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Events - Up and coming as well as regular events for the club and it's members.

 

 

News -  The latest on what's happening at the club.  You don't have to be a member to 
                          read it, but i guess it probably helps !

 

Check out the outstanding list of maintenance tasks that have been allocated to each crew here.  There's deadlines to be met for all the work and if people aren't prepared to put in just a couple of hours to get the work done, then it'll have to be done during your training sessions instead (ie: no repair, no use of the equipment).  Unfortunately, it's the only way to stop it being left to the same old few people.

 

Head down the club around 12:30 for a post Christmas wind down and a few (more) beers.  The BBQ will be going and the beers will be flowing.  See ya' there.

 

Feel like doing something Christmassy ?  How about making the club's year, by giving it a present of any money you owe if you happen to STILL be on the debtors list which can be found here.  Come on everyone who owes the club money, help the club settle it's outstanding accounts which it's incurred providing equipment for you by paying up.

 

Yes, it's back again.  The club's biggest annual fundraiser, the Challenge Cup Beginners Regatta, is once again approaching rapidly.  Start getting your friends and workmates together to form a crew or two as before you know it, it'll be time to start training.  This years regatta will be held on Sunday, the 10th of March 2002 and we need as many club members as possible involved with coaching crews and helping out on the day.  Click here to download the flyer with all the details for the event and start getting those crews together.

 

There will be a general maintenance session this Saturday from 9am until 10:30 in the rowing shed.  The main aim is to repair some damaged trestles and make a start on painting the blades that are not in club colours.  Since there has been lots of finger pointing lately on the topic of equipment maintenance, this would seem a perfect chance for a large number of people to come down and make a difference.  No special skills are required, just a willingness to help out and share the workload.  Also, Glyn requires two volunteers to help with installing the mesh down at Canning bridge on Sunday.  This is a fund raising exercise for the club and extra help if urgently required.

John T has advised that after this week, sculling courses will cease over the Christmas and New Year break to give him a well earned rest.  The next course will commence on Sunday the 20th of January at 9am and John may also start a course on Sat' the 19th as well if the demand is there.  For those of you who have private sculls stored in the shed and would like them to be covered under the club's insurance policy, let Glyn know by no later than the 22nd of December and he'll advise you of the cost involved.  Finally, John left an Introduction to Rowing video in the clubrooms, which disappeared on the morning of the video and coaching session (Sunday the 2nd of December).  If anyone knows where it's gone to, please let John T know.

 

Congratulations to Charmaine, who has been told she'll be going to the Nationals as part of the squad for the lightweight women's quad.  That's a fantastic achievement and a well deserved reward for all the perseverance and dedication Charmaine has shown over the past year.  Well done Gran' !

   

Yes, yet another captain is doing a runner before his full term is up and making sure there's no chance of re-election by leaving Perth.  At least this time it's only interstate and not South America.  Anyway, that means some sort of going away farewell and the usual Boxing Day get together down at the club is probably the best place for it.  See you all down there from 1pm onwards for a BBQ.  Food and salads are provided, just BYOG or buy from the bar.

 

Well, quite a bit actually.  Cath' ran her coaching seminar on Sunday morning armed with a video camera and lots of helpful tips for everyone who made it out onto the water.  While watching yourself on video isn't the most enjoyable thing in the world, it does help to show you how many (thousand) mistakes you can make in the process of one single stroke.  At least the pain was eased by a mega breakfast put on by master chef Siok for those watching the videos back in the club and he'd even also managed to restock the fridge with Tooheys Old (No, the beer wasn't for breakfast, but Wednesday night was approaching fast and the fridge was looking very empty).

Anyway, after that it was onto Charmaine's 18th, where Granny was able to celebrate her coming of age in fine style at the Boardwalk in Freo and later on in wild style at The Left Bank !  I hope you didn't miss any training the next day Gran' ?  Wednesday, saw Richo, Lambsy, Toto, JT, Golden, Davo, Suzie, Martha, Karen and Aunty heading off to the Lilac Hill cricket match where a great day was had by all except the ACB Chairman's XI, because they got flogged by the South African's.  Well, at least Karen was happy with the result !

