing the hard yards on and off the water to get ourselves into best shape for HoRR weekend so get down to circuits on Tuesday, get along to the squad ergs on Thursday and make sure your availability is up to date online so we can get maximum water time.
Next job for the captaincy is to pick the crew/s for Hammersmith Head on the 20th Feb
The following said they were available and would like to row in the event
Jez
Nick Rae
Mike England
Charlie
Bart
Iain G
Cris
Scott Liv
Matt B
Gav H
Tom Broadhurst
Simon Suthers
William Mardell
Plus Wylie, Rawks P and Rawks A
That's exactly 16!!! No spares or subs so if anyone isn't available please let me know asap. And if anyone else now finds they are available again please let me know. I want to enter crews by Thursday, entries close on Friday. As things stand I would sort the crews by age with a youthful crew rowing IM3 and MasC/D crew. If we fall short of the numbers for 2 crews we'll enter a Nov 8.
So...
This week:
Tonight 7:15 Circuits with Maxi at Cavendish School
Thursday 7pm Squad Erg at club 3 x 10 mins 4,3,2,1, @ 26,28,30,32, with 3 mins rest.
Friday: Anniversary drinks at the Dukes Head Putney from 6:30
Weekend: Outings at 8am Saturday and Sunday for all those signed up as available.
Have a good week, see you for the erg on Thursday
Jez
Cygnet Weekly News
2nd February 2016
The highlight of the weekend was Quintin Head with two Cygnet VIIIs racing and 5 guy making their debuts in Cygnet colours. Not only that they skipped the Novice category to debut at IM3 and had a highly promising row well in contact with the IM3 pack finishing in 15 mins 11 secs, 114th out of 212 finishers. The Mas D Rawkings special can in 24 seconds behind in 15 mins 35secs in a ridiculously competitive category.We would have done fine in Mas E if Cris had been just a year older. The conditions were great for the time of year, more like spring than January, sorry we cant always guarantee that, Great to see the levels of excitement and enthusiasm so let's build on that and continue to train hard for Hammersmith Head and Head of the River in February and March.
We had a good training outing on Sunday in the VIII plus Raph and Laurent starting training for Pairs Head, it's never too soon to start!!!
This week:
Tuesday 7:15 at Cavendish School, Circuits with Maxi. Good attendances since Christmas is building that all round fitness for the long head races.
Thursday 7pm at Club - Squad Erg 50 mins 5 x 10 mins of 4 mins 20, 3 mins 22, 2 mins 24, 1 min 26. It's time to get those long solid pieced under the belt.
Weekend
Squad outings at 8am, please make sure you availability is up to date. Focus is on longer and harder outings getting us used to pieces at race pace.
Further Ahead
I've had most peoples responses about their intentions for the remaining Head races. We have enough to get 2 VIII into HoRR proper. We should also be able to get two crews for Vets HoRR on the Sunday without having people rowing both days. Paul Rawkins will be chasing people to sign up for a Mas E/F crew, we also have the core of a Mas B/C crew for Vets Head, if someone will volunteer to take the lead on it.
Can I ask that everyone fills in their full availability through to the 19/20 March so we can get a good idea of the number of outings we can get in before the races. If we can get two VIIIs on the river together to push each other and increase competition that can only help. If we have sufficient numbers we can also do Thursday evening outings to maximise water time.
Other Stuff
Capsize Drill Saturday 30th January at St Paul's School 2.30 to 3.30 - everyone is obliged to do this as a condition of rowing on the Tideway, so please attend if you can
Spring Sculling Camp 15/16/17th April Cygnets Bungalow Shepperton.
Get it in your diaries. You've learnt to and mastered sweep rowing, now do the same with sculling. Once you can scull and have passed the steering test we can sign people off to take out singles on the Tideway. Start now and be ready for the summer season on the Thames. And drink beer, eat burgers and generally have fun.
That's all for now
Have a good week, see you Thursday
Jez
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