News & Events
Captain's Log 2611
26th November 2022
Good evening Cygnets
With apologies for a delayed Captain’s log, but pleased to report following a successful Fours and Vets Fours weekend – congratulations to all who raced (and the many sore glutes afterwards) and a huge thank you to all the helpers who supported a successful weekend on land and on water – I really appreciate the hard efforts of our small army of dedicated volunteers who show up and lend a hand on these busy weekends.
Key date for diaries: Squad catch up This Thursday (1st December) 1900 in the club bar. Looking for full squad attendance please.
1. Fours Head / Veterans Fours Head Races
Congratulations to the three crews who raced in the end, some beautiful conditions to row in and good to see Cygnet colours out on the river and the brilliant support from Middlesex and Surrey banks.
Fours Head:
4- Open Club: Matthew Gutteridge, Cristobal Cabrera, Rupert Bailey, Mustafa ÖzyurtVeterans Fours Head:
4x Masters H: Paul Rawkins, Rhodri Walters, Stephen Reeves, Nick Wylie
4- Masters B: Henrik Jonstromer, Martin Drage, Rupert Bailey, Mustafa ÖzyurtWell done to all crews.
2. Next Races:
Our next race will be Sunday 18th December with Quintin Plum Puddings (Pink House to Quintin, followed by Christmas celebrations @QBC). I am hoping to enter two crews (one Vets, one main squad) – Please sign up via Fitclub or via me.
Promises to be a fun event to round off the term and set us up well for the Christmas break. An excellent way to blow away any cobwebs from the BBLRC Christmas party the night before…
2022
- Sunday 18th December: Quintin Plum Puddings
2023
- 29th January: Quintin Head – Tideway
- 26th February: Hammersmith Head – Tideway
- 18th March: Eights Head of the River (HORR) – Tideway
- 19th March: Vets Eights Head of the River – Tideway
3. Training:
Let’s keep at it and keep the lights on the shed as we get towards the end of Heads Season and– that momentum and consistency is really key for building our performance and rowing well, as well as building our squad and crews.
A reminder that all training sessions are online. The Captain is very cognisant of very busy lives and long winter months, but if I can please make a plea for land training sessions and good attendance, especially Charlie’s strength and conditioning – please do sign up and attend whenever to keep up the training effort (which has been making noticeable gains in our boats on the water). The shed is a highly sought after resource and it’s a real shame to see empty spaces / low attendance for Cygnet sessions.
Those who hope to race in forthcoming events, please review your availability, get signed up to race and get booked in for training to attend weekend sessions so we can get race crews out – Race crews are selected with this in mind so please get signed up so we can get our crews on the water.
Those of you who are due to take steering tests, please get booked in with Charlie as we look to complete sign-offs and get coxes and rowers signed off for steering responsibilities.
4. Barnes Bridge Disruption
Many of you will be aware of the defects discovered in Barnes Railway Bridge, this will be a significant disruption to train travel for the foreseeable and may also result in closures to the arches and navigation re-routing – please keep a good look out for inspection boats in the area and any changes to navigation, including bridge closures. We will endeavour to keep you updated but changes may happen at short notice.
Please also note the series of forthcoming planned Barnes Bridge arch closures in November and December which will impact on navigation There are two NTM’s with dates and times when Barnes Bridge arches will be closed u16of2022.pdf (pla.co.uk) and u17of2022.pdf (pla.co.uk)
5. Recruitment campaign – return to and experienced rowers welcome!
Matt, Henrik and I are pushing forward a recruitment campaign in the local area and via the civil service, specifically targeted at those returning to row and looking for a more balanced approach to training that accommodates busy lives and careers.
If you are thinking of getting back into rowing or know someone who might be interested in joining the squad, please do get in touch.
Very grateful for any and all efforts to spread the word, so please help by spreading the message and if you know a good place for advertising the club and our squad, we will be very pleased to hear it!
