News & Events
Cygnet Weekly News
23rd March 2016
Winter is officially over. Head of the River weekend marks the end of winter and beginning of spring and it certainly felt cold out there on Saturday. Well done to all 3 crews that competed over the two days and especially well done for the 5 guys (Scott, Piers, James, Vasil and Robert) rowing HoRR for the first time after joining the club and taking up rowing just 5 months ago. I hope everyone got a buzz from it and didn't mind the choppy water down the course. Bragging rights go to Marj and Dave's crew, I hope those out on Saturday for Cristobal's 4.0 were kind to the members of the losing crew. Results were:
Cygnet 1 - 21 mins 23 secs (280 overall)
Cygnet 2 - 22 mins 02 secs (308 overall)
Both crews put in very encouraging rows that gives promise for the regatta season if we keep working hard on and off the river.
On Sunday the Cygnet/TSS Mas F composite finished in 22 mins 39secs 161 out of 219 after many changes and late substitutions in the crew but the main thing is that the made the race!
Go check out the race faces:
Cygnet 1
Cygnet 2
Cygnet/TSS MasF
This week:
Thursday 7pm Squad recovery erg, 30 mins r20 feet out
Weekend
Not many of us around at the weekend and not enough to make up crews so it will be small boats for those who are signed off to steer. The river should be much quieter that of late so we could make up a sculling pod at 8 on Saturday and 9 on Sunday.
Further Ahead
Sculling Camp 15-17th April. Great opportunity to learn new skills. One on my aims for this summer is to get more people signed off to steer small boats. It makes organising crews over the summer much easier. It starts with learning to scull and gaining enough skill on sculling camp to be able to carry on under supervision back on the Tideway.
Even further ahead
Regatta season starts soon. That means side by side blade clashing action and lots of the thrills, spills and hopefully pots. In the next week I'll compile the list of regattas for us to target. In April, May and June we have a run of local Tideway regattas and we should aim to be represented at all of them. We will start training on the river on Tuesday and Thursday evenings after Sculling Camp and we will be spending more time in smaller boats rather than 8s. That requires steersmen to bow steer 4s and 2s, so that's why we need more people to pass their steering tests.
More of the summer plan in the next week or so.
Finally
A massive thanks to all those who helped in the run up to HoRR with coxing and coaching and on the day:
Alan, Marj, Sue, Robin, Matt and Claudia
Finally, Finally
Boat Race on Sunday, Women's race at 3:10 Men's at 4:10, come and cheer the Dark Blues to more wins.
Jez
Eric Wale
9th March 2016
Eric William Wale
30th April 1931 - 11th February 2016
Rowing often runs in families. It is not hard to think of some of the longstanding names in our sport - the Phelps and the Barrys come easily to mind. Still, such longevity remains the exception rather than the rule at Cygnet. That said, though, one family that can point to almost a century of association with Cygnet is the Wales.
Eric William Wale, who died on 11th February 2016, was the son of W.G. (Billy) Wale, who joined Cygnet at Hammersmith in the early 1920s and remained a keen supporter in the post-war period. Minutes of annual general meetings throughout the early 1950s record the presence of both father and son and some of Eric's surviving contemporaries still recall Wale senior as an enthusiastic cheer leader at regattas, sharing in their trials and triumphs.
Eric joined Cygnet in 1949, directly from National Service, having served in the RAF. Indeed, according to Frank Caughlin, a fellow crew member, Eric's first appearance at Cygnet was in his RAF uniform. However, Eric quickly made the transition to 'civvy' street, initially joining the Treasury Solicitor's Department, before moving to the Telephones Branch of the General Post Office (GPO), thus maintaining family tradition ('Billy' had also worked in the GPO as a postman). In later years, this branch of the GPO would be hived off as British Telecom (BT), where Eric would enjoy a highly successful career until retirement in the late-1980s.
In 1949, Eric would have been welcomed at Cygnet as one of a new wave of 'young blood' upon whom the club's hopes of reclaiming the victorious years of the 1930s would hang. Eric took an active interest in club affairs and soon found himself on the committee. By 1950, the club was in a position to boat an Vlll for open regattas consisting entirely of the post-war intake of new members. Thereafter, Cygnet continued to build up a competitive head of steam such that by 1953, in Eric's own words (penned in the 1990s), 'there was a real feeling that the breakthrough had been achieved'.
Eric was referring to a Junior Vllls win at Chiswick, Cygnet's first win in open competition since 1939. A photograph of the victorious crew drawn from Cygnet's digitized archives (available to view on the web site) shows Eric standing on the far right, the initials E.W.W. proudly emblazoned across his tracksuit top. Silverware aside, Eric also met Sylvia, his future wife, at Chiswick Regatta. By 1954, Cygnet was riding on a high and Eric rowed in winning Junior-Senior Vllls at Horseferry, Willesden and Kingston, followed by Maidenhead in 1955.
Every generation retains fond memories of their competitive (and less competitive) years at Cygnet. In Eric's case, we are fortunate that he chose to devote some of his retirement to authoring 'Cygnet Rowing Club: The Fifties'. This account, which proved invaluable in the compilation of a more recent history of the club, captures the spirit of the post-war era at Cygnet and justifiably concludes that 'the fifties were by any standard a period of significant achievement'.
Although Eric retired from active rowing in the fifties, he retained a keen interest in the club's activities for the rest of his days and regularly attended club social occasions. As club historian, I am particularly grateful for the club memorabilia that he periodically passed on to me in later years. Some of this memorabilia dated back to the time of Wale senior, like the 1922 Civil Service Regatta programe, which lists 'Billy' rowing three in Novice lVs.
One of Eric's regrets was that he never competed at Henley Royal Regatta, although 'the intention or aim was always there'. Nonetheless, he rarely missed an opportunity to attend Henley Royal, joining Vic Reeves and Frank Caughlin for an annual visit to the Stewards Enclosure. That said, Eric was happiest picnicking with family and friends out on the towpath close to the start of the regatta, comfortable in the knowledge (as he put it) that 'everybody does Henley in their own way'.
Eric is survived by his wife Sylvia and two daughters, Gill and Sarah. Among those who attended his funeral at Chilterns Crematorium, Amersham on 26th February were his rowing contemporaries Frank Caughlin, Maurice Hart and Brian Lovis, all of whom recalled carefree days sparring in club regattas on the Chiswick reach more than half a century ago.
Paul Rawkins
Club Historian
March 2016
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