Onto non social news and Glyn has been pulling strings, pulling in favours and most likely pulling his hair out, in an effort to get all our new purchases back from NSW on the WAIS trailer.  The club has purchased yet another coxed four which is a Sykes, single skin fibreglass stern coxed boat.  Think skinnier and newer than the Blue Vein and you're about there.  When the trailer gets back in mid December, we'll get two coxed fours, two doubles and 5 pairs of scull blades off it with another coxed four from Adelaide still to come.

Speaking of all this boat purchasing, we need money to pay for it !  The Challenge Cup regatta for beginners is coming up again in March and this is the major fundraiser for the club, so please start spreading the word around among friends and work mates and get a few crews together.

 

Yes folks, we did it !!  The club capped off a sensational season, by taking out the Jeff Sykes and Associates Best Club Award at the Rowing WA AGM this evening.  We're now the proud owners of a brand new Sykes Concept C ergo which is a great reward for all the hard work put in by club members over the 2001 season, so a big thank you to all of you.  Thanks also to Rowing WA and Jeff Sykes and Associates for making this award available to the clubs.  For those of you who don't know the background of the award, it's been running since 1996 and the criteria for the award include: The number of new people introduced to the sport, club growth, participation in regattas and the organisation and conduct of the pennant regattas hosted by each club.  This year we won it by the grand total of half a point over Westies, so it was touch and go all the way.

Well done to all the club members who made it to the AGM to not only see the club pick up the ergo, but also to receive a pair of sculling blades for winning the Novice/SubJunior sculling category and the Novice pennant for the overall win in the Novice category.  There were some pretty big smiles all round as the club walked away with over $3,000 worth of equipment on the night.  Christmas has come early this year !

Don't forget about the video sessions happening down at the club from 7am onwards this Sunday.  Once everyone's off the water and back in the club house, we'll be unwrapping the ergo and unveiling the pennant for everyone to check out.  Woo hoo !!!

 

The 2 WAIS coaches, Antonio Maurogiovani and Jason Lane, will be running a short conference on Saturday 1st December for all rowing coaches (Both Club and College) to discuss present methodologies and elite development.  This is also a fantastic opportunity for all club coaches to meet Antonio and share ideas.  The agenda will be:  

Tea and Coffee will be provided and the bar will be open on completion.  For anyone aspiring to get their coaching up to speed, this is not to be missed.

 

Don't forget, Cath' will be down with the video camera this Sunday to video all crews out on the water from 7am onwards, followed by a review session back in the clubhouse so everything can see what you're doing wrong and comment accordingly !  Breakfast is on from 9am so all those crews who're after some coaching tips, make sure you're there.

 

Well, Ravenswood has come and gone and unfortunately i wasn't there to see all the action so, i'm having to rely on rumour and innuendo (again).  So far all that's come out is that Richo slept virtually all of Saturday arvo and only came out of his slumber to tell Golden off for diving in off the jetty, Toto lost his wallet and will now have to renew his Hip-E club frequent drinker membership and everybody finally (thankfully) made it to the pub after Sat's row.  Photo's and more stories most welcome, anybody ?

  

Just because the season is over, it doesn't mean everyone has stopped training seriously.  Charmaine, Jess and Sarah fronted up for the WAIS 5km time trial at Canning bridge just over a week ago and considering they had to be on the water by 5:40 to make the required start time, it meant being down there at 5am to get boats off the trailer and rigged and ready to go.

Still, all the effort was worth it as both Charmaine in the single and Jess and Sarah in the double recorded promising prognostic scores of around 79%.  Jess and Sarah were actually the second fastest junior women's double and are looking to participate in some further WAIS testing, which might open the door for a spot in the WAIS junior squad for the nationals if they continue to improve.  Meanwhile, Charmaine has been dabbling a bit in the dark side by doing some sweep oar rowing with the youth 8.  Way to go Charmaine.  We'll get you out of those sculls yet !

 

Yes, questions are being asked and the actions of the backroom power brokers will come under scrutiny after Toto Dellar cast a cloud of doubt on his Most Improved award from the Annual Dinner, by rolling his scull on Sunday morning (again !).  Yes, that's why he was wearing Lambsy's Sunsmart t-shirt when he came in.  We're going to have to make you start taking out a dive flag with you in that scull Toto !

 

And the award goes to, the women's quad of Catherine, Amanda, Debbie and Megan as well as Brett 'Toto' Dellar (no, he was in his own scull and not in the quad !) for taking the time to stop and help a pelican that was tangled in a large amount of fishing line that some thoughtless excuse for a human being had disposed of in the river.  There was so much line wrapped around the poor creature that it took them nearly half an hour to get it free.  Well done gal's and Brett.

