Sick of the cold weather and choppy waters of the Thames?  Then sign up for the 2008 rowing camp. 

The Committee is proposing to organise a trip to Temple sur Lot in Bordeaux (it may or may not be the site here:  http://www.la-base.com/ but it’ll probably be a lot like it!)

The proposed dates are:

21-26 March

28 March – 3 April

The camp is likely to cost around £500 all in, although as soon as I know more on this I’ll let you know.  Obviously, the more people that come the lower the costs are likely to be. 

Could you let me know by Saturday (22nd) morning at the latest

a)      if you are up for a rowing camp

b)      which of the suggested dates you can manage

 Thanks

 Katy

Saturday night had the ladies turning out in high shoes, nice dresses, a bit of make-up and a dash of perfume. Some even washed their hair and shaved their legs.

The Christmas Ball, or Soiree as it was called this year, took place in the upstairs room at Cafe Rouge at Strand on the Green. Organised by Sarah W, it was a grand affair with little place markers, with a handy reminder of your chosen menu options, good music (care of an iPod) and the centre piece, a large flashing disco ball.

Drink was consumed, food was eaten, speeches made, prizes given and then much dancing and a lot more alcohol necked.

It was discovered that Annelise has a liking for sprouts, stealing them of other peoples plates, poor Tyrone !

Due to a lack of single men, no gossip was had, or at least none has come to the attention of the web team. Once again, many ladies who profess to have boyfriends turned up without them, with a range of excuses from "no money" to "they are in Thailand".



 

When arriving late for an early outing, its always best to have a VERY good excuse.

What better than "I was up early enough, its just I had to bake a few cakes"

Only at Barnes Bridge. They were delicious it has to be said, eaten AFTER the outing obviously !



Elsewhere, 2 others just called and said "sorry - overslept....."

This weekend was the Head of the River Fours (or Fours Head as everyone apart from the organisers call it).

Both clubs had 3.5 boats entered in the largest Head Race on the Thames.

Firstly, congratulations to Bea, Claire, Annabelle & Zoe for winning the WS2 4- event in a blistering time of 21:52, a full 19 seconds faster than 2nd placed Henley RC and a full 26 seconds faster than 3rd placed Thames !! It was also nice to see Bea back in kit that suited her, rather than that drab black stuff she sometimes wears.

As well as winning their event, they also beat 2 Cygnet boats (one coxed, one coxless), the mixed quad, slowed down by the 2 fat blokes in it, and were only just beaten by Cygnet II (2 seconds faster) steered by Collier amazingly.

The two S2 4+ boats had good races but finished quite a bit down the field unfortunately, well, in one case, more sort of in the hedgerow, and the other sort of perched on a sandbank in 2 inches of water, but 20 feet
from the bank !!!!

Never mind, all back to the club for food, beer & fireworks, as well as a Geordie inspired bonfire. Anything that looked old, worn out or past its best was chucked on the fire. Luckily there was not a Cygnet Management Committee meeting being held that evening. No one has seen Marj since.

At some point during the evening, a tall man arrived and took Jo away and Kelly (23 years old) was seem drinking a mug of hot coco. Dave danced - badly.
 

Firstly, is that apostrophe in the right place ????

Secondly, all at BBLRC would like to congratulate Mike Collier on passing his full motorbike test. This now means that he can ride motorbikes without L plates, and with engines bigger than the boathouse lawnmower.

He has no plans as yet to trade up from his 125cc Yamaha, but all the BBLRC lady motorcyclists (who all own MUCH bigger and faster machines...) are looking forward to the formation of a Boathouse Motorcycling Pod.

Well done.
 

Seen lately next door.

Both are interesting for very different reasons.

One is a welcome sight in the boys changing rooms & the other is good for cleaning floors.

Weybridge Silver Sculls on Saturday, a Head Race for, well, sculling boats (singles & doubles) had a small but not always that intelligent band of boys and girls enter and sleep over at the Cygnets bungalow.

Martha was our sole representative and powered her way into 2nd place in the novice single category (and indeed, her time would have placed her 2nd in both S4 & S3 as well). Being a lady, navigation is not something that comes naturally, and a bit of hesitation at a junction in the river most likely cost her 1st place.

Elsewhere, the Cygnets were having mixed results. Davo & Neil putting in good performances, Richard putting in an appearance, Si & Stu putting the bows into a Bridge very hard, and Derek & Chris D putting the boat on the trailer, but not the riggers !!.
 

Saturday was the Pairs Head race, organised and run by BBLRC, well, mostly by Ali, but with a little help from others.

We had 3 Pairs entered and the (slightly more) feminine side of two mixed doubles, with Bec & Martha pulling Richard & Davo down the course. Amazingly, there was just over a quarter of a second separating their times !! (Bec & Rich did a time of 14:52:25 with Martha & Davo trailing at 14:52:56).

And in another tight call, Zoe & Bea finished just 1.25 seconds ahead of Annabelle & Claire (15:35:09 vs 15:36:35) in the Pairs. Kathryn & Lucy had a bit of a clash near Barnes Bridge so lost a fair amount of time.

Jackie Darling & Pauline Rayner won (as usual, see the last 3 years diary entries.....) the VetF 2X event.

