Cygnet Weekly Update: Monday 13th Oct 2014

Firstly and foremostly, heartfelt congratulations to Ian Mountain and Katie Coyle, who got married on Saturday in the Lake District. It/ they looked fantastic, and are the latest in a proud tradition of Cygnet & Barnes Bridge nuptials.

That did justifiably seem to distract many of our active squad this weekend - but we still had a handful of single scullers out on both days, plus nine 5k erg tests completed according to the spreadsheet (that's the Ist VIII selected for Head of the River then!).

If you haven't done it yet, please do. Coach Sue has given us until Wednesday to post a time I think. Now that the weather has turned dark and grim, the ONLY WAY to get through the week is by erging next to your crew mates on a Tuesday, and celebrating the nearly-end-of-the-week with Circuits + food on a Thursdayl

It's only a few weeks until the Fours Head races on the first weekend of November, and we've got one crew entered for the Saturday (Seniors) race, and two for the Sunday (Masters & Novices) race. They are:

(Sat) IM1 4-, Bart, Gav, Dave F, Stu

(Sun) Nov.Mas.A 4+, Stav, Cris, Nick R, Jez

(Sun) Nov.Mas.A 4+, Charlie, Jim R, Mike E, Patrick

There's also a faint possibility of a 4x crew, if we can organise something in the next 24 hours or so before entries close.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted that this amounts to two coxed crews, when we don't currently have a regular cox. Whilst we may be able to call on Coach Sue and a volunteer from BBLRC for the race itself, we will be in dire need of coxes for the next couple of weekends of outings - plus some mid-week evenings. If you can help, please let me know - we're keen to get as many of the squad confident in the cox's seat as possible, and will aim to have a coaching launch out alongside.

Also on the subject of helping out at the Fours Head, you should have seen Nick B's plea for boating volunteers. With 60+ crews boating from our hard for each race, we really rely on lots of people to give only an hour or two of time to help it all run smoothly.

The Vet Fours Head (Sunday) organisers are also after someone to drive our launch with a race marshall - again, let me know if you can help.

This week

Tues - Squad Erg. If you haven't done your 5k, this is your last chance. If you have, it's 30mins r20 feet out. (If you're like me, it'll be welcome opportunity to get your technique back after thrashing away agriculturally through the 5k test).

Thurs - Circuits. 7.00 meet at the club, or 7.15pm at the school. A more encouraging turn-out last week - from both clubs; it definitely makes it easier to get through with more people.

Thurs - post-session-food. I think there's a volunteer on the sheet - watch this space for further details from Stu.

Sat - 8am and 10am outings - crew lists to follow

Sun - 8am and 10am outings - crew lists to follow

Futher ahead

If you're coming to the Cygnet Leander Lunch on Saturday 25th Oct, now's the time to make sure you've paid for your ticket (which is excellent value, by the way)

Rather further ahead, I understand that the Barnes Bridge Ladies Christmas party is set for Saturday 13th Dec. It's so far ahead that I haven't established whether we've been invited yet, but let's behave ourselves and hope so.

Safety

A quick reminder to all to always use the white-board in the boatshop to log you and your boat out and back. And for everyone to check it. Logging out is an invaluable safety measure - but only if you sign yourself out, and only if others read and act on it. So next time you're passing the white-board, and every time you're shutting up the boatshop have a check that all the boats are ticked back in, and no-one's been out for longer than expected.

That's all for now.

D