 

Just a couple of quick reminders of upcoming events.  Firstly, the Ravenswood weekend is on the 24th of November and full details can be found further down this page.  It's a great weekend for a social get together and a chance to do some rowing in a beautiful stretch of river only an hour from Perth.  Please get in touch with Glyn or John T to register your interest and let them know whose coming.  $25 will cover your food for the weekend, accommodation and the petrol for towing the trailer down and back.  

Secondly, the ARAWA AGM is on Friday the 30th of November at the Canning bridge headquarters.  The bar opens at 6pm and the meeting starts at 6:30.  Why should we go along ?  Because that's when we get presented with the novice pennant and also find out about the champion club award for the ergo.  So, let's get a group along and make so noise when it's our turn to get our pennant !

For all you rowers out there desperately seeking a bit of coaching assistance, Cathy Harrison will be holding a coaching seminar on Sunday, the 2nd of December for all club members.  Cath' will be videoing all crews out on the water between approx' 7am and 8:30, followed by a review session back in the club rooms until around 10:30.  This is an excellent chance for everyone to get some good tips on where you're going right and wrong and all club members (both recreational and racing) are encouraged to attend.

Lastly, there's a Level 1 coaching course on this weekend and there may be a vacancy if there's any last minute interest.  If you want to go, get in touch with Glyn asap or talk direct to Pierre Pougnault from the association.  You can find his number on the ARAWA web page (see our links page).

 

The club's Annual Dinner was held at the Ascot Inn on Saturday night and with over 80 people attending, it was one of the most successful and well supported events in recent years.  The Ascot Inn was an excellent venue and they put on a great meal with more than enough for everyone to enjoy (i think i saw Chesty going for thirds !).

There was plenty of entertainment throughout the evening with a slide show of photo's from the past year keeping everyone amused (or shocked/horrified/embarrassed as the case may be) and reminding them of the highs (Sandalford, woo hoo !) and lows (aborted first attempt at the Perth to Freo, errrrr..) of the season.  We were also fortunate to have attend the dinner ex' club member and Australian lightweight representative for the past four years Glen Loftus.  Glen gave an excellent talk about how he made it through to be rowing in the green and gold and what it was like to be competing at the top level of our sport.  Thanks Glen for your time.

Richo got up there and reminded us of a few of the more humorous happenings throughout the year and made sure the guilty did not escape empty handed (although i must say that the Men's novice four seemed to escape almost scot free for their effort in rolling the four earlier in the year !) and Lambsy was desperately trying to give away free beer to a crowd that just couldn't seem to work out their alternate identity.  I don't think giving away free beer at an ANA function has ever been that hard !

Of course, there was an official side to the evening with awards for the best rower in each category along with the most improved and Best Club Person.  Once again the Best Club Person was jointly awarded to two winners in recognition of the fantastic effort put in by both John and Siok throughout the season.  Congratulations to the following winners:

Last but not least, there was perhaps that most prestigious of all awards, the Shit Stirrers award and in a year where the competition was tough and the depth of talent seemed bottomless, the mantle has been handed to the new generation with none other than Jessica Wright getting her name on the hallowed oar.  After all, you only had to look up at the photos on the wall where Jess seemed to be in every second one of them to know she'd been in the thick of the action all year.  Jess' quickly wasted no time in proving her worthiness as a winner by making Davo scull the mandatory winners beer instead of herself (curse these underage drinking rules).  I think there was a redback in that oar and i'm not talking about the type of beer.  Uggghhhh...

All up, it was a fantastic night and congratulations to Richard (Lambsy) Wheatcroft and his team of helpers for doing an excellent job of organising the evening.  We even had a huge cake to celebrate winning that damn novice pennant and all up, it was a fitting end to a great season.  Roll on 2002 !

 

Aim to be there from 7pm onwards with dinner being served just before 8pm.

 

We've been talking about it now for a couple of years and it's definitely time for the club to have a road trip to it's spiritual home - Ravenswood.  For those of you who haven't been in the club long enough (which let's face it, is almost everyone !), club stalwart Denys Warren has a property on the river on the road to Pinjarra, which is perfectly suited to a rowing camp and also just sitting out the back and downing a few beers - not neccessarily in that order.