On land, an army of BB ladies made the whole event run like clockwork, from Martha cleaning up, Es & Nanine giving out numbers (and quite a bit of back chat), Marion setting up & running the tea stand (where are the cups - where are the cups - panic panic), Ciara being the BBQ tong master (and getting that lovely aroma of bacon on her clothes that lasts for days afterwards...), Sara (and slave labour children) taking over cake and bun distribution, Annelise cleaning out the showers and being general all round helper and facilitator, Theresa breast feeding her own child whilst being watched by Sam (!!!), Sarah C cooking the most mouth watering brownies known to man kind, Sarah W buying loads of stuff before travelling to Germany on Friday, Anna and many others on the timing team and many many others who gave up time and money to make the whole day a huge success. THANK YOU ALL xxxx

Huma was on the timing team, but mostly drank coffee and scoffed Jaffa Cakes.....

Mike C wore a High Vis jacket and sported a clipboard - his function remained a mystery.

Neil Jackson seemed concerned that some boats did not have valid boat IDs - Dave showed no interest when informed of this transgression.

Become re-acquainted with it, you know you want to. We have 8 of them just waiting to be thrashed !!

What a joy - as we flicked through this months Regatta, we came across a photo of Jackie Darling on Page 18, shortly after receiving their Gold Medals for winning WE 4+. Also in the boat are Hilary Cook, a joint Sons / BBLRC member along with Pauline & Jacqui from other minor clubs.

Is it us or is Jackie looking blonder & younger than usual ???

For the record, the club has a very good record at the World Masters and this year Jackie & Ali won 7 medals between them in 6 events.

Well done once again.
 

As the nights draw in, it presents a new opportunity for the safety mullah to get on our cases.

So, we all put lights on our boats before we set off, no problem there, but, doh, sometimes we let them flash on and off. This obviously means we can only be seen for 50% of the time. This is just not acceptable.

Rules are rules, and the rules state a constant white light bla bla bla (the other 50 words used have been omitted to aid clarity).

So, unless you want to be shouted at - when using lights, especially the small sucker ones, keep pressing the button until it displays a constant white light. Flashing is NOT an alternative, it is just wrong.

You have been warned.
 

The bi-annual trip to the Cygnets Bungalow at Weybridge. We were blessed with great weather and fantastic company.

Only a couple of swimmers this year (maybe because Mike was baby sitting rather than instructing ?) with Marj performing her now famous "in one side - out the other side" routine, first seen at Dorney Lake.

Theresa put her baby down for a few minutes and went off for a quick scull in Ruthless, making sure the younger club members remember whose (no apostrophe, is that right ??) boat it is !!

As is now the tradition, some members ventured into Weybridge to have a coffee and go shopping in Fat Face.

Have a look at the pictures. More required please !!
 

Thank you for all your e-mails and comments about the Cygnet website font, and the apparent lack of any new talent.

I have taken up these issues with both a minor and a small official respectively, and have the following update.

Times New Roman - this provoked quite an impassioned response. In summary, its "our" fault, not the webmasters. The story goes (yawn yawn) that "we" need to set up our browsers own default font, as the Cygnet website is a hand crafted fully flexible communication medium that does not seek to impose its own fonts on its loyal users. So, its Tools, Internet Options, Fonts - and away you go.

I also tried to find an option to switch on interesting content and pictures of intelligent, handsome men but failed.

New talent - again, we seem to be mistaken. There are at least 35 active Cygnet rowers for us to choose from. I did not ask the obvious question, define "active", but we suspect it means anyone who can sign a subs cheque without going into cardiac arrest with the exertion.

I have searched the Cygnet archives and pulled out a few shots of the best looking boys being active.

The last regatta for BBLRC was Cambridge on Sunday where we picked up another 2 wins in the S3 8+ and the S3 4+ events. At the same time, Ali was flying home from Zagreb with her 3 World Masters medals clinking around her neck, having won a 3rd one the day previously.

So, in a last minute scramble for the top spot on the medal podium, Ali went from 2nd place to overall winner.

Annelise, despite being in charge of crew selection (or is it Jo ??) - only managed to limp home in 3rd place this year, despite some last minute dodgy dealings.

Cambridge Regatta was once again, a great day out and very productive as well. The S3 8+ square bladed its way up to the start, stopped with all 8 blades off the water as it cruised up to the opposition, spun and powered away to a comfortable win over Cambridge City RC, leading from stroke 1.

The S3 4+ race was a blue on blue straight final as nobody wanted to race us. The boat selection was done by a very democratic flick of the coin. However, at the first attempt, in a fluke accident, the coin landed on its edge in the grass !! Dave won the next toss, and was immediately screamed at by Annelise and her flunkies "best of 3 best of 3" - so, two more tosses, Annelise winning both, and she had her choice of boat.

They rigged the boat to be bow side stroked, and then went out for a practice outing - she was leaving nothing to chance in her quest for Pot Domination. Dave and his crew drank tea and ate muffins, discussing world politics and the role of the UN in a post 9/11 world.

Off they went to the start, with one crew being motivated by 2 unlimited played through the boats speaker system. The pompous, morbidly obese, blazer wearing umpire was not amused but could not find a race regulation to stop Annelise playing it.

At the start line, despite Annelise sneaking onto the wrong, but supposedly better station and then being turfed off it by the eagle eyed umpire, off they both went, with Dave's crew having a visit from a local crustation on the first couple of strokes. Once it had been shaken off, both boats raced stroke for stroke all the way down the course with Annelise's crew winning by a canvass, despite being reeled in significantly by 2 massive pushes from the other crew, stroked superbly by Charlotte.

Elsewhere, we had a single and a quad racing, both putting in strong performances but not getting through. We also had a novice 4+. This was a racing debut for 3 of its members, Sue, Sarah & Ciara. It was stroked by Julia, one of last years novices. They unfortunately had a bit of a lack lustre start, but once up to speed, matched the other crew in terms of speed, loosing by 1.5 boat lengths. As often happens at Regatta's they came up against a crew that went on to reach the final, but then lost to a Milton Keynes crew.
 