6. Christmas is Coming…
Cygnet Veteran’s Annual Christmas lunch at the RAF club is planned for Friday 16th December. Please Contact Lawrance McVeigh for more details and to sign up.
BBL Christmas Party on Saturday 17th December at George IV Chiswick. More details to follow in the coming weeks.
Captain's Log: 31 October 22
31st October 2022
Bit of a bumper Captain’s log this week, but lots of important information including crew announcements, safety/navigation matters and some key things coming up where we really need Cygnet helps around the boathouse so will be grateful to all who can lend a hand. All rounded off with a couple of exciting Christmas events to look forward to- yes it’s that time of year already!
Please have a good read and shout to one of the captaincy team if you have any questions or queries.
1. Fours Head / Veterans Fours Head Crew Announcements
I am pleased to announce the racing crews for the forthcoming Fours Races on 19th and 20th of November
Fours Head:
• 4– Open Club: Matthew Gutteridge, Cristobal Cabrera, Rupert Bailey, Mustafa ÖzyurtVeterans Fours Head:
• 4x Masters F: Paul Rawkins, Rhodri Walters, Rhodri Walters, Nick Wylie
• 4x Masters E: Richard Warne, Arnold Paikin, Brad Bryant, Iain Golder (Cygnet / Guildford Composite)
• 4– Masters B: Henrik Jonstromer, Martin Drage, Rupert Bailey, Mustafa Özyurt2. Steering Tests:
Saturday 12 November, we will be conducting written steering tests in the Boathouse. Please can I ask that all squad rowers and coxes who have not yet completed the test sign up to attend so we can get our sign off procedures up to date. Whether you have previously steered or not, it is important that all senior rowers have a good understanding of the river and our rules of navigation – my expectation is that all squad rowers complete the sign-off process. This also helpfully increases our pool of available steers.
Please contact me sign up if you need to complete the test so I can put in place the arrangements with the Safety Adviser. If you cannot make this date, please get in touch to arrange a separate session.
3. Training:
Those who are racing in the forthcoming events, please review your availability over the next two weeks to see whether you can attend more weekend sessions so we can get race crews out – Race crews are selected with this in mind so please get signed up so we can get our crews on the water.
A reminder that all training sessions are online. The Captain is very cognisant of very busy lives and long winter months, but if I can please make a plea for land training sessions and good attendance, especially Charlie’s strength and conditioning – please do sign up and attend whenever to keep up the training effort (which has been making noticeable gains in our boats on the water). The shed is a highly sought after resource and it’s a real shame to see empty spaces / low attendance for Cygnet sessions.
4. Help around the Boat House – Extra hands needed, please sign up:
Working Day – Shed and Building Maintenance Next weekend
You will have seen the message in the boathouse recently – the Boathouse Exec is organising a maintenance day next weekend after outings on Sunday 6th November. Please do hang around and lend a hand for a couple of hours or come down later in the day. Chris Jageurs has a long list of jobs and maintenance tasks he wants to get through, so please do come, armed with elbow grease.Vets & Fours Boating Operations
Fours weekend will be one of our busiest of the year and is one of those events when we really do need all hands on deck to help out with traffic and boating for a couple of hours on raceday. This is a request for all club members to help make the hosting operation a success – we are looking quite light on Cygnet numbers on the current count. Those who are racing either Fours or Vets4s, please sign up for a shift around boating – it’s particularly important that racers lend a hand to make the day a success. On the boating front, we are currently forecasting a really packed weekend, with both days booked to full capacity.Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16vZ8X1DVvG0W8ge6BDEVEjwZg8hLiAU0AUoLbRWwqKw/edit?usp=drivesdk
5. Safety Matters
There is a bumper set of safety announcements online – all crews (and especially steers please take note) in particular a large barge/tree removal operation happening this week on the Hammersmith bend at St Pauls.
