Downhill all the way

The weekend before last, I raced for the first time for almost two years, at the Royal Hamilton International Duck Pond Regatta For Old Gits.There's an added frisson at this one, because there's always the possibility of a coronary or maybe a slower demise from poisoning.

You can't say they don't warn you

Happily, I survived and also managed to enjoy the races. It's particularly nice to race with people whom one has coached...especially because they are usually fitter and capable of dragging me down the course.

In the meantime, Joe was busy collecting medals with the Victoria University rowers.

Back home, and time to crack on with the oars. They are conceptually easy enough, but really very difficult to get right and a lot of patience is required so they all look the same. Here they are after many hours of hand-sanding:

It occurs to me that our elegant mahogany stripes on the spoons have condemned us to pursuing a far greater standard of finish: if we hadn't added that detail, a layer of paint could have been used to cover any blemishes. (I seem to remember that was Joe's preferred approach for the whole boat).
They look almost done, but there's still a while to go on the sanding, then they need to be varnished and a layer of glass fibre/silk applied to the spoons. We also need to put leather sleeves and buttons on them.

In the meantime, I have also put several coats of varnish on the hull. I forgot, however, that you can have too much pressure, as well as too little. The excessive airflow meant that the varnish didn't really take, so I ended up spraying several more coats than should have been necessary.

I hope our falerist will eventually come to the rescue...

A deeper gloss beginning to show

Back again?

Another hiatus...sorry.

Joe and I have been flat out with our coaching commitments since the end of last year: a training camp in December, followed by the Cambridge Town Cup (probably the biggest club regatta in New Zealand), the North Island Championships and then, finishing on Saturday, the Nationals.

The good news is that we did very well at all of them: apart from two, who suffered a stroke of bad luck - or, rather, missed a stroke - everyone in our squad won at least one medal at the North Island Champs. For me, this was possibly the best day the club as a whole has had for many years

Wellington Rowing Club at the North Island Championships

We did well at the Nationals, too, and Joe excelled, winning Gold, two Silvers and a load of Bronzes. He took it in his stride, modesty and understatement being his watchwords:

Bloody showoff

His success was the result of enormous dedication over the year and beyond: well deserved, indeed.

I suppose, now, we shall have to get that boat finished....