Jackie D and Ali have gone off to Zagreb (that's in Croatia Kelly, a small European Country) to get a few late season medals for themselves.

News just in is that Ali has won 2 medals, in a Vet C 4X and a Vet E 8+.

Jackie has won 3 medals (go Jackie go....) in a Vet E 8+, a Vet F 4+ (that is really old people...) and a
Vet D 8+.

Worse (for the ed.) is that Ali has a further 3 races tomorrow....

So, with just a few races to go, its now statistically impossible for Annelise to be the top potter this year, and Anna & Zoe (twins separated at birth obviously) can only tie for second place if they both win and Dave does not win at Cambridge (unlikely..).
Dave could get 2 more pots and sneak ahead of Ali if she does not win any more at Zagreb - this is unlikely.
So - the good money is on Ali being the clubs Poty Leader in 2007 !!!

Dave's tactical error this season was working the Peterborough weekend......

POT TASTIC League Table.

The boy sneaks out into the lead, and Ali moves up into joint 2nd place to join Anna & Zoe. Charlotte & Harriett are now joined in the hotly contested 3rd place slot by, strangely, Annelise & Kelly (2 captains, both involved in crew selection..).

Its all to play for @ Cambridge Regatta, you have got to be in it to win it.

editors note: the list is now sub sorted alphabetically as per instructions from Annelise. That's Annelise with an A.....

And so it goes on......

Saturday the "ladies" were out in force at Oxford City Regatta, rowing in monsoon rain, being dive bombed by drunk students and having our ear drums burst by disco boats - @ 5:30 PM !! - more later.

The coxed 4 was the first to start the days pewter collection with a new exciting line up consisting of Jenny coxing & Jo stroking, backed up beautifully by Annelise, Kelly and Kathryn. Following swiftly on were Joy (MAA - hiss) and Ali (hurrah) in the Vet C 2x who thrashed a Sons crew to add another lump of pewter to the collection.

The S3 8+ had a close race but did not get through to the final, and the S3 4+ coxed by new chick in the hot seat Anna (watched over by mum on the bank) won its heat but then just lost out in the semi.

Later in the afternoon, the S2 8+ slipped its moorings and headed off for a quick semi final victory over Bristol City. Hurried conversations with officials and soon they were back on the water for the final against Oxford Academicals, as the cox, Dave, had to be at work by 7 - in London.

Attention go - level for a few strokes then pulling out a bit of a lead. Then disaster struck - a student (it is assumed) semi naked, runs out from between the boathouses and leaps into the water right into our path !! Now, students like lemmings are plentiful at this time of year, so Kathryn (bow cox) and Dave (stern cox) are for running the little shite down and getting on with winning pewter, albeit with a student impaled on the bow ball. The marshal has other ideas and stops the race. Kathryn & Ali both swear loudly at the yoof.

Back to the start, line up and - wait !! - the disco boat is coming down the river, very very slowly and very very noisily. Eventually after sitting in a monsoon like downpour for 15 minutes, the race is started. The machine powers away and wins comfortably (2.5 lengths ?). Dave lands the boat the wrong way around, runs off and gets to work late, but it was worth it. Fifteen more pots for the ladies.

However, despite all this, there was disappointment all round, as there was not a Krispy Kreme stall this year - how rubbish is that. Home to one of the UK's premier educational institutions ? - pah.

Katy & Lady Harriet spent all day pretending they went to Oxford University and kept pointing at boat houses and saying "I rowed there - I rowed there". We think they went to a "modern" University that does have the word Oxford in its title......

Wins wins wins but NO pots for Dave! (whatever !! - usual ed.)

A worthwhile trip up to Peterborough for all concerned, with Pewter a Plenty returning to Barnes. On Saturday, our S3 4+ of Zoe, Anabelle, Claire and Harriet coxed by Jenny pulled out a great race in the final to win, beating the crew that had beaten them in their semi. For the rest of BB a slightly frustrating day, with second places all round. The evening entertainment was however, livened up by the fact that Cygnet had also had a win - in Novice 2x, so there were two very happy lads (Richard and Greg) knocking back a few too many beers.

Sunday dawned a little less sunny, but ended on a very sunny note. First win of the day was for Jo and Kelly in S2 2x, in which they powered majestically through one of their oppo, and the others - who had looked as though they might put up a fight managed to catch a major, blade vertical in the air type crab, which obviously slowed them down a little, leaving our double clear to take the pots. A few hours later it was the turn of the S3 8+, who won a nail-biting final by 'we don't know how much but it wasn't a lot'. The crew of Zoe, Harriet, Katy, Ali, Charlotte, Jenny, Anna and Sara coxed by Annelise, let out an ear splitting cheer when the result was announced and the other two crews who also thought they may have won looked very downcast.  Then on to the penultimate race of the day in S2 4+,  Jo, Kelly, Annelise and Jenny, ably (who is writing this drivel ??) coxed by Ali (who said all the right things although no-one could hear her as the cox box had conked out) eased out a small lead off the start and then pulled away steadily to win by a good half a length.

A late trip home, but many happy bunnies, all except Dave - who basically missed out on 3 pots............  that'll teach him to work at the weekend. (saving lives is actually more important than winning even more pots thank you !! - usual ed.)

Check out the results spreadsheet - we now have a 3 way tie in first POT place between Anna, Zoe & Dave, with Charlotte & Harriet snapping at their heels, its all to play for.......


 

What are they like !! - we think they came back safely ??

Cygnet now have a new Captain in the form of Richard. He is supported by Pete & Marj (in that order ??).

