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Cygnet Update 14th September
Author: Jeremy Pugh |
14th September 2015
G'day all,
Tales from the riverbank...
The Get Fit and Row course is well underway, great turn out of likely looking future Cygnets have now had their first four sessions, great to see so many new keen guys and gals at the club on Saturday morning. Thanks for those who are helping Sian with the sessions, I'll pass on requests from her when people are needed for specific sessions. But be prepared to jump in when we need to get experienced rowers in boats when they go on the water for their first outings.
Pairs Head crews were out training at the weekend despite the odd sore head after the end of season dinner on Friday night. Well done to Charlie and Cris on their well earned awards.
This week:
No planned mid week outings but if you do, you must take lights!!!
Weekend is Sculling Camp at our lovely bungalow. If you can make it, please sign up to the poll or let Nick Rae know directly, we could do with a few more seniors to help with the 3 GFAR guys who've signed up. Weather is looking very promising for sculling and socialising. Nick will let you know when boat loading will be taking place.
So not many around to row on the Tideway, if you do plan to row at HQ on Saturday please put that on the availability spreadsheet so we can put crews together.
Next Week:
Tuesday 22nd 7:15 - Start of Circuit Training at Cavendish School with a new coach, Maxi (ex of BBL) new exercises, same opportunity to improve fitness and core strength for the head races. Please put it in your diary and come along and support this important component of Cygnet life and training.
So squad erg night will move to Thursdays from next week.
Beyond:
3rd October - Rhine Marathon
10th October Pairs Head - time to finalise combos and get entries in
24th October - Henley Lunch, stripy blazer time again
Finally
We are getting the outboard of our launch repaired and serviced on Saturday, I need someone to ensure Joe can get access to the launch and that the boat shop is open. If you plan to be down at the club on Saturday and keep a look out for him can you let me know please.
And that's all for this week
Have a good one
Jez
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Cygnet Weekly News 7th September
Author: Jeremy Pugh |
11th September 2015

Hi All,
Back on the air again after a week swanning around the Alps...
One main topic for this week and that is the start of the Get Fit and Row course that is being run jointly with BBL. It was the first session last night and 27 would be rowers turned up, 11 guys and 16 gals. This is a great result and by far the best uptake we've had for a while. We've have to collectively make sure they get the best experience from the course and that a large proportion sign up as next generation Cygnets. Sian has been doing a fantastic job in advertising a recruiting and scheduling the sessions. With such big numbers it means she will need lots of helpers to run the sessions. We will be splitting them into 3 groups and running 3 sub sessions in parallel with a combination or fitness/circuit, erg, tank and tech talks. We need at a minimum of 4 helpers per session, but more would be better especially helping coaching on the ergs. Once we get them on the water in October we'll need coxes, and boat sitters aplenty. Right now Sian needs at least one more person for this Saturday morning (11- 12:30) and on for the Monday (14th) evening session. Can you get in touch with Sian if you can do either of these (Sian Kunertsian_kunert@hotmail.co.uk ). This will be a recurrent theme in the newsletter, but this is something we all need to get involved with as it is starting to build the base of the club which we all know we have to do. And I think we'll all need to buy Sian a drink or two every time we see her.
At the weekend there were a few of us out in singles and doubles enjoying late summer sun and rough water. It is good to see a new group of scullers getting together, improving their skills, getting to know the river better and developing their river craft. The more people we have who can steer, the more flexibility we have in putting crews together when we are short of coxes. So it would be good to have everyone who's been rowing for over a year to be signed off to steer our boats. We had an open day on Sunday which got a good response, most of those we saw have signed up for the GFAR.This weekend the emphasis is getting the crews who are racing in Pairs Head on the water. Ideally they should go out as a pod and do pieces against each other either side by side or one boat chasing another. It really focuses the mind and gets you used to race conditions, it certainly helped the Nov 4+ before Oxford to do side by side pieces with another crew. I'll put the crews out on Thursday. Laurent, Raph are you around to join the group? Whilst at the club at the weekend can we re-rig the boats that for various reasons and not rigged? 3 of our 4s are not currently rigged after various road trips, we need to get them rigged again to make sure we don't lose bits of boats or riggers get damaged. So bring a rigger gigger on Saturday morning.

Further ahead, it's sculling camp on the 18/19/20. Nick has sent out the details so please sign up via the Doodle Poll. In the current squad there aren't that many who haven't sculled before, so it would be good to treat this as a mini training camp and organise some pieces, maybe a mini head race if the river conditions allow. And some of the GFAR guys are keen to come along so it's a good opportunity to meet them and make them feel part of the club. We'll need a number of volunteers to go down on Friday to rig the boats, get them across to the bungalow and generally set up camp before heading to the pub. Nick will be chasing for volunteers!

Finally it's the end of season dinner at the Coach and Horses on Friday. Hope to see you all there, thanks to Cris for organising everything.
That's (eventually) all,
Jez
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Cygnet Weekly News Monday 17th August
Author: Jeremy Pugh |
24th August 2015
Hi All,Last weekend we at Royal Oxford City at what was probably the last regatta of the season with Anna, Nick R, Cris and Robin and me racing the ever competitive Nov 4+ and Sid and Sharon Elite Mx 2x. Sid and Sharon comfortably saw off their first round opponents before come across a couple of giants in the semis who were in the end just to big.
Nov 4+ rowed through Wadham College (half our age, half our power) in the semi final to win by a couple of lengths before losing by 3 lengths to Merton College in the final (half our age, twice our size). Coming home with pots would have been great but the crew has shown steady improvement over the season making 3 finals and surely it's a matter of time (and hard work) to turn a final appearance into a win. Thanks to Sue for knocking us into shape and the Sen 4- for the side by side race experience on Thursday evening.
On the tideway, assorted scullers were taking advantage of some great conditions and lovely weather to hone there skills and get a tan.This week:Outings on Tuesday and Thursday as per Sue's note. Remember put on lights if you are going to be out after 8pm,
Food on Thursday by Jo Broadhurst, send her an email if you want to partake - broadhurst.jo@gmail.comThis Weekend:Saturday - Roll up for Club Day from 1 pm - We've been rather slow signing up, can all those available make the effort to get down to support this and jump into boats with the lovely girls of BBL and enjoy burger and beers before during and after. Please complete the online poll if you can so we can gauge numberAnother Special Note for LTR- can we all look to promote the Learn to Row starting on the 7th Sept through our contacts, work, etc. The more people we get into it the better chance we have of building the squads for the winter season. There are posters in the club house ready to be posted around the area as well. Pairs Head: Let's get as many crews as we can on the water. So far we have Charlie, Cris, Laurent, Raph, Gareth and myself definitely signed up. Let me know if you want to enter so we can arrange crews, boats, training, and side by side racing in the run up for 10th October.Availability: The spreadsheet has been extended to the end of the year, so get your availability for September at least up to date

Coming up:

22nd August: Club Day for blue on blue action and BBQ
7th September: Start of Learn to Row,
19/20th September: Sculling Camp, Learn to single scull/swim in in incomparable setting of the Cygnets Bungalow at Shepperton Lock
3rd October: Rhine Marathon10th October: Pairs Head - start looking for your partner!
7th November - Fours Head
8th November - Vet Fours Head5th December - Scullers HeadThat's all for now, see you at Club Day.
Jez

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