Rowing Interlude - Twizel Sticks.

While I wait for some glue to dry, here's a quick interlude to talk about the 2011 Rowing National Championships in Twizel. Partly because it's the main reason we haven't made a lot of progress with the boat.

Chris and me both coach rowing crews. This season he was helping with the Wellington Rowing Club Women, and I was responsible for the WRC Novice Women. I could fill t'internet with the highs and lows of coaching a rowing squad.

The rowing champs this year were held in Twizel, which is in the heart of Mackenzie (Mc?) country in the middle of the south island of New Zealand. So, imagine you are in the most remote country in the world, then go to the emptier of the two islands. Then, drive as far as you can away from the biggest city on that island, into the remotest part, and there you are, in Twizel. Apparently its a real draw for the tourists. I didn't actually see any, but there was an Irish girl who worked in the bakery who was apparently "doing her OE". Not technically a tourist, but almost. Oh, and the Irish girl who works in the pub, that's the same one, so that doesn't count as a influx of foreigners.



Amazing scenery as the crew complete their budget parachute.



Anyway, there's amazing scenery, fantastic water, two Four Squares and a couple of pubs. Luckily we had a lot of rowing to do to pass the time.

Oh and we did go on a super cheap parachuting trip. 



I suppose you'll all want to know how we got on. We made two A finals, which is a great acheivement at national level. Unfortunately, the even greater achievement of getting a medal at nationals eluded us and we finished fourth in the eight. It was a tough event, made even tougher by the  Rowers to Rio crew. The criteria for getting in their crew was to be between the ages of 18 and 21 and be over 6 feet tall. We had a rower who qualified for their crew on height, but missed the age cut off by 28 years. We also had a rower who fit the age qualification, but missed the height qualification by a foot.

We all had a great time though, I'd like to think the girls learned something about opperating in a team, and a bit about themselves. And they also learned what it's like to come fourth... F*%king S^%t!!! That's how it feels. Here's the team, feeling a bit better.

WRC Novice Women 2011 (can you tell which one is me?)

So, that was the week that the boat was left to settle on the mold before the application of planks 3-12. Unfortunately, Chris couldn't make it down to Twizel due to work commitments. But he very kindly avoided doing any work on the boat, he clearly didn't want me to get jealous.