Ian Williams

Just reflecting a little on Ian Williams passing (reported in the last newsletter).  Ian was our speedboat driver for many years and regularly turned out, sometimes in some pretty foul weather, to provide safety launch cover for the various Yare long distance events as well as our own events.  He was also a really good bloke.

Ian’s partner Margaret has asked me to say that she has been touched by the messages of condolence and support that she has received from club members and is very grateful for them at this sad time.

New members

Welcome to our new members who have boldly joined us to enjoy our lovely stretch of river and hopefully to enjoy themselves.

They are:  Dr Maria Quine, David Rant, Belinda Hazell, Jane Fox, Abi Dennison and Martina Rothe.  Welcome aboard!

The Yare Summer Regatta and Party

This event is to be held this year on Saturday the 30th August at the club.  The racing is to be run over a short downstream course from the footbridge to the horse drink to avoid the swans.

Racing is from 14.00 to 18.00 approx and the events offered are: Men’s singles, Ladies singles and scratch mixed doubles.  There are no entry fees. The party will start at about 18.00 and the admission prices will be: Adults £10.00, under 12′s £5.00, under 5′s free.  Entry includes food and a drink. Those of you who are musically gifted are requested to bring along your musical instruments to sing and play for us.

Please let Simon know if you are staying for the party so Debbie Meynell can get the right amount of food etc.

Contact Simon by post at 52 Trinity Street, Norwich, NR2 2BH.  Tel: 07766142017.  Or complete the poster in the boathouse

The Yare Cup.

The club’s main event of the tear,  The Yare Cup, will take place on Saturday 13th September.  We need to get as many club boats on the water to

have a chance of winning it.  Have a go!  Contact Simon to enter and reserve your boat.

The Club spring regatta (Harvey Cup).

The Club spring regatta went really well even though we ran out of time and did not race the doubles.  Young Callum beat his Dad to win the Harvey cup and there were wins for Michelle Cooper in the ladies open and Stef in the men’s open. The new fun trophy, The Splash and Crash (to be awarded for the most spectacular cock up), was not awarded this year as nobody took a swim or went up the bank.

Molesey Regatta

Stuart Horth and Jo Warns competed at Molesey regatta and recorded a comprehensive win against a crew from Ardingly, to take the pot.

See Stuart’s report at the end of this newsletter

Kim Wilkinson brings home the medals.

Kim, one of our junior members who trains and races with the Norwich juniors, competed at the National Championships on the 18th and 19th July, one of the country’s top regattas.  The weather made conditions very challenging.  During the preliminary rounds on the Friday there was a strong headwind that made times very slow although, provided fair racing.  Kim, with her racing partner at NRC, Hannah progressed to the final in the Woman’s junior 14 double.  The finals were blighted by a strong and gusting cross and headwind that gave crews in the sheltered inside lanes the advantage over far side crews.  Kim and Hannah, sculling in the middle lane had to fight through the squally wind and their rivals, City of Oxford, pulled out a substantial lead as they had the benefit of the most sheltered lane (Lane 6).  However, the girls fought back and rowed down Oxford to within half a length but couldn’t quite catch them at the finish giving them a silver medal.  Kim also won a gold medal at the National Schools regatta,  Super rewards for a lot of concentrated training.  Nigel Kippin is the girls’ trainer and he has done a great job.  I suspect that ‘we ain’t seen nothing yet’ and there’s plenty more to come.

St Neots Regatta.

There was more junior success at the delightful St Neots regatta held on the 26th and 27th July.  In the Saturday event Kim picked up another pot in the Women’s J14 doubles, Ian Postlethwaite and Simon Mulvany won the senior 4 doubles and Pippa Mulvany had some good races but went out in the semis. Also on Saturday Isobel Gibson (Guy’s daughter) won her first singles trophy with the Norwich juniors, winning the WJ12 event.  Isobel sculled strongly in the 1000 metre event and negotiated the St Neots bend expertly.

Callum Postlethwaite raced on both days, he lost to a very good sculler from Newark in Saturday’s 1000metre event and, on Sunday, got to the final in the 500 metre sprint but inevitably, he faced the Newark boy again.  Callum sculled his socks off but, once again, he could not overcome his much taller opponent. It was a great effort…there’s much more to come from this lad!

The Sunday sprint regatta brought wins for Stuart and Jo in the Veteran C doubles and Ian Postlethwaite got his first win in the veteran novice single sculls.  I suppose that we ought to mention that our club captain (Simon)Pippa) won the senior 4 mixed doubles and his missus (

Summing up, it was a good day at the office!