Also please note the series of forthcoming Barnes Bridge arch closures in November and December which will impact on navigation There are two NTM’s with dates and times when Barnes Bridge arches will be closed u16of2022.pdf (pla.co.uk) and u17of2022.pdf (pla.co.uk)
6. Christmas is Coming…
Cygnet Veteran’s Annual Christmas lunch at the RAF club is planned for Friday 16th December. Please Contact Lawrance McVeigh for more details and to sign up.
Save the Date: BBL Christmas Party Saturday 17th December at George IV Chiswick. Details to follow.
2022
- 19th November: Fours Head – Tideway
- 20th November: Vets Fours Head – Tideway
2023
- 29th January: Quintin Head – Tideway
- 26th February: Hammersmith Head – Tideway
- 18th March: Eights Head of the River (HORR) – Tideway
- 19th March: Vets Eights Head of the River – Tideway
Captain's Log: 05 October 22
6th October 2022
Hello Cygnets, this is your Captain speaking!
We survived the Rhine!
In what were some of the worst conditions in living memory our three crews fought hard against the water, weather and each other to complete the 42km challenge. Coxed by our Benrath friends Mucha, Tichel and Kett, we counted the boats out and counted them back in again.
It was a hard fought competition and a close margin across the three crews when the final times came in, but experience was triumphant on this occasion and the plaudits go to the Chairman’s Veteran Quad (2:48:39), followed closely by our Senior Mens Four (2:49:06), ahead of the CYG / BBL composite who completed the course in 2:52:28. Congratulations to Wylie, Martin, Tom, Neil and Mucha in victorious form as top of the boats!
Huge credit to all our crews and racers, it takes real stamina, determination and character to get those boats over the line and an extra dose of grit was required in the last 10km this year! Particular shout out to our novice racers Matt G, Mustafa, Anna and Samantha for taking on the challenge this time out, the jury is still out on whether it’s an adventure to be repeated- but we wish glutes and blisters a swift recovery!
Huge thanks of course to our good friends and hosts at RG Benrath who blessed us with warmest hospitality and looked after us splendidly all weekend, keeping the Alt Bier topped up and an enjoyable Erdedankefest to boot. We look forward to welcoming them back to the Tideway for Head of the River in March.
Pairs Head
The Tideway was also in racing strip this weekend and congratulations to Iain and Brad for completing Pairs Head and racing well in Cygnet colours completing the course in 17:35.90.Thanks to those who helped out on the day and were able to lend a hand. Please mark 19–20 Nov in your calendars for Fours / Vets Fours where we really will need all hands on deck for hosting our visiting crews: not just a nice to have so the races can run but an essential source of funding for the clubs which we cannot do without help.
Training & Race Availability
We’re well into Heads Season training now so for the Squad now is the time to make the gains on land as well as on the water. Please keep the shed well populated and training up Mon - Weds - Thurs as per the updated training plan on fitclub. We have no self-rowing ergs and the weights don’t lift themselves!Please look ahead to the next races:
Upper Thames Head 30th Oct and (V) Fours Head of the River. Entries are already opening and filling fast so get your race and training availability up to date through to the end of November please.A reminder too that your BR Race license must be valid for the race day in order to be eligible for racing - this is the rowers responsibility to check and update on British Rowing.
Committee Vacancies
We are still looking to fill two crucial vacancies on the Cygnet Committee - Secretary and Social Secretary, please get in touch if you think you might be interested and able to help with the running of the club and our social scene. Two pivotal roles that help keep the club running in some form or other: Volunteers urgently needed. Please get in touch.
Racing Calendar
2022
- 30th October: Upper Thames Autumn Head – Henley
- 19th November: Fours Head – Tideway
- 20th November: Vets Fours Head – Tideway
2023
- 29th January: Quintin Head – Tideway
- 26th February: Hammersmith Head – Tideway
- 18th March: Eights Head of the River (HORR) – Tideway
- 19th March: Vets Eights Head of the River – Tideway
Off-Season: Monday 20th March – Monday 10th April
