The Skiff Championships report 2011

To put this year's performance into perspective you have to glance back a few years to 2006 when our last big win at the Skiff Champs scored 8 wins, which I was sure was more but must have been euphoria playing games with my memories.

Outstanding ..... Awesome ..... Exceptional ..... Stupendous ..... Overwhelming ..... Remarkable

None of these superlatives do justice to the performance that your club members put in on Saturday to achieve the highest number of points scored by any of the Clubs . But I'm going to make you wait & see just how many.

My expectations had certainly been a lot, lot lower, with the anticipation that we'd fall foul to the 5 double point Championship events where we were unable to field any opposition at that senior level. However what we lost out at the top, we more than made up for at the lower & mid-level status categories. What really counted though was the team's spirit, determination & pure grit in the face of any opposition in our way.

Being one of first to compete in the day is never easy & having to battle through 2 heats before getting to the final of the Gents Novice Singles made it even harder. For Henry Roffey these races got progressively harder starting at 4 min 3 sec & a 3.5 length margin, then 3 min 55 sec by 1.25 lengths until having to up his game one more notch to win in 3 min 44 sec by the narrowest of margins of just 2 ft. Inspirational stuff for the rest of us to follow.

Lovely Ladies were the next order of the day with our bevy of beauties pulling of a trio of wins across the spectrum of categories.

Caroline Matthews & Sangeetha Iengar, coxed by a stripped down Giles Sutton, well at least without shoes to save weight, winning in 3 min 51 sec by 4 lengths in the Ladies Novice Doubles.

Lesley Russell & Caroline Matthews, coxed by Heather Bateman, unfortunately with 'No Time Taken' in their first race at Ladies Junior Doubles, triumphed once again over their familiar DSPC opponents.

Janet Mehers & Amanda Leach, coxed by John Previte in the Ladies Junior Senior race, winning in a text book 3 min 44 sec & by 1 length over a strong TVSC crew.

Tally at the end of Division 1, as the organisers had arranged it this year was:

SC - 4 pts, WSPC - 2 pts, DSPC - 2 pts, plus 1 at Junior 16, TVSC - 2 pts, WBC - 1 pt at Junior 18

Leading the charge in Division 2 would have been our Gents Novice Restricted Doubles crew of Russell Kesley & Nick Mattey, coxed by Heather Bateman. However their straight final opposition had to scratch, leaving them to at least complete a 'row over' to enable them to claim their point in 3 min 39 sec. A bit of a hollow victory for their 1st win in this event, but none the less they were able to add to points total, which I'm sure they would have done anyway had they raced.

After a first heat win in the Gents Junior Doubles, myself & Simeon Wishlade, coxed by Hilary Shore had to fend off a ferocious attack by Bob Downie, Martin Roche, coxed Laura Staunton who gave no quarter until finally passed by 1/2 a length, as we won in 3 min 22 sec.

Until now our successful pairing of Dave 'Stretch' Strassburg & Henry Roffey, coxed by Lesley Russell had managed to hang onto their novice status with only 1/3rd of a point wins, not this time. This Gents Novice Doubles final was to be their last as Lesley again steered them to success & up to Junior level status in 3 min 28 sec by 1.75 lengths.

Last up in Division 2 was that familiar name again, Caroline Matthews, winning yet again in the Ladies Novice Singles in 4 min 11 sec over her doubles partner, Sangeetha. Caroline now progresses to Junior status.

Tally at the end of Division 2:

SC - 8 pts, WSPC - 4 pts, DSPC - 5 pts, plus 1 at Junior 16 & 1 Vets, TVSC - 3 pts, WBC - 1 pt at Junior 18

The last Division of the day saw another new pairing of Simeon Wishlade & a returning Jana Mandakova, coxed by Heather Bateman, winning in an all Skiff Club event of 3 teams culminating in the 3 min 44 sec win by a verdict of 'Easy' for the Mixed Novice Restricted Doubles.

Here come those familiar names again, Dave 'Stretch' Strassburg & Caroline 'now 4 pots' Matthews, coxed once again by Amanda Leach to victory in the Mixed Junior Doubles in 3 min 28 sec by 1.25 lengths.

Now you must be thinking that there can't be any more, well hold your breath, because we all did in the last race of the day, when we weren't shouting at the tops of our voices.

Henry Roffey, Lesley Russell & John Previte as cox had all started the day in different boats & were still going strong to combine in the Mixed Novice Doubles to round off a perfect day to win by 3/4 of a length against their Skiff Club opposition of Alex Farrell & Sangeetha Iengar, fighting to the last, in 3 min 34 sec.

That meant that the final Ormiston point tally for the day stood at an incredible:

Skiff Club 11 Points

DSPC 7

TVSC 4

WSPC 4

This now reversed our 2 point deficit at the top of the league table to a 2 point lead:

This is a sensational position to be in going into our Home Regatta this Saturday, in which we have no less than 45 of our club members racing !!! Oh I can see another long report having to be written ........

Onwards & upwards.

Cheers

Roger