This is always a pretty light hearted weekend which goes something along the lines of:  get down there around Sat' lunchtime, unload some boats and go for a row down through the Mandurah canals (interesting), come back and wind down for an evening BBQ and beers (short walk to the Ravenswood pub if you don't like the company !), Sunday morning row up to Pinjarra way followed by a brekky BBQ and then pack up the boats and be gone by Sunday lunchtime.

The date will be on Saturday the 24th of November and the cost will be around $25 which includes all the food for dinner and brekky and the cost of getting the trailer down and back.  Beds are limited but there's plenty of floor space !

 

If you haven't paid Richard your money for the Annual Dinner, then he probably doesn't know you're going which means you're a fair chance of missing out.  Please get it sorted out asap so the numbers can be finalised.

 

With the club having it's most successful season both on and off the water for probably the last decade, it's put us in the position where we have been able to push ahead with a significant upgrade to our fleet of both racing and recreational boats.  The club will take delivery of three fours and three doubles over the next six months along with ten more pairs of cleaver training sculling blades and twelve racing sweep blades. 

Two Euro doubles as well as an 18 month old  Euro coxed four have been purchased from Sydney Grammar School along with 10 pairs of scull blades and we are hoping to get this equipment back on the state trailer after the next selection regatta in December.  6 pair of the scull blades are already here and should be ready for use shortly.  A Sykes single skin fibreglass bow coxed four has been purchased from Adelaide Uni along with 12 sweep blades and the third four we're taking delivery of will be the state's new Penrith Cup boat which is an ex' AIS coxless four/quad.  The club has entered into a joint purchase arrangement with ARAWA for this boat which means we share it's use for the next three years before the boat reverts to sole ownership by ANA.  Last but not least, the club has also purchased Brett Hummel's Sykes double/pair which has been residing in the shed for some time.  This boat also comes with two sets of sculls blades and a set of sweep blades.

These acquisitions represent a total purchase cost of almost $41,000 in addition to the $35,000 spent up to the end of September to bring the total capital purchases for the year to around $76,000 - a club record for a single year !  Whilst in excess of $50,000 of this expenditure has been met from funds on hand, just over $25,000 is being funded by way of loans or deferred purchase terms to be satisfied from expected membership income and fundraising in 2002.  The
Committee has agreed to borrow to purchase some of this equipment before the fundraising has occurred in recognition of the current demand for much
of this equipment (particularly the two additional recreational doubles and ten pairs of scull blades along with two racing fours ready for next season).  We are also looking to hire a coxed quad from one of the boys schools for next season.

It is now up to members to do the right thing by paying amounts outstanding to the Club and getting behind the Club's fundraising and recruitment initiatives for 2002.  This year we generated over $40,000 with the support of members and we need a similar effort for 2002 to reduce this debt as quickly as possible and move further ahead with the planned equipment upgrades.  Apart from replacing one or possibly two of the Clubs outboard motors, no additional purchases are anticipated until most of the obligations have been paid.  Our next priority is to replace two more of the wooden coxed fours with fibreglass boats having the capacity to be rigged as both sweep boats and quads.

Everyone likes to row in nice boats, but it wont happen without your help.

 

ANA's plan for the next five years including how we generate our money, what we do with it and the question on everyone's lips - the new clubhouse, can be found here.  Make sure you have a read and i you feel so inclined, put a comment on the message board.

 

As mentioned below, we comfortably cleaned up the novice division in both the scull and overall categories as well as finishing fourth in the total points tally.  Below is a brief  list of the final numbers.

Novice/SubJunior Scull:        ANA - 1640,  BRC - 1215,  WARC - 970,  SRRC - 995,  FRC - 845

Novice/SubJunior Overall:    ANA - 2475,  BRC - 1425,  WARC - 1420,  SRRC - 1145,  FRC - 945

Overall:                                  SRRC - 13959,  WARC - 7349,  BRC - 6921,  ANA - 5672,  UWA - 4970,  
                                                FRC - 3477,  ECU - 3144,  MURC - 3117,  CUBC - 1537,  ARC - 15

 

Finally got some shots scanned in from the championships of our three winning crews.  Click on the pictures for a full size look.