He was spotted in the changing room pouring over what appears to be, shock horror, a spread sheet !!!!!

We at the BBLRC web site applaud the new approach. If you need any assistance with formatting and colour selection, please contact us on the usual address.

On Saturday Dave and Ali kindly invited rather jolly members of the club to their lovely boat. Good food, good wine, good company, good conversation... a fun time had by all, (especially the drunken updating of the website by a very junior mistress !!!!!! - ed.)

A few select quotes:

Kelly: "Did I say you could stop rowing?"
Sarah: "And the customs man said, 'I don't need to see your passport, you're obviously Irish,'" (which makes us question Irish security measures....)
Annelise: "We're all about rehabilitation...seriously."
Dave: "Update the website!!!!"
Ali: "Dave has a really big one. He'll bring it out later." (Talking about the Kingston pot.)
Dave: "Is there any chance you could have become pregnant within the last 24 hours?" (A typical question from Dave.)
Michelle: "You've got two, and I don't have any!!" (Men, pots...we'll never know quite what she was referring to...)
Anna: "To get a better picture I put my head on your body." (The wonders of Photoshop!)
Dave: "I'm a stickler for formatting."
Dave: "You're rubbish." (To Kelly, who he told to 'update the website'...)
Charlotte: "I'd like to get married in Disneyland." (If she had one week to live, it's what she'd like to do...although there is Disneyworld Paris.)
Claire: "I want to go '50s singles bowling!! All those sexy Teddyboys..." (Really? Are you sure?)
Sarah: "Who needs a man when there's a box of chocolates? Omigod, there's 32 in this!!!"
Sarah: "I'm proud to be single!!"
Sarah: "The Easter eggs would have been f****d." (To what she was referring, we'll never know.)
Tyrone: "I'm alright....yeah....cos I'm pretty cool. Yeah, I do the outing plans as well." 
Anna: "Why did you marry 'it?'" 
Dave: "We need to move to the next level. Implementation, eh?"

You had to be there to see the funny side.....
 

to find a rudder (ie, quite a large item) in the tool box ?

Three (including a Cygnet) was obviously not enough, as none of them could find it. Dave put his hand in and pulled out the rudder as if by magic.

Women - know your limits.

A cox.

I recent tests, it seems that a coxed boat has out performed a "similar" coxless boat.

However, the landings in coxless boats continue to be a lot less stressful, especially for Sarah C who was seen "leaping" from the bow seat onto dry land screaming "we are all going to die" (you need to do a thick Irish accent to get the full effect) at the top of her voice.

Oh how the cox laughed until a punch to the stomach literally took the wind out of his sails.

What a weekend - largest pots on earth and many many medals won.

Firstly, the youngsters.

Saturday was Kingston Regatta where we had a S3 8+ and a S4 8+ entered, as well as 2 novice singles and a novice double.

The 2 singles, captained by Martha & Margaret had an interesting time. They lined up with a Molesey girl who promptly steered into Margaret and pushed her off the course. The umpire stopped the race and sent them back to the start. This time the Molesey girl fell in on the word GO !!. Margaret took a lead over Martha and then got washed down by the safety launch going back to help the Molesey sculler and fell in as well. Martha stopped sculling. The umpire told Martha to carry on, so she did, winning her heat "easily". Meanwhile, Margaret climbed back in and finished the race a couple of minutes later. Sadly, Martha was knocked out in the next round.

The double with Kelly & Martha were looking really good, but came 2nd out of 3, so ending the sculling challenge.

Later, both 8's won their heats, with the S4 crew seeing a large crustation at about 2/3rd distance. As they were a length up, it was not a big deal, or so they thought. Parrs Priory, the oppo, were still well back after the crustation was put back in the water, but they then did one of their now familiar turbo charged finishes and ended up dead heating with us. AK limped home in 3rd place.

So, the organisers sent both crews through to the final with City of Oxford who had won their heat. Kingston is still allowed to have 3 boat Regatta's - luckily.

Meanwhile, the S3 boat had a great race in their final against Kingston having won their heat convincingly, but lost by about 1/2 boat length after a good fight all down the course.

The S4 boat then lined up with Parrs and City of Oxford for the last race of the day, with BBLRC in the middle lane. All 3 boats set of with just feet separating them (both front to rear, and left to right !!) for the first part of the race, with the BBLRC ladies then edging into a slight lead of maybe a canvas. Coming past the enclosure, there was a wall of sound as the supporters of all 3 clubs were screaming their crews on, but the BBLRC crew maintained there cool, rating 37 and took the chequered flag in an absolutely nail biting push for home. As soon as the Ladies heard the bleep, the whole crew simply stopped rowing and screamed and whooped. Dave nearly cried.

The winning crew were: Dave / Charlotte / Harriet / Margaret / Clare / Sarah W / Nanine / Anna / Martha

Special congratulations to Nanine who has now lost her novice cherry, and jumped up to 1 point. Nanine started rowing from scratch just over a year ago with BBLRC. Also congratulations to Margaret who also lost her novice cherry after finally backing the right horse !!

 

Elsewhere, the more mature experienced rowers were out in force at Henley Vets.

Firstly, the Vet C 4+ with Hilary / Lesley / Zoe / Ali and the Thames cox James Renwick won their event in spectacular fashion. The heat before them was a row over. Simple ? - but Avalon, an American crew !! - started, rowed straight into the booms and capsized. So, our crews heat was declared The Final, and they cruised to a "comfortable" win rating 25.......

The Vet D 8+ composite with Hilary / Lesley / Zoe / Jackie from BBLRC and some random others had a slightly harder time, but won in the final by about 2 lengths.