The Rockland Row.

The weather was kind this year for the annual long distance row to Rockland.  There was a disappointingly small turn out of hardies for the event.  However, Carol. Bob. Chris and Sue rowed a quad for the trip and Ellie, Verity, Anthony, Tony and Guy rowed singles.  Everyone had a great time.  Next year, we might use a pressgang to get a better turn out…it’s a great day out!

You couldn’t make it up!  Disembarkation at Rockland Staithe

Hardy souls at Rockland village.

The Web Site.

Phil Smith is the web master for the club site and he puts in a lot of work on it to keep it up to date. However, it helps if we can supply him with updates as they occur. They can be sent to him at the address on the website.  Do have a look at the site at regular intervals there’s a lot of interesting stuff on it.   www.yareboatclub.org.uk

Norwich Union Rowing Club.

The situation with NU and its boathouse is unclear at the moment.  NU RC has been granted an extra couple of months at their site but we are unsure as to what is happening.

Work to be done.

The situation with the landside quay heading is unchanged (it’s still rough and slippery), from that reported in the last newsletter.  Meanwhile, please be careful, especially when it’s wet.

Boat and everyday maintenance.

Keep up the good work in keeping the club boats clean and tidy.  As clubs go we are not too bad at it.  Another problem that seems to have got much worse this year is the amount of bird’s mess we are getting on the site and on the pontoons.  Usually, some stalwart member cleans the pontoons down before every session but it tends to be always the same people.  It would be appreciated if some others could do it occasionally.  There is a pressure washer on site to clean the meshed areas…feel free to use it!

Because of this problem please make sure that you wash your hands after each session especially before eating.

Boat and equipment news.

Nothing to report on this front but when we know what is happening with the NURC situation, there will be a need to re-arrange and re-allocate the racking if the NURC boats come on site.  More later

Club Sessions.

Club sessions are now on Saturdays at 8.30am. for the competitive types and

Sundays at 10.00am for a more general-purpose session.  There is also a recreational session on Tuesday mornings at 9.30am.  Thursday evening club sessions are running from 6.00pm.  Due to a shortage of trainers, it is requested that novices only attend the Sunday session unless they have arranged a ‘buddy’ for the session.

We have a desperate shortage of buddies so if you can help to supervise new or novice members, it will be greatly appreciated.

Capsize drill.

A capsize drill event at a local swimming pool is being arranged.  There will be a small charge to cover the cost of the pool hire.  This is good fun event and very necessary one so do come along if you can

Promotional and charity items.

We have an opportunity to take a boat and ergo to show our sport at the UEA FILL (Re-Energise) exhibition on Tuesday 2nd September (9.00am to 1.00pm).  The event is aimed at older people to return to sport but we have been promised a very prominent and busy position so many people will see our efforts. It could be very worthwhile. Sue Fletcher is the contact if you can help with this one

Charity, Stroke for Stroke

Also in September, Michelle Cooper is looking to organise a charity event called ‘Stroke for Stroke’ in aid of stroke victim support.  This is, once again, an opportunity for publicity for the club. We should get some Radio Norfolk exposure too.

The format is yet to be finalised but it might take the form of 500 metres ergo races with times recorded on a leader board.  Help and suggestions for this would be appreciated.  It’s a worthy cause. Michelle can count on my support anyway.

Safety.

Mon dieu!  Here he goes again !!!

The subject this time is: – What do you do if you are caught in a thunderstorm?  The easy answer is don’t go out if there is a threat of a storm.  However, last Thursday a number of us got caught.  The thought of sitting on water, soaking wet, in a carbon fibre boat, holding two carbon fibre blades in the water, knowing that carbon fibre is a good conductor of electricity is not a comfortable one.  The occasion brought home the fact that none of us really knew what to do for the best.  Here goes for some advice.

If you are out on the river and you hear a rumble or it gets very humid and overcast.  Turn round and get back to the boathouse as soon as you can. If you can’t make it, land somewhere that is close to a building, either get inside the building or crouch down close to it with your feet close together.  If you do make it back to the boathouse, get out of your boat, remove the blades and lay them on the ground.  Lift the boat clear of the pontoons as soon as you can.  Do not leave your boat in the water if other people are still out. Last week, one sculler had to land on the ferry and two others were sat on the river with lightning flashing, as the pontoons were full of boats.  When picking your boat out please bear in mind that both your hands and the boat will be soaking wet and very slippery…2 people to lift a boat is essential.  Do not wave the blades in the air but keep them low and lay them on the ground, (plenty of golfers have been struck whilst practising their swing during a storm).  Once everything and everyone is safe just leave it all and wait for the storm to blow over before putting everything away.