Eloise Paust & Charmaine Baran                                    Steve Bourne & Glyn Heath                            Steve Bourne, Chris Marinelli, Brett Dellar, Glyn Heath

Women's Junior Double                    Men's Veteran Double                                  Men's Veteran Quad

 

Ok guys and gals.  It's not good enough to just say you're going to the Annual Dinner, we need to see your money.  Numbers have to be confirmed shortly, so please contact Richard and arrange payment for your ticket.

 

Can be found here.  Once again, if you owe money, please pay up asap.  After all, we do know where everyone lives.....

 

Thought this deserved to make the main page.  Very clever Richo.

for one of stripe of black and white
the ones that do not often skite
it is with glee the cabinet unlocks
and trophies join the undarned socks
to signify effort, talent and time
and support by others past their prime
of mums and dads and glyns and daves
the lauries, graces, other knaves
that now have joy upon their mugs
whilst dodging Siok and overdue subs
of schoolies effort above their age
and bravo boys at droopy stage
to overseas fans and those elsewhere
that cannot nail bite as a breath of air
is twixt ana boat and roguish band
enemies on water but not of grandstand
i salute the lot of humbug type
the bluevein, greensnot, whitemaggot, yellowstripe
our chariots,(although too numerous of scull)
a life at ana never dull
hesitates, dims but is never lost
for rowing and it's spirit is upon all of us.
Great season everyone

The next sculling course will be starting on Saturday the 6th of October and another course will be starting on Sunday the 28th of October (the morning after the annual dinner, groan....)   John T needs assistance running both of these so please get in touch with him and offer some assistance.  You'll no doubt learn something as well as taking a load off John.

 

The Annual Dinner is coming and it's going to be a big one so make sure you don't miss out.  Contact Richard Wheatcroft for tickets.  Price from memory is around $35.  There's lots to celebrate this year so make sure you're there !

 

Well, it's been a long (and at times testing) year, but the curtain has finally fallen on what has been ANA's most successful season for a long time.  The club picked up the novice pennant in both the sweep and sculling categories and has ended up fourth in the overall points tally.  Championship wins went to the junior Women's double of Charmaine and Eloise, the Men's veteran double of Glyn and Steve and the Men's veteran quad of Glyn, Steve, Brett and Chris.

There were plenty of other good performances over the championship's weekend, with the novice men getting the ball rolling with wins on both Saturday and Sunday.  With Chesty holidaying away up in Broome, the crew switched to their alternative combination of Big Ted and the Bravo boys and rumbled the flash white Sykes four down the course for a great pair of wins.  Not even having Jess' coxing could stop them !  Lambsy was a happy man with those wins putting him into maiden for both sweep and scull and Richo's shorts were just the talk of the regatta !  As soon as i get a photo, it's going up here and then you'll see what i mean.  Even being initially awarded medals for their win on Saturday, only to have them 'repossessed' and replaced by glasses (an outrage) couldn't  spoil the mood.

The surfy chicks picked up a novice four win on Saturday but were then somewhat robbed in their maiden four final, when another crew rowed into them at the start and fractured the shaft of stroke's oar.  They were given no alternative but to row the final with the shaft half full of water and finished a fighting second by about half a length.  The 'D' cups (and you looked great in those shirts gals !) also pulled out a third in the novice four final and then teamed up with Sharon's crew for the eight while the novice coxed quad of Mahoney, Elinor, Anthea and Chelsea rowed to a pair of excellent thirds in both finals.  Catalina, Jodie and Catherine pretty much cleaned up the women's subjunior singles on both days and gave Westies a run for their money in the quad on Sunday.

Jess, Sarah, Claire and Heather (dare i call them the TIP chicks ?!!) put in solid performances in both the maiden quad and doubles, but unfortunately didn't get the wins they were looking for.  Despite some excellent wins throughout the season, they've had a bit of an interrupted run to the finish so definitely next year gals !  Charmain and Eloise's win in the Junior double looked great from start to finish and it was the club's first junior championship in (i think) 9 years so lots of credit to both of you for working hard during the season.  As for the old blokes, Steve and Glyn got their third vet' double championship on the trot and then dragged Chris and Brett off their death beds for a very classy win in the quad.  Looks like it'll have to be five in a row now Steve after all !  Brett and Chris also had a great row in their maiden double heat after really struggling with illness for the last few weeks, but had a somewhat bumpy ride in the final after quite possibly the worlds most stupidest and ignorant cretin of a speedboat driver washed their race for the entire 2000m.  Just goes to prove that some people do have brains that do nothing more than control their breathing.  Anyway, Chris' now doing his best to forget all that by living it up in Italy for the next few weeks and getting in some miles on his bike with Simon and Elspeth.  Really Golden, don't you know just how fit those two are when it comes to riding bikes !

