Wargrave Club Regatta report 2010

It feels a privilege to take part in a regatta like this – standing in warm, late summer sun on the close-mown (or goose-cropped?) lawn of a small well-loved sailing club approached by an old footbridge across a paddock on the rural edge of an idyllic English village, looking at a perfect shining arc of a course bounded on one side by willows and mansions, on the other by water-meadows, being supplied with cakes, sandwiches and beer by welcoming, happy people … and all you have to do in return is race a bit !

Well, we did more than a bit, really. Three more pots for Skiff Club, and some of them not expected. Success started slowly for us, in fact we lost our first 5 races – until Martin Black ‘rowed over’ meditatively in our 6th (a heat of Gents Novice Restricted Singles). One of those had been achingly close, when Tony Gordon and Michael Westropp led their heat of Gents Novice Doubles by a couple of metres as they passed the clubhouse but just faded to lose by a quarter-length.

But after lunch Tony and Valeria turned the tide, winning their heat of Mixed Novice Doubles by a length and a half – and from there in, Skiff Club hit a ‘purple patch’. First, our noble and indefatigable Fran Kenden partnered feisty Jana Mandakova (coxed by Valeria Tretyak) in Ladies Doubles. Fran has accumulated so many points in her career, as has Jana in her rather shorter one, that we gave up trying to work out if they were still eligible for Junior, and entered them at JS. The sensible view was that they had no chance. Wrong. Fran set a pace from the start that challenged even Jana’s ambition; Jana had a brief hiccough that left them a little distance down; then Valeria’s ruthless demands whipped them into their stride; fitness, determination, strength and technique kicked in, with Jana lifting herself off the thwart at every sroke in their ‘push’; and they simply demolished their Valley opponents, flying away from them from half-way to record a win ‘easily’. Not bad to win at JS for a crew with a new-season starter in it. Well done all three!

A race or two later, with that crew quickly re-shuffled, Fran coxed Valeria with Sam Grey-Wilson, in Ladies Novice Doubles (or so they thought..). It was one of those nightmare “I am somewhere I shouldn’t be” moments as they settled on the stake-boats and the umpire announced ‘This is the final of the Ladies JUNIOR Doubles’. “No” they said tremulously, “we’re Novice”. “Well we’re Junior” said their Dittons opponents. “This is a Junior race” said the umpire, “and may the best crew win. Attention, go!”. And go Sam and Valeria did. And they were the best crew. So they won – by a street ! And gave us a smile as they passed the club-house in demonstration mode. Another victory above status. Fantastic. People are beginning to notice …

Then came one of our best performances of the afternoon, and as often happens it was in a race we didn’t win and could have passed unnoticed. Brind Waldron is one of SC’s fiercest supporters – if you are in a race you can’t mistake his roar from the bank ! He is also one of our most determined in training – ‘hunting that elusive first pot’ as he says. Teamed with Jenny Jurianz who has picked up racing again as if she never left, in Mixed Novice Restricted Doubles, they contested the final against a very fit young Wargrave pair who in winning recorded one of the fastest times of the day (2:30) and lost by hardly more than a length, coming back strongly. They could have won in another event, and surely will soon.

Two wins ‘in the bank’ for Skiff Club, and one more chance : Valeria and Tony, coxed by Sam, in the penultimate race of the day, the final of Mixed Novice Doubles. The sun was low in the sky; legs, backs and stomachs were tired and aching. But Tony had a point to prove. His brother Matthew would be giving out the prizes and in a flash of foresight he could taste the sweet victory of him announcing a win for his big brother through gritted teeth (especially as Tony had had reason to question his umpiring ability after an earlier race..). And Valeria was in pursuit of her third successive ‘two-win’ regatta. After a few strokes, they were down – but the Wargave pair could not be allowed to stand in the way of destiny ! As we watched and clapped from the club-house lawn, they powered away from Wargrave, Tony’s lowered head barely hiding his smile, and Valeria grinning irrepressibly as they sailed across the winning line. Tony duly collected his prize and rubbed it in with a smacker on Matthew’s cheek.

All in good spirits, and many thanks to our hosts Wargrave – and to Monsieur Coveney, who had put himself to the trouble of cycling round some of France’s best beer-making country to get in trim for this event; and to Nick Mattey in Novice Restricted Singles for his Quixotic sparring with the more solid parts of the Wargave paysage that fringe the actual racing surface. Nick, we share your pain. It gets better, honestly.

Tom Millest (Captain)