And then just to finish off, the Vet D 4+ with Jackie and some of the other non BBLRC ladies from the 8 won as well.

Ali & Joy (MAA) in the Vet C 2X went out in their heat - boo hoo.

So, that makes 9 HUGE pots from Kingston and 9 GOLD medals from Henley Vets.

More photos later.

Kingston - S4 8+

Nanine hides behind her HUGE pot.

At 10:07 this morning, the Theresa / Mike child was finally born.

Mike says:

Dear all, just a quick note to let you know that Theresa and I are now the proud parents of a so-far nameless, 8.1 lb baby boy born at 10:07 this morning. Baby is fine, Mum is very tired and I am as pleased as punch.

Mike.

So, the baby has no name, well its not like they had 9 months to think of one is it !!!! - if they had a spreadsheet and planned a bit more, things may have been different. Please send any suggestions to me and I will collate and send on to Theresa & Mike.

A picture for the ladies.

Cute ? - I think so.

Cygnet really are the luckiest boys alive.

Firstly, they get to share a boathouse with some of the best looking, fittest and most talented ladies in London. Then, as if this is not enough, they enter a Regatta where there is only one other boat to race against in a straight final, and this boat does not turn up !!

So a gentle paddle down Dorney Lake and they pick up 5 beautiful medals and a plaque !!

And then, Marj ends up in the lake. The story goes....

Follow this carefully....

Well well well. Osiris (who beat us in the quarter final on Saturday) went on to beat Wallingford in the semi (in a much slower time than our heat) and therefore secured themselves a place in the final.

An eagle eyed spectator then spotted a magpie in the Osiris boat, an ex under 23 National Champion !! - computer says "no" - so Osiris pull out, allowing Thames A to win the Intermediate 8+ event in a row over.

So, by extrapolation of the available data, we would (most likely) have beaten Wallingford (as all our heat times were much faster than theirs) had we not been taken out by dodgy Osiris, and therefore we would have been through to the final. It is fair to say we would then have been clobbered by Thames......

Not at all bad for 6 weeks semi intensive training.

The ladies were all reported to be in very high spirits, and indeed very high on spirits as the evening rolled on....

The plan now is for the crew to actually go out and win a regatta, as all the upstarts who pretended to be rubbish in the selection process for Henley have been going around cleaning up on the normal Regatta circuit.

Getting home from Henley was not easy as you can see below - "we need a bigger Ute".....

Saturday morning, 09:10 race, bish bash bosh and the ladies romp home to a relatively easy win, despite a little  crustacean action during the wind.

Later @ 11:50, lining up against Osiris A, attention GO, and the buggers get a length on us on the start, and that's pretty much how we crossed the line 5 minutes later, plus or minus about a 1/4 boat length during the race.

So, our Henley 2007 challenge is over, with the club starting in a pack of 42 and finishing in the top 8 at the UK's premier regatta (for birds).

Off to the Barn for buns and Pimms, what a way to spend the day, especially if you have just turned 45.

ps - when sending a birthday card to your cox, its best not to refer to him as "a little shit". Its not big and its not clever......

Rain rain & more rain on the first day of HWR.

This did not deter our team who put in a fantastic technical performance in the time trial, and then went on to beat Cardiff Uni by 5 boat lengths in the first side by side heat, rating about 29 for at least the last 1/3rd of the course.

Lots of very proud parents & friends all along the course, giving us plenty of support and encouragement - thank you.

Two more heats on Saturday.

Barnes & Mortlake Regatta on Saturday saw the S4 8+ crew entered in its latest incarnation with Elle, Ruth & yummy mummy Sara joining / re-joining the line up.

2 heats and a final, winning each by a "comfortable" margin (ie, rating about 28 and not getting overly sweaty). For some of the crew, this was their 3rd qualifying race this season, and for Sara, it marked the losing of her Novice Cherry (having started rowing as a complete beginner about a year ago) - well done.

Lock & Lever was the crews secret weapon - thank you Lady Harriet for sharing this gem with us.

The crew were: Dave, Sarah (not W), Elle, Anna, Harriet, Ruth, Michelle, Charlotte & Sara.

At the time of writing, Margaret is still a novice and Zoe is still on 0 points.

The boys next door also had a nice win in a coxless 4, despite Geordie being in it - well done.

The post race party ended up with Dave a bit "merry" after drinking 4 bottles of Corona (a PB for him) and at one stage even taking to the dance floor for some "dad dancing". Stuart once again ending up in bed with a BB lady and having no recollection of it the next morning. Luckily, we had photographic evidence. As is now the custom, Sarah (not W) & Michelle got progressively louder and more high pitched as the volume of beer consumed went up.

Neil & Marj (seen stroking Neils leg at one point) tried to keep up, but admitted defeat at about 11pm and went home.

Annelise, despite being older and a Mother DID stay the course and was one of the last to leave.

Finally, yet another Thank You to Annelise for all the behind the scenes work that often goes un-noticed, and also for picking up all our pots and transporting them back to BB Ladies HQ.
 

This weekend was the clubs first away Regatta. Both clubs were fielding a number of boats in a variety of events over the 2 days.

Saturday saw some very close racing, with the Henley 8 winning the heat & then losing in the final by less than a second after being nearly a boat down with 250 metres to go. Alas, no pots were won by either club despite getting in lots of finals.

Sunday, again, more close racing. The WS4 8+ winning its heat, but having a photo finish for an eventual 3rd place in the final. The WS2 8+ event was contested stroke for stroke and eventually lost by just 0.4 second !! after an agonising wait for the result.

