Captain's Log
Latest news, requests, moans and cajoling from the skipper
Captain's update, 5th January 2025
5th January 2025
Dear Cygnets
Happy new year! I hope you all had a good break wherever you spent it and have set the resolution to drop 20 secs off your 2K...
It's back to all systems go with Cygnet. I have already been impressed with our first weekend's training - in pretty cold conditions on Saturday, and then heavy rain on Sunday - not many other clubs were out! This update covers upcoming races, the plan for training in the next couple of months, and a special plea from me.Upcoming races
Our attention now turns to the big end-of-winter race: the Head of the River (HORR). This takes place on 22nd March. For those who are new to the sport, it is fantastic spectacle of 400 eights belting down the Thames from Chiswick bridge to Putney (c. 7km) in a time-trial. It is a chance for us to see how our winter training has gone and ranks us against clubs from across the country, and indeed some international crews.
Whilst that is the focus, we will also be entering an 8+ for Hammersmith Head on the 23rd February. This is a slightly shorter race but will allow us to get invaluable race experience.Please can you sign-up with your availability for these races as soon as possible, as well as your availability (as far as you know at the moment) for the water sessions over the next couple of months (just as an indication). Key selection criteria will be outlined below. To enter we also require people to have their British Rowing membership up to date - with the 'Race' membership. Details can be found here.
Training
We will continue with our training days being:
Monday 7pm - Weights
Wednesday 7pm - Ergs
Saturday 8am - Water session; 10am - Erg
Sunday 8am and 10am - both on the waterOn the water, we want to continue focussing in January on getting people out in small boats. This allows us to improve our technical ability, and we will then use the small boats to test people's boat speed - potentially with a few races in the coming weeks - which will help us select the crew for HORR.
As part of this, I'm really happy to see how well people are doing with our new 'floats' for singles with Simon. There has been fantastic progress and we will continue doing this throughout January.On the land, the main thing is building up our endurance base for a 20+ minute race in March. I will shortly let you know when the next 5K test will be (likely late Jan/early Feb), but we will look to do at least two before HORR.
Coaching
A key part of this is our coaching. Simon has been great in getting so many people into singles in recent weeks and that will continue. Wes is due to return in early February - and will then reume retaking the weights and Sunday sessions.Special plea
We are short of a couple of voluntary postions at the moment. One is someone to run our '300 Club' - details can be found here. Another really key one is for a organising in advance the boating for races where Cygnet hosts multiple clubs (and this brings in money which allows us to buy new equipment).
If you are interesting in volunteering for any roles in the club - please do just drop me a line!Cheers,
DomCaptain's update, 25th November
25th November 2024
Morning all,
It has been a busy few weeks since I last did an update but here are the main things to update on:
Racees.
It was disappointing that the fours head races this weekend were cancelled, but definitely the right decision. Our focus will now shift to the head races after Christmas, and in particular the head of the river race on 22 March. I’m hopeful that we can get two eights out for this- and will base the selection based on the training that has been done, the scores achieved, and the technical progress.Training.
We continue to see real improvements across the board. Our consistently full shed for weights is paying dividends, and erg scores are continuing to improve- as shown by everyone improving their 5k scores. We will look to do one more erg test before Christmas - details shortly.On the water, two things to update on. First, for those with relatively less experience- whether on the LTR this year or last, or just without experience of small boats- please do sign up to the sessions with Simon at the weekend. We have bought special floats (essentially stabilisers) for single sculling. I can’t recommend this highly enough- you improve your technical skills far quicker in a small boat.
For those with more experience, we’ve now rigged up two of the boats as pairs, and two as doubles- with the intention of doing more battle paddling between now and Christmas.
For the water sessions, safety is paramount at this time of year- and so please do accept my apologies if there are any last minute change of plans!
Coaching.
Just so you are all aware, Wes is going back to spend the next few weeks with his family and will be back after Christmas. But fear not, he will send me the programme for weights and ergs, and Simon will be with us for some of the water sessions.
Christmas social.
Hopefully you’ve all seen the email from Charles with the latest social info. Please do sign up!Think that is everything, but please do drop me a line if you have any questions!
Thanks, DomCaptain's update, 1st November
1st November 2024
Morning all,
Hope you’ve all had a good week. Hopefully nothing scary in this post Halloween update:Upcoming races. You’ll have seen that I sent around the provisional crews for Vet 4’s and 4’s Head later this month. These were based on the recent training records – well done to those selected. They are provisional still on confirmation from the organisers (these races are over subscribed so they do have to cut a few – the tideway ticketmaster!), but I also want to make clear that they can change – we need people signing up and coming down so that they are not scratch crews on the day. Lots of people are working hard and want your seat!
Upcoming erg test. On this note, we will do our November progress test – a 5k free rate – to see how the training has paid off in the past month. It also gives some of our new LTR graduates a great chance to benchmark themselves in the squad. I’ve been really impressed with some of erg scores recently- so make sure you are there at 7pm on Wednesday. Please sign up on fitclub so that if necessary, we can stagger the use of the ergs.
Safety. I’ve previously written about the safety. Unfortunately I saw multiple instances last weekend of bad practice- all related to getting in and out of boats. First, speed is vital during the winter – so please do not hang around – from putting the boat on the water, you should be kicking off in less than a minute. Second, there was an instance of stepping on the bottom of the boat which could have put a hole in the boat and left those still in there in trouble. Despite being told by multiple senior members of the squad, the individual persisted. If I see this again, water sessions will have to be limited. If you are not sure, please do just ask me or other experienced oarsmen.
Social. Thanks to Charles, we will be doing a club fireworks on the 9th Nov – please do come along to celebrate the time when some bloke from Yorkshire tried to cause havoc in Westminster (how I got a job in the civil service is beyond me).
Charity. Finally, we have had contact through the website from a former member asking for a bit of help with some fund raising. All information is on the website- do please consider it as looks like it will help your erg scores and also, more importantly, raise some much needed funds for MND research. https://www.cygnet-rc.org.uk/article-all_in_a_good_cause8.html
Onwards,
Dom
