Surf Rowing
SURF BOAT TRAINING SESSIONS
Chris Lane is our Surf Boat Trainer and a regular crew meet on Sunday mornings (and some evenings according to conditions) to keep fit for this exciting sport - a new aspect of Surf Lifesaving for Croyde Club. Want to get involved? You have to be a minimum of 16, and fit to take part -ring Chris for a chat on 891047. Well it’s just over a year since the first idea of a surfboat came up. Can’t remember why or where but I am sure it seemed like a good idea at the time. I got hold of our 1st boat with a well timed call to the UK development officer of the UK Surf Rowing League. There was a boat up for grabs in South Wales. After a stressful drive back (look at the wheels!!) I parked her up at ’Breakers’ in Croyde to contemplate the next step! Well!, what a blind leap of faith it proved to be, we now had a boat that none of us had any idea on how to row or steer… it was clearly going to be an steep learning curve. First port of call was Andy Bray and his Saunton boat & crew, who had been doing this for a few years. So off we went for a freezing 6am start at the quay in Barnstaple. After a crash course in surfboat rowing we were ready to launch our own little beauty. Luckily there were no cameras present for the ensuing spectacle. Both myself & Tony Wright had underestimated the "simple" art of steering the boat or "sweeping". Apparently it takes years to master. So with that in mind we decided on another bitter December morning at sixths to leave the safety of the estuary and launch in the sea at Saunton…. [Left: Our first boat..falling to bits , but got us going!] Eventually I ran out of screws to keep the boat held together and so it was decided we needed a replacement. We found one at Crantock SLSC in Cornwall.. after a quick recce to check her out Jed & myself drove down and brought her back to her new Croyde home.. [Launching at Velator on another early morning] A small dedicated crew was beginning to knit well, and we kept up the early morning sessions out of Velator, rowing round to Crow Point and back looking for waves and developing our skills at rowing and steering until it was time to lay her up for a bit of a clean & varnish ready for the new season. This dragged on a bit as we found out that the reason our feet had been getting wet was down to the rather large hole under the keel. So it came to pass that eventually on the 20th June, with minutes to spare we got her down to the beach on Saunton Sands for the North Devon round of the UKSRL VB Summer series. It was our first event so the organisers rightly deemed us a danger to ourselves and others and suggested perhaps we didn’t race ourselves, but get to row in another boat! Conditions were a bit challenging, with a 5ft onshore chop already capsizing boats and snapping oars! All was not lost however, as The Bude Rockets, swept by Phil Martin, were two crew short. There were six of us and three races, so we could pair up and get a race each, under our belts. We duly volunteered our services. After a little bit of jovial banter, Phil, warmed to the task of educating his new crew, teaching us basically how to race a boat and survive, in a couple of minute before the event started. Needless to say Bude didn’t win but the Rockets did get two 5ths and a 4th out of 6 of the mens teams competing. A real big thank-you to Phil Martin for the initiation that day. Now we were competitors. [Left to right James, Chris,Sam,Steve,Tony & Jed] The next time we rowed was in the UK Open back at Saunton. This time we were missing a few crew, so Sam & I again opted to row with Phil Martin for Bude, however the ’Rockets’ couldn’t make the Open, so we had to find a boat to race as well as a sweep and two additional rowers. Andy Bray from Saunton offered to sweep and with myself and Sam from Croyde, we managed to nab a couple of the cornish boys to complete the team! Andy had just returned from Wales where he and a few of the rowers had been enlisted to row longboats in the new Ridley Scott "Robin Hood " film out May 2010. Rowing was becoming the new ’sport of kings! ’ With a nasty onshore chop the 400m row out, was sporty to say the least, with waves still breaking over the bows, 350m offshore. We completed two of the heats but managed to lose Sam overboard in the third round, promptly flipping the boat! Sam survived ! See Sam swim... http://www.surftube.com/videos/61/uksrl-open-saunton-sands http://www.surftube.com/videos/56/saunton-open-uksrl-surfboats Our next little trip was the European Surf Rowing Federation Open at Tolcarne Beach Newquay 5th Sept . Up bright and early…again, we drove down to meet our adopted sweep Andy with a full crew of "Croyde Kangaroos" . Crew comprised of Tony , Sam, Jed , Myself and Andy on sweep. Conditions were perfect with a 3-4ft wave giving the crews a chance of a good soaking on the way out through the surf and the opportunity to catch a race wining wave to shore. The shame is that as we were all rowing we had no one to take photos... so heres some of the other crew and another link to video of us in one of he rounds!! http://www.surftube.com/videos/73/test-euro [Above, the Dutch team] Tiki town... and Andy Bray comes over the hill to join Croyde for the day! And once again the Croyde sponsored tents dominated the skyline! So, to the last event in the UKSRL season, and Bournemouth where the waves are.... flat.. I met up with Tony , Andy Jed & Sam (who were competing in the UK Open IRB Championships the next day )on a glorious day right next to Bournemouth Pier. Croyde Kangaroos were again swept by Andy Bray from Saunton SLSC. The first race through up a new one! When we reached the 400m turn can with everyones lungs at breaking point... the sudden realisation that there were not going to be any waves to help you back this time, nearly sunk us! By the last race, all previous doubts and the crippling pain was forgotten, as we had finished the UK Series on 25pts, (along with three other teams..at the bottom!) However, and this was our coup d’grace, after scrutinising the scores, we realised that the ’Croyde Kangaroos’ were in fact the 2009 UKSRL Devon Champions! Could this have been down to the fact that we are the only Devon boat entered this year? Finally and to end the day, I entered the Novice Sweep race with a female team of Twickenham rowers, and again we didn’t come last! As Surfboat Captain I would like to thank on behalf of Croyde SLSC, the rest of the Surfboat fraternity this season, for all the help, advice and boats lent to Croyde. In particular, i would like to extend my personally thanks to Andy Bray from Saunton SLSC who not only has swept and trained us through the year, but also been a great mentor to Tony and myself in the art of sweeping. Over the winter we will be acquiring a newer boat which will be competitive and also a whole lot "softer" (less things to cut & bruise yourself on) and will be carrying on training throughout the winter months Unfortunately due to tides and conditions, it can be a bit of an irregular timetable but we will try to get as many sessions organised as possible. We would particularly like to get a girls crew together for next year. So if anyones interested in having a go at this fun sport please drop me an email. Finally I would like to thank all the people that have helped row , sweep. maintain the boat and its kit in 2009. Thank you Chris Lane 2009 - A year in review by Chris Lane