However, a cheeky little Captains Invitation WS2 4+ (Dave, Jo, Mary, Annelise, Ali) had a nice straight final against one other boat and - won !! Honour was restored. Training, pah, who needs it.

The boys had a great Sunday, with the Marjorie Israel's first race and first win, coxed by its name sake. A random 4 won as well.

Stuart spent most of Saturday with a girl "friend". We have photos, they will be posted soon....At least 3 Barnes Bridge Ladies were suicidal after the news got out.

All the best looking Barnes Bridge Ladies had a wonderful meal at the local floating Chinese restaurant on the Saturday night.
 

Ole Funky was offered a seat at a posh restaurant between arguably two of the best looking BB Ladies ever (apart from Theresa & Ali obviously, and maybe Tammy & Esme, possibly Robin, and maybe, just maybe Nanine and the rest of this years novices) , and all he could say was "that will be fine".

The response from one of these fine ladies is reproduced below:

Once again, we suspect he will be sleeping alone in his tent at Peterborough Regatta.

So - what will happen to these dirty cups & bowl then ???

We have attached a picture of a modern piece of equipment, very close to the sink in fact, called a "dishwasher". If anyone is unsure of how to operate its controls, then please ask any other member of the human race.

Last weekend was the Metropolitan Regatta - held at Dorney Lake.

The crew selected for Henley raced at S3 both days over the 2000m 7 lane course. Saturday had 3 heats with the first 2 boats going through to the final.

In lane 1 - attention GO - and 5 boats power away. Once the crew lengthen out after the start, a quick glance right by the cox confirms our worst fears - WE ARE IN THE LEAD !!!! - and so it stayed all the way to the finish line 7 minutes and 10 seconds later, beating second placed Agecroft by 6 seconds (about 2 boat lengths...).

A Thames rower was later overheard in the toilets almost spitting out her steroids as a friend told her the news - Barnes Bridge won their heat comfortably !!!! - cough cough cough.

In the final, despite rowing virtually the exact same time, they came in 4th in a photo finish with Agecroft who rowed a tremendous race right up to the wire. Still, they had beaten 13 other crews and were within 10 seconds of the event winners, Thames.

Not wanting to gloat, well o/k - lets gloat. Poor MAA came 4th in their heat, and that was without Carrie, who to be fair, did send a well done and good luck text to her former club. Thank you Carrie.

Sunday, Ground Hog Day, the crew raced the same distance against some of the same crews ! This time just 2 heats with the first 3 going through. They had a secret weapon today, in the form of Ali in the cox's seat (just...).

In the heat, they put in a strong performance, coming second in quite a close race.

In the final, another close race, and this time in a reversal of fortune, they beat Agecroft by 0.4s and came in 3rd place - a podium position !!! (if they had a podium that is...).

A fantastic result - well done to all of them, as well as the support team over the weekend.
 

Saturday was the Putney Town Regatta. We entered 3 coxed 4's. Two @ S3 (no slots at their correct status) and one @ S4.

The S4 crew were drawn against IC who just looked outstanding as they paddled past. Sadly for us, they went as fast as they looked and beat us in the heat. The S3 A crew were drawn against Parrs Priory and sadly lost their heat.

The S3 B crew beat Vesta (not Vespa as Sarah kept calling them...) in the semi and then lined up against Parrs Priory in the final. Three of this crew only lost novice status 2 weeks ago, and the fourth person had her parents over from the good ole US of A watching from the bank. No one knew what would happen.

Off they went, level for the first couple of strokes and then they just pulled away slowly but surely with each long powerful stroke, winning by at least 2 lengths after cruising the last third of the race to avoid any mishaps. This was Sarah's first race in her new role as stroke after the last one (Zoe) was sacked for being 2 fat and having a crap erg score - I think everyone agreed, she was a very able replacement.

The crew were: Dave, Sarah, Michelle, Anna & Kelly.

Elsewhere: Cygnets had some good racing, narrowly missing out on pots for the crew boats. Neil in his single, won 2 heats and then had a dilemma. His oppo in the final scratched !! - did he also scratch as it may seem a hollow victory, or row over and gain his pot and lose his sculling novice status. He asked Dave, but knew exactly what advice he would be given... Neil has now lost his novice status as a sculler - well done and very well deserved.

Other stories: After the B crew won their heat, they decided to stay in Putney rather than have an hours rowing going back home and then out again for the final. However, Michelle was having "underwear" issues ! - so, at the nice little Lebanese restaurant on the Lower Richmond road, said items were removed and placed in the bin. So the final was rowed Commando. Then, as this was discussed later in the bar, it of course transpires that this is quite common practice for various of the BB ladies (and coaches..)....... Jeez.

Kelly's parents met us all at Putney and posed for photos with their glowing daughter - not sure who looked more proud. We can all see where Kelly gets her good looks from, Mom is a very attractive lady.

Finally - a huge thank you to our Captain Annelise, who supported EVERY crew from the bank, cycling up and down the towpath all day, getting the numbers in the morning and liaising with "officials" throughout the day. She also got all the ARA cards sorted out (as Dave had them at home - doh !!) and got them to Putney so the winning crew could collect their pots and get the point added to their cards. It was all much appreciated.
 

When doing a firm pressure 7 minute piece with the clubs top crew (ahem) - in the clubs top boat - do not run head on into large red buoys - it upsets the rhythm.. Special thanks to Putney Town for a) distracting the cox and b) for not telling us about the impending disaster.... The crew were mostly forgiving - NOT !!! Sorry ladies xxxxxx

The damage - luckily below the water line ( a scratch, not a hole), so no one can see it....

