Captain's Log: Issue 9

Good Evening Cygnets, this is your Captain speaking,

Great to see so many faces at the club this weekend racking, cheering and volunteering (more on that below), excellent to see the boathouse be alive with excitement of a busy Head Race again and to have our own crews racing hard in the fairway. Hope you're now all resting up and taking it easy.

I will be away for the next week, travelling with work, Martin will be acting in my stead - I'll be back on the 22^nd. Training resumes as normal, tomorrow with Charlie in the shed at the usual times.

FOURS HEAD / VETS FOURS HEAD
It's been a busy weekend of racing and hosting at the boathouse this weekend. Firstly a huge thank you to every single one of you who helped out during the weekend - it was great to see so many of you giving a very warm welcome to visiting crews, cheering on our racing boats and helping out throughout the weekend: thank you to everyone who put a shift in. We can't host visiting clubs on race days without volunteers and races can't run without clubs hosting, so thanks to all of you who did your bit. Most importantly we had lots visiting clubs who went home happy and were very appreciative of all your efforts. We'll next be hosting for Quintin Head on 29^th January.

RACING CREWS
Congratulations to our racing crews competing in Fours Head and Vets Fours - in the end we had three crews racing across the weekend, well done - our first major head race in quite some time and great efforts all round. Chapeau to the 4- crew of Cris, Dom, Pete and Simon for the club fastest time down the course in 21:24.7.

Fours Head
#87, 4x- Mustafa Ozyurt, Tom Broadhurst, Chris Jageurs, Rupert Bailey (23:07.2)
#184, 4- Cristobal Cabrera, Dom Marshall, Pete Goldsworthy, Simon Suthers (21:24.7)

Vet Fours Head
#163, Masters H 4x- Nick Wylie, Paul Rawkins, Rhodri Walters, Steve Reeves (23:54.7)

A good platform for us to build from in the squad and as we look towards the rest of the season we want to build from this and work towards even more competitive entries in the forthcoming Head Races. So please do keep up the commitment to training on land and on the water as we look to move forwards as a squad - we're making good progress here let's keep it up.

(It's never too early to talk about) Christmas with a couple of events to mark in the diary for Christmas this year

Sat 11^th December: BBL Christmas Party and Cygnet Waddle
More details to follow, but will follow the traditional pattern of a Christmas meal with Barnes Bridge in Chiswick, preceded by the Cygnet Waddle.

Friday 17^th December: Cygnet Veterans Christmas Lunch
The time is drawing near for the annual Cygnet Veterans Christmas Lunch which will be held at the RAF Club on Piccadilly. It is hoped that some of our younger members will join us this year. The cost will be approx. £65, including some drinks. If you'd like to come along or if there are any questions you'd like to ask, Lawrence McVeigh is the mat to ask. The captaincy will be able to provide his contact details.

OTHER QUICK REMINDERS:

Boat Log: Please ensure all outings are logged in the boat log - good to see it in good use, please keep it updated with club boat usage.

Lights: In poor light / dark mornings, please make sure you're using the correct lights and high-vis clothing.

Wintery (Tideway) conditions: The weather and water is getting colder and wetter, and it's a particularly risky time of year for hypothermia: make sure you are well layered up and have spare clothing after outings. Stay dry, stay warm.

Outing cancellations: On occasion the weather or river conditions may mean we can't go afloat or a land session is required: If the forecast is poor, come prepared for both but wait for the call from Coach or Captain before assuming the outing is not going ahead.

Land training: Great to see the shed in good use and the approval of the new equipment means this will soon be getting a makeover. Please make sure you're signed up to sessions and if you're signed up, show up.

Boat care & maintenance : Please make sure boats are properly washed, left in good condition and any defects or damage appropriately reported. Our fleet is precious and must be looked after properly. More to follow on this one.

Dates for your diary:

• 28th November (12:00) - Cygnet SGM
• 11th December - Christmas Party
• 17th December - Veterans Christmas Lunch
  
• 29th January - Quintin Head
• 27th February - Hammersmith Head
• 26th March - HoRR
  
• 27th March - Vets Eights
• 6-10th April 2021 - Training Camp: (If you've not expressed an interest but would like to, contact the Captain.)