Anyway, once all the racing was over, everyone converged back at the club to unload and re-rig for the last time this year (yeah !!) and tuck into a sumptuous BBQ which was brilliantly organised by Siok.  The beers flowed well into the night with the highlights being (in no particular order), the TIP chicks doing a crew bum bearing exercise on the end of the jetty (how's the heart rate going JT ?), the impromptu fireworks display from some pyromaniac on the other side of the river (much appreciated until the cops turned up and wanted to know where all the 'gunshots' were coming from !),  A large number of Westies turning up to share a beer and Doc ordering the pizza (great to see clubs socialising with each other) and last but not least, Richo leading a stirring rendition of the Golden chorus at the end of the night (no respect i tell you, no respect !).

Anyway, that's as much as i can remember off the top of my head.  Thanks to everyone who pitched in and pulled their weight, it's been a blast !

 

All the crews nominated for this weekend can be found here.  Check out which crew you're in and then make sure you know your race time.

 

Race times for Saturdays and Sundays races are as follows.  Note: Both days start at 9am.  Boat loading will be at 6pm on Friday night and unloading on Sunday afternoon as soon the trailers make it back to the shed - probably just before 6pm with a sausage sizzle being put on by the club after for all members.  Also note that a lot of the heats (maiden and junior events) are over 2000m and not 1000m as per usual and ALL FINALS WILL BE DECIDED ON TIME.  Ie: Coming first in your heat doesn't necessarily guarantee you'll make it through to the finals.  It'll be the fastest 7 crews in each event.   Novice races are as per normal and there is a full program of novice races on both days.

Saturday:

Race                                                                        Heat                            Final

 

Sunday:

Race                                                                        Heat                            Final

 

The club has agreed to a joint purchase with ARAWA of the state's new Penrith Cup boat.  The boat is a two year old, ex' AIS men's lightweight coxless boat and will come with both sweep and scull riggers.  The way it works is that we effectively fund half the purchase of the boat with the Association and share it's use over the next three years.  After that, the boat belongs completely to the club.  The club will also be taking delivery of one of the ex' WAIS men's heavyweight double/pairs in November as well as looking at buying a 1990 Sykes double/pair that is currently stored in the shed. 

 

Club                Novice/SJ Scull        All Novice/SJ        Veteran        Open        Premiership

ALB                     15                          15                          0                0                15
ANA                    1425                      2025                      430            2202          4657
BRC                     995                        1175                      1495          3086          5756
CUBC                  60                          60                          218            669            947
ECUP                   60                          60                          0                1384          1444
FRC                     720                        800                        660            1647           3107
MURC                 320                        700                        0                1982           2682
SRRC                  865                        955                        890             8519          10364
UWA                   50                          200                        40               3740          3980
WARC                845                        1225                      720             4314          6259

 

Can be found here.  If you're on it, pay up !

 

Race times for this Saturday's regatta are as follows.  In events with more than one heat, the first heat is the time listed.  The regatta starts at midday and make sure you are at the regatta no later than 1 hour before your first race.  Boat loading will be at 6pm Friday and unloading at 4pm Sunday afternoon.  A load sheet listing which boats are to be loaded and where they will go on the trailer will be posted on the pin up board in the boat shed on Thursday morning, so if you're rowing Thu' and you're sure your boat wont be required again before the regatta, please try and have it de-rigged in advance.

Race                                                                            Heat                            Final

 

 

All crews nominated for this weekend's regatta can be found here.  Make sure you know what races you're entered in.  Race time will be posted up here Wednesday morning.

 

The amount of overdue money owed to the club by members is, to say the least, outstanding.  Infact to put it in perspective, it's more than the amount we raise in all of our fundraisers (Challenge Cup, Sculling Courses, Avon Descent, etc...) for the entire year and let's face it, the club can't afford it.  Soooo, the bottom line is all racing members must settle their debts by Monday the 3rd of September or they will not be entered for any further regattas until they do.  It seems like a simple enough solution to kick things into gear.  Apologies if this seems a little excessive, but when you have a core group of people spending thousands (yes thousands) of  volunteer hours down at the club just to keep things running so everyone else can have a good time, i don't think it's too much to ask.

