| Cygnet Rowing Club |
| Illustrated History |
The Modern Era
In contrast to the previous decade, the 1970s began with a large, active membership and the promise of a strong racing presence. Head races were becoming more prevalent and the Club appeared in the Ibis Christmas VIIIs, and the Burway and Hammersmith Heads, as well as the main Tideway event. Another measure of the Club's new found strength was an invitation to the first VIII to pace the Cambridge Boat several times in 1972.
The regatta season opened with a win in Senior A VIIIs at Barnes and Mortlake, thus laying the basis for Cygnet's first ever entry in Thames Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, which has received greater coverage elsewhere in this history. The experience gained from rowing at Henley served the crew well, most notably at St Neots regatta where it won Senior B VIIIs and Senior B IVs on the same day. These senior club oarsmen formed the nucleus of a larger Henley entry in 1973.
West country weekends
Club crews began to travel far and wide in pursuit of silverware in the early 1970s and the logistics of boat trailing became a new headache for the Captaincy. At this time, the Worcester, Monmouth and Hereford regattas held over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend started to grow in popularity with Cygnet. Thus, in 1975, over fifty Club members lodged in and around the Queen's Head, Monmouth. The same weekend in 1974 was momentous for the fact that a member of the CSLRC (Mandy Webb) was permitted to cox a Cygnet crew in open competition for the first time under ARA rules.
Closer to home, some seasoned `swans' (Messrs Ellison, Huggett, Jeffs, Roche and Henry) won at the Vesta International Veterans Regatta in 1973, defeating Frankfurt and Barclays Bank. Meanwhile, several new Club trophies were by now being competed for on a regular basis. One was the Peter Sly Cup for the Cross Country (Running) Championship; on the first two occasions this was won by Stuart Fraser, who later went on to row in the Lightweight National Squad. The other was the John Cork Cup, an annual non-status event for Novice IVs, open to crews from ARA Divisions 16 and 18. Cygnet won this for the first time in 1974.
Commercial moments
As the decade progressed, the Club was forced to rely more and more on its own resources in order to buy equipment. This situation set the scene for a novel fund-raising venture in 1972, when the Club was asked to take part in an advertising feature for Double Diamond in a variation on the theme `I'm only here for the beer'. In the event, only four of the VIII appeared on the placard, but the venture `worked wonders' for Club funds, if not the oarsmen.
During the mid-1970s sponsored rows became all the rage, inspiring several VIIIs to row the distance from Chiswick to Greenwich and back again in 1974 and 1975. The picture on the next page shows the first and second VIIIs passing HMS Belfast in the Pool of London. The prospect of rowing a similar distance from Maidenhead to Chiswick in 1976 intimidated one member into breaking both his arms during the intervening period of winter training.
Pots, pennants and Plumtree
Throughout most of Cygnet's history the Club's ambitions have centred on racing in VIIIs. One coach who strongly reinforced this sentiment was George Plumtree. George was invited to coach at Cygnet in late 1976 and soon began to stamp his personality (and anecdotes) on the way the club trained on and off the water.
By early 1977, the Club was regularly boating three VIIIs from an unusually large pool of active oarsmen, with the first VIII training the requisite six times a week.
Success was not long in coming, with the first VIII winning the Senior C Pennant in the Head of the River Race, shortly followed by Senior C VIIIs at Barnes and Mortlake regatta. Further victories were forthcoming at Metropolitan, Staines and St Neots, while the crew also competed in Thames Cup at Henley Royal. This crew formed the core of the 1978 Senior A VIII, which won the Business Houses Head and finished 32nd in the Tideway Head. By the end of the season, the Club could point to Elite B wins at Huntingdon and Maidenhead and Senior A VIIIs at St Neots.