Site security.

In the light of recent intrusions on the boathouse site we should be a bit careful not to make things easy for the ASBO community.  Please ensure that all locks are properly closed and the combinations scrambled at all times even when they are not actually locking anything.  The entry gate lock and ferry moorings locks are sometimes left open with the combination clear for anyone to see.  Also please ensure that all the windows are closed in the main boathouse and the back boathouse is locked up. Thanks

Alan Boswell Insurance Brokers Ltd.

Telephone No. 01603 618000

Anthony Meynell advises the following:

The Yare Boat Club is now an “Introducer Appointed Representative” for this company.  This means that the firm will make a contribution to YBC for every insurance transaction placed with it by YBC members provided that you quote, Reference Yare 001 when placing business.  This includes renewals for members who already insure through the firm.  Alan Boswell is a Norwich based insurance broker dealing with all types of insurance.  It is well worth getting a quote from them when renewing any insurance.  You could save money and earn money for YBC.  YBC could easily earn four figures a year from this source, so please give it a try.  Any queries please give Anthony a ring on 01603 880541

Here is Stuart Horth’s account of his and Jo’s win at Molesey regatta this year.

Unfinished business?

It’s a Saturday morning and we’ve all been up since before 6 and driven the 160+ miles to London through torrential rain. We’re feeling a bit nervous but can’t wait to get on with it.  The water here is a bit different to that on the cut as it was moving sideways, round in circles and there

is also the flow to contend with.  There was a blustery tail wind, which was a good thing.

Up on the start Jo was tapping gently to keep us on line so that we don’t get dragged across the river by the current, which, according to a helpful marshal, happens to everybody not just us.  A check on gates and stretchers and we are called forward on to the start…. make sure our blades are square and take a few deep breaths. The umpire calls “Yare ready”?

This has a distinct touch of de ja vue.  3 years ago, I was sat in the same place here at Molesey with JJ at bow instead of Jo and we were in Kingfisher.  We were racing against Ardingly who, by an odd coincidence are our opponents today.  3 years ago we lost by one foot…gutted!  I figured that that I could blame losing by a foot on the boat, so as a result we are now sat in an Empacher and there can be ‘No Excuses”.

‘Crews attention”!

The flag has gone down and we are into our first few strokes, rating up to around 52, we have the bend but they have the advantage of a staggered start, 15 strokes and we are level.  The start must have been a good one.  A few more strokes and we settle down and bring the rate down, 41 to 39 to 37 and get into our stride.  Jo is keeping us near the buoys to get the best line (not easy in this stream).  We are alongside the island and we have a canvas on them,” smooth out the stroke in the rough water and keep it clean”…”right! Lets go”.  I lengthen out and Jo follows smoothly and we pull away another few metres.  By half way we have a length and we still have the advantage of the bend, Ardingly’s rate goes up but we are still edging away.

I can feel my legs and I’m breathing hard but we are now three lengths ahead.  Time to settle and not make any mistakes.  I know Jo is looking and adjusting our line all the time, at the three quarters mark we still have the 3 lengths but they are pushing hard so we are keeping the rate above 35 and preparing to sprint if necessary.  We reach the enclosure and there are about 50 metres left, sit up and finish well…. 2 ½ lengths will do nicely.

That should be the end of it but, when chatting to our opposition in the enclosure, it turned out that the stroke man was stroking the boat that won for Ardingly 3 years ago…Business finished!.

Christmas Party

OK so I know it is a bit early to start talking about Christmas but. After last years very successful party, it has been decided that we should, once again have our party at the Belgian Monk PH  in the city centre.  We have booked the venue for the 4th December.  The price will be the same as last year.(£24.00 pp).

We had such a good time last year and the food was great.  Pop the date in your diary as it is one not to be missed.

Newsletter contributions.

If you have anything that you would like to go into the newsletter please send the piece or suggestions for an article to me at:  philrolph@btinternet.com (new Email address) and I’ll do my best to include it in the next newsletter.  I would appreciate it if contributions are in the form of a Microsoft Word file or RTF format.  If it comes as anything else, I have to re-type it all

That’s all for now.

Phil R - Editor

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