Towy Boathouse Challenge 24th June 2017 A weird weekend, usually well supported by Wisemans but with a lot of people away we only had one boat going, a double late drop out meant a last minute call to other clubs to see if we could fill the boat, thankfully Jane and Dom from Aberaron were free, so we hitched up and headed off.
Our first obstacle, apart from the endless tourists who have no clue how wide their cars are! was the the only bus of the day heading down the hill into Wisemans as we were heading up, a little tight manoeuvring and we were finally on our way.
Not a drop of water in the river on our arrival, so we tucked into the obligatory bacon butty and tea while we waiting for the tide to turn. The staggered start was slightly delayed as the return of the tide saw an epic tidal flow heading up river ….. the going was tough from the start, we had opted to row as a men’s boat with the two ladies sharing cox & stroke. So we were last to start in the fleet of 17 celtics and yoles (including Bryony in her super sexy brand new red Leo…. Its fair to say there was a fair amount of yole envy about!).
The cox (me!) made a little misjudgement and we had a little crash with a moared boat before we even started, not good but thankfully no damage done. Then we were off, the pull up river to the mouth was tough going, once out the going got a little choppy (but compared to last year not too bad) we worked our way steadily through the field, however by this time the Llanion boat with a full men’s crew had pulled a little ahead of us.
Approaching the 1st buoy turn they were about 4 boats lengths ahead, we did a nifty cox/stroke swap and turned for home, working hard all the way, but not quite enough to catch them. Working our way up river to the clubhouse the swell increased and going got tough again, everyone dug in deep and we finished in a respectable 7th place in a time of 1hr 52mins 21seconds only 42 seconds behind Llanion's mens boat who were 1st in class, well done Chris you have not forgot how to row !
Team Dirty Gertie
Gabi, Jane, Dom, Conor & John