Brixham Vets and Open Regatta 2019

04 Aug Brixham Vets and Open Regatta 2019

Sir Clive Woodward made it very clear just after his side had won the Rugby World Cup- preparation is paramount.

With that in mind we called everyone we knew who was available and managed to cobble together a mens crew for both the mens vets and open regattas by the Thursday before the Saturday event. No such luck with the ladies so we couldn’t put an entry in for those events and had to disappoint anyone who was hoping to compete for Clifton.

We arrived on the Saturday for a scorchio day at the seaside. Burnside had us there at 0800 which meant leaving at sparrow fart and then hanging around until almost 1200 to get a row. Becky, however, had bigger fish to fry and was at the cox’s meeting for 0930 ready to take up the post she would hold for the weekend. And what a transforming weekend! From novice cox to experienced battler in the space of 2 days- a terrific performance and a true highlight of the event. We carefully went through our preparation, Crew- Steve, Len, here -check, Cox- Becky here-check, Brendan- just finishing off his kidneys and kedgeree but in Brixham- check, Stewart- eventually arrived-check, Chris Hastings and Neil Wilson guesting from Clevedon- heroes and both there in plenty of time.

Anyway- back to the event. Mens veterans championships. 23 crews in 4 heats to battle it out. We were in heat 4. Boats were allocated and we drew Pegasus. Not a bad boat and off we went. It was at this point that the balloon burst and our high hopes took a bit of a tumble. We trailed in last! However, the heats were on a timed basis. First 2 boats went through automatically and then fastest losers. Everything was now about the timing. We were sweating on it- especially the Club Chairman -Mr I Never Knowingly Follow Orders- who had stopped rowing before we crossed the finish line. We were close but pipped to the finals. That meant we entered the Plate competition. We were third in our semi-final- 6 seconds behind the Royal marines of Tamar- and got through to the final as fastest losers. Into the Plate final, we would take that. A terrific race and we stormed home 5^th from 6 starters. We ran down the boat in front on the final leg. From about 3 lengths behind on the turn to a lead of 11 seconds at the end. The winners were RM Tamar who had a miraculous transformation from the previous round!

A great days racing including being stopped dead in our tracks by a rogue swell when the weather picked up a bit. What could beat that?

Cue the accommodation guru. No camping for Clifton. We were in a 5 bedroomed cottage in the heart of the old town close to the harbour. Len, Steve, Stewart and Becky stayed over ready for the open competition. What a delight! The cottage came complete with porn star bedding in red and black satin, Annapurna trail stairs, a shower room to die for  in – could easily happen- and wiring by the New Dheli Electricity Fitters. Not to mention a bag of pure mould in the bread bin!! Clifton living the dream.

Sunday- Brixham open Regatta.

Preparation is paramount. We had that cracked now. Still no ladies crew but the mens was settled. Cox Becky, Len, Steve, Neil guesting from Clevedon again (what a hero! We twisted his arm when he rowed for us on the Saturday and he drove back to Bristol Saturday night and down again to row on Sunday!!), Toby joined us to reduce the average age of the crew by about 40 years!!, Mr Hughes gave his manservant the day off and drove himself down to arrive at the crack of 11 o’clockish, and another press ganged volunteer- Baz from Salcombe.

The Chairman was on the beach at 0800 in true german tourist style and had the gazebo up to grab pole position on the beach without needing to put his towel down. It looks great on the Gigrower photos! We entered 2 races. The Mens Vets (had to declare Toby as he looked like our cadet) and, after some deliberation, Mens C.

Mens Vets went pretty much like the day before and we stormed in 7th from 8. So much for the youth input!

Mens C was the right call. The Mens B race had the majority of boats in it and had a spectrum of abilities, but was straight after the MensVets and we only had the bare crew.  Mens A had only 3 contestants, so most ‘A’s had gone into the B race. There were 5 boats in the Mens C race. Of these 2 of the crews were ‘A’ crew level non regular crews (we didn’t see them after the start!!) and we were first of the other 3. A great race where we gradually pulled clear of the trailing 2 boats. A nice sight- if unusual on the weekend!!

The weather by now had brightened again and the seals were out showing off passing the boats!

Should we wait till the end and do the mixed row? We still had to find another 2 ladies- so no- lets just pack up.

We rowed round to the slipway where the Brixham club had people on hand to help out – the hosting club was brilliant from start to finish, so helpful and friendly. Just a case of getting the boat out and throwing it on the trailer. We were one of the first boats out and last finished on the trailer- but we were probably the most level. That’s when Becky confessed that she had lost the radio. By pure brilliant detective work as befits our pedigree we established that it had probably gone missing around the time Becky got out of the boat on the slipway. The Chairman went to look. On his own- schoolboy error- we now know for definite that the radios float- but this one had drifted out just a little way. Being vertically challenged that was just too far for the Chairman’s little legs on their own and a wade to a depth that he described as ‘just over nadger level’ was required but the day was saved.

A terrific weekend. A star is born in the coxing world. Our friends in other clubs helped us out in the best spirit of Gig rowing. We have learned a lot about accommodation for another year. What more could you ask!!