By Nick Wright.
Appledore regatta was Gareth Bingham and my first real experience of a regatta (well technically I went to the Clevedon regatta last October, but given the conditions that felt more like an exercise in survival than actual race experience).
Appledore was great fun, racing over Saturday and Sunday, with Bristol having both an Open and Women’s team taking part. There were two sets of heats on the Saturday, with semi-finals and the final on the Sunday. On getting to Appledore, we realised what a windy place it was, even the locals kept commenting how it is always windy there! That made the first heat very interesting battling both the wind and the tide. Thankfully the conditions improved for the remaining rows. Both the Open and Women’s teams made it to the semi-finals, but unfortunately neither team managed to make it to the finals. The Open team finishing 13th overall, the Women’s team just missing out
qualifying for the final, finishing 9th overall.
Both Gareth and I are part of the Scillies Men’s B team. We both wanted to go to Appledore to get experience in both racing and open water rowing ahead of the Scillies. Having both taken up gig rowing last year, I met Gareth as part of Row Pro, Gareth attending most of the sessions as our very reliable sub. The Scillies selection trails happened just as we were finishing Row Pro. Gareth, Tom Wintrip (also part of the same Row Pro group) decided that we would give it a go, and all three ended up being selected for the Men’s B team; Harry, Jim and Peter making up the rest of the B team.
We are over two months into our training and I have already learned so much and feel a much more confident rower. Having now had some real race experience I am looking to the Scillies even more.
Apart from open water and race experience what did I learn in Appledore:
1. Open water rowing is very different to rowing in the docks.
2. Waves mean that you can get very wet, especially in seats 1 & 2. Gareth described it perfectly as “in some places it felt like someone was throwing a bucket of water on you”.
3. You might think you are giving it everything when rowing in the docks, but when there is a boat right behind you everyone somehow manages to find a bit extra to see them off.
4. There is a lot of waiting around, but everyone is very friendly and there is always someone interesting to talk to.
5. Just how much fun it is and how supportive everyone is.
If any of you haven’t taken part in a regatta yet, if you get a chance, I would thoroughly recommend
that you give it a go.
Bristol Gig Club 