We sent Kelly off to the most boring committee meeting on the planet (apart from any meeting at the National Archives....) - the TRRC MSPC PGTIPS bla bla bla. aka "the man in the bushes taking photos and awarding points" lot.

Does she come away with pearls of wisdom, tales of risk analysis out of control, no - she comes back all flushed & giggly - as she met a bloke there !!!

Q. What will a bloke be like who attends a safety meeting ? - Kelly, move on, he is bound to own a blazer and kaki chino's.
 

Our "special boys" next door finally powered themselves to victory last weekend at the Borne Regatta, winning the S3+ event - well done.

The crew were Marj, Barry, Nick, Bart and Stuart.
 

On Saturday @ Chiswick Regatta, the Novice 8 won the novice event, beating Imperial Medics in the final by about 1/3 of a length after winning both heats quite comfortably. All races were led from start to finish.

The Novice 4, with Zoe & Anna from the 8 and Sara & Nanine won both heats, with the 2nd one being very exciting, but them coming up against Thames in the final. They put up a good show, but Thames went on to win by a boat & a half.

Kelly also raced in her (our...) single, putting in a great performance but losing in the heat by about 2 boat lengths.

Cygnet raced a S4 8 with Dave as guest cox. After a quick change outside MAA (as Annelise had to cox them up to the start due to the tight race timetable) they put in a great performance against Sons, neck and neck all the way down the course, with Sons winning by a 1/3rd of a length.

Sunday saw the "new" S4 ladies head off to Wallingford in the 8, as well as the "faded babes" in the S2 4+. Now Wallingford is not your common or garden Regatta. It is rowed at Dorney lake, the venue for the 2012 Olympic rowing events. It has 6 lanes, is 1500 metres long and a lot of the big clubs attend.

The S4 8 lined up in lane 1 in very windy conditions and then powered down the course to come 3rd behind MAA and City of Bristol. So, through to the final (the first 3 from both heats go through). This in itself is a HUGE achievement as these girls were novice just 1 day before, and now they were in the final of one of the top Regatta's.

Lane 1 again, next to Thames (grrrrr). Off they went, neck and neck with Thames the whole way down. They eventually came 6th (or last as we call it...). The actual times however show the last 3 boats all finished within 3 seconds of each other !! Just as well we won Novice the day before, as the winners of the Novice event had a faster time then the winners of the S4 event !!!

The "faded babes" also had a good race, with 3 crews all vying for 3rd place at the 1000 metre mark. They eventually came in 5th after a good scrap with TSS in the next lane.

Full results HERE.

 

Hammersmith Regatta on Saturday saw the first brave crews venturing out into the sunlight for a bit of blue on blue action.

We had 2 crews in the S2- category.

Jo's crew (with Annelise, Leslie & Kelly) beat Claire's crew (with Annabelle, Steph & Kathryn).

Its great that the club can field 2 crews at this level, and both rowing in coxless boats (who herded all the cats then ???).

It was also THERESA's first win for the club.

Elsewhere, Kelly entered a 1x earlier in the day, but was unfortunately beaten in the heat. The Cygnets entered an 8 with our own (or now shared evenly it seems..) Esme in the most important seat. They were also beaten by a bunch of school boys.

 

The pride of the Cygnet fleet was named on Sunday. The new Sims Evolution 8 was named the Marjorie Israël.

The proof....

This brings the Cygnet fleet a bit closer to the quality of the BBLRC fleet (we already have 2 Sims Evolution 8's).

Well deserved - congratulations Marj from all at BBLRC.

Child labour is taken to the next level by a Barnes Bridge Lady........


 

They are called backstays, because, well, they go at the back of the rigger. If you have them facing forward, apart from having to call them frontstays, they also stop you putting your sculls in the gates !

NEVER let the captain rig your boat for you, best to get up that bit earlier and do it yourself - as the student cold pizza eater found out.

Well well well, most BB ladies only sleep with a Cygnet (or in a lot of cases - try very hard not to), or occasionally marry them or indeed, provide children for them to look after, but join them !! - yuk, its disgusting.

Spotted (twice in fact) walking hand in hand. Can you spot who it is ???



clue - focus on the hair, and look elsewhere in this diary.....

Found on Sunday morning (in this position, not moved for obvious reasons), anyone recognise them ??

A small sculling pod had been out - comprised of Mike C & Richard. We have a hunch that Richard wears something a little bit more "upmarket".

With one arm behind her back, Martha has accepted the role of Boathouse Captain. I am sure she will execute her new role without bias or prejudice, however her first job is to upgrade the womens changing room !

 

Saturday was the Women's Eights Head, rowed in near perfect conditions.

The club entered 2 people in a composite (Ali & Jackie) or possibly 4 if you count Lesley & Hilary (both RC tarts), and 3 full BB crews @ S3, S4 & Novice.

All crews reported having good rows, with the composite winning the Vet Pennant with an unadjusted time of 20:57 (age adjusted to 19:35), and the Novices (club) coming a fantastic 2nd (out of 17 boats) to Thames, just 11 seconds behind with a time of 20:59. The 3rd placed Novice (club) crew limped home with a time of 21:36, a whole 37 seconds slower !!

The Novices also beat all but 3 of the 40 Novice Academic crews. They also beat both the senior boats.....

The S3 crew came 38th out of 66 entries and the S4 crew came 33rd out of 68 entries.

Elsewhere, as is the tradition at such events, various club members organised, prepared, served and in some case, ate, a mountain of food and drink. Katy and Sarah were the mini master minds who led the charge, with virtually every active BB lady lending a hand in some form or other on the day. Stuart cooked bacon in his inimitable style but packed up his tongs when he realised that the smell of bacon was overpowering his Pagan Man aftershave.