Click here to check out the debtors list.  It shows everyone who owes more than $50 to the club.  If your name's on there, please get payment organised asap.

 

As sung to the tune of the classic Old 55 song.  Hmmm, definitely showing my age here.  Anyway, i digress.  The weekend's regatta was a landmark for the club as for the first time (in my memory anyway), we had to take two trailers to a regatta to cater for all the boats we needed.  Granted Westies have been doing this most of the season but hey, it looked good !

There were some good results on the water to make it all worthwhile with Claire, Sarah, Charmaine and Jess having an excellent win in the open quad (and finally getting Jess out of novices !).  The Surfy Chicks won the open coxed four again and then combined with the 'D' cups to win the open B eight (or should that be the open D eight ?).  The Men's novice quad made a return to the winners circle and Catherine had an excellent first win in her subjunior single.  Steve and Glyn finished a fighting second in the open double and Charmaine had a win in her open single.

The points tally is a fair bit tighter after we copped a bit of a flogging down at Bunbury, but we're still hanging onto fourth in the overall points and first in the novice division.  We definitely need everyone on the water for these last couple of regattas to keep the points rolling in so all the good work during the year doesn't go to waste.  If we can't get motivated as a club for the last three weeks of the season, it'd be pretty disappointing.

Onto a different note, the annual dinner will be at the Ascot Inn this year on the 27th of October.  The Ministry of Social Functions have sussed out the location and given it the big thumbs up (nice and local too) so get that date in your diary.  We're looking for about 100 people to make it a huge night.

 

Race times for this Saturday's regatta are as follows.  In events with more than one heat, the first heat is the time listed.  The regatta starts at midday and make sure you are at the regatta no later than 1 hour before your first race.  Boat loading will be at 6pm Friday and unloading at 4pm Sunday afternoon.  A load sheet listing which boats are to be loaded and where they will go on the trailer will be posted on the pin up board in the boats shed on Thursday morning, so if you're rowing Thu' and you're sure your boat wont be required again before the regatta, please try and have it de-rigged in advance.

Times are tight for some some related crews (MN2X  ==> MN4X+  ==> MOB8+) and (FOB8+  ==> FN4+) so you will need to make sure your boats are unloaded and rigged well in advance.  If you've only got 30 mins between races, you don't have time to rig a boat. 

Race                                                                                Heat                   Final

 

Click here to check out which crew combinations have been entered for this Saturday's regatta (25/8).  The regatta starts at midday at Canning and boat loading will be at 6pm Friday night.  Unloading will be at 4pm on Sunday arvo.  It looks like we'll be taking two trailers this time, so attendance for half of each crew at loading and (the other) half at unloading is compulsory.  Race times will be placed here tomorrow night once the draw has been completed.

 

With the season almost over, there's a couple of dates to keep free.  First up, the State Championships will be held over both Saturday and Sunday on the weekend of the 15th & 16th of September.  If you're not racing, come down and support the club for a couple of hours.  On Sunday evening once the racing is over, the club will be putting on a free sausage sizzle for all club members (recreational and racing ) and partners back at the clubhouse.  All the boats have to be unloaded and put back on racks first and once that's done, head across for a feed and a few beers to celebrate the end of the season.

Secondly,  the date for the Annual Dinner has been set and it's the 27th of October.   Further details such as cost and location, will be made available as they come to hand.

 

Well, at least it didn't rain.  Infact, the sun shone most of the day and there was at least enough around for Jess to get sunburnt anyway !   Although it wasn't the most of successful of regattas for the club, there were some pretty good performances out on the water.  Well done to Brett and Chris for winning the men's open double and also to Chris for making it to the A final in the open single.  Sarah and Claire won the maiden division in open doubles, but Jess and Charmaine were unlucky to miss their A final after the race was started without them through no fault of their own.

The men's novice four of Chesty Bond and the Bravo boys made a return to the winners circle and Richo and Richard backed up to win the novice double as well.  Al also had a great run in a packed novice single event, making it through to the final and just missing out on a place while Catherine picked up second in her subjunior single scull final.  The big shock came with the Surfy guys getting done in the open