Even Collier had a little job to do by sitting behind a table (that seemed to get smaller as the day went on) and handing out numbers in return for £10 notes.

A huge thanks to Marj for coxing the S4 crew, and Jenny for her cameo appearance in the cox's seat of the S3 boat.

Lots of drinking and chip eating later in the bar, a little bit of dancing to Hits of the 80's (or Hits of the Before I was Born era to a lot of the girls...). Seeing Geordie "ole rubber legs" slithering around in a 25 year old AC/DC T shirt (that's a rock group for the benefit of most of our members) and tight fitting drain pipe jeans is a must, especially when slightly tipsy yourself.

Fun was had by all.

Spotted on Saturday in Marlow kit, a certain ex BB lady who married a guy with a Porsche and moved to the Burbs. Later, she was seen in the bar reminiscing with Annabelle (ex Cygnet top 5 most desirable BB lady - before becoming a mother) about driving Cygnet men wild.....

Thanks to Matt for the photos.

Who is she ? - ask any Cygnet member.
 

Dave & Ali are going away for a couple of weeks and need a cat sitter to look after Hidi.

So, are you around from the 25th March for 2 weeks, and fancy living in luxury onboard their boat ? No cost, all inclusive deal. All you have to do is feed the moggy and yes, clear out its tray (yuk..).

Less than 10 minutes to the club, think how much extra training you can get in !!

** RESULTS HERE **

Sunday saw 2 BBLRC Eights (and Ali in the ubiquitous old ladies multi club composite) head off for our second Head race of the season, the Hammersmith Women's & Juniors' Head. The novices were cat herded by Dave, and the more experienced ladies were attended by Chris "Davo" - looking great in his BBLRC splash top - last worn by Esme (so we told him...)

Both crews reported having good rows, and when the results came out - the Novices had won the Novice Trophy, winning by a clear 20 seconds over second placed Broxbourne. Cafe Nero's erupted as the news was phoned through from BBLRC Control.

Not all plain sailing however. Whilst marshalling in the novice boat, Claire noticed her blade had a broken collar that was about to fall off ! Luckily, an MAA crew were nearby, and Sarah Gardiner (ex BB lady) offered us an MAA blade, as their boathouse was close by. A quick spin, into MAA, a friendly face appeared and swapped a blade over, quick chat with the marshal and another spin and head off through Chiswick Bridge at a slightly jaunty angle, joining the race as the last Novice 8 crew. Phew, wipe brow, relax.

Sarah Gardiners boat (an S4 8+ with Carrie Something or Other in it) went on to win their division, and the novices went on to win theirs - proving that what goes around comes around - thank you and well done MAA / Sarah Gardiner, we owe you one.

Back on dry land after swapping blades, starting last, overtaking 4 crews and rating 34 across the line, we give you the future - The Barnes Bridge NOVICES !!!!


 

Saturday evening saw a mixed bunch turn up @ Putney Swimming Pool for the capsize drill. That was quickly dispensed with, and off to the local El Forno's pizza restaurant for some serious eating, drinking and dancing.

Highlight of the evening was seeing Elle balancing on the large belly of the owner and being moved gracefully around the dance floor.

Home time, and Stuart managed to entice no less than 3 Barnes Bridge Ladies back to his (strictly speaking, Rhiannon's) love pad. Luckily for him, she was away for the evening.

Stuart, as always, planning ahead, brought home all the uneaten pizza from El Forno's, no doubt thinking it would make a tasty snack in the morning for "his" girls, saves making them all porridge.



The ladies had other idea's, and after turning off Stu's well used Barry White CD, managed to wrestle the Yellow Pages from him and order a pod of Taxi's to get them home, integrity intact.

Undeterred, Stu was overheard the next day smooching up to Kelly saying "I still have a lot of that Pizza left, I can bring it down on Tuesday evening if you want ?" - best said in a low husky Barry Whitish type voice to get the full effect.

At the time of writing, Stu is still single and his BBLRC score remains unchanged at 1 confirmed + 1 possible.
 

After mid night outings, square blading in the dark and borrowing various bits of BBLRC kit, the novices were ready for the Quintin Eights Head.

The S3 crew also reported having a good race, as well as the composite Vet C crew (with three BBLRC members in it). A good days racing all round.

Full results HERE.

You can take the child out of the mother, but you can not take the party girl out of Annabelle.....

Elsewhere, various people looked after the new born Maddy.....

On Sunday, Annabelle & Nick's first child made its (predictably) late arrival.

The rumour has it that it is a girl child, called Madeline (often shortened to Maddy...), Rose.

Sources say it takes after its father.

Mother and child doing well bla bla bla. Nobody really cares about the father.

** STOP PRESS **

Luckily, the baby Maddy has a bit more colour now, and is starting to look more like mum, mouth wide open etc etc.

To be honest, she looks like, well, a baby !!

The seasons first race is on the 27th Jan.

Its the Quintin Eights Head - raced from Chiswick down to Hammersmith.

Book your seat early......

Theresa's current boyfriend, Mike Collier, who is normally useless at everything he tries, has somehow managed to get her pregnant !!

The child is due in early July.

This means that other club members can now use the club Empacher single - for the next 16 years.

The lengths Theresa will go to in order to get Mike to move from Bermondsey.....

As of Thursday 4th, Annabelle's child is still hiding in its mothers large belly. No doubt she is still in Nero's with all the other waddlers.

Dave is working at the weekend, so if the baby decides to come out at home, Annabelle could be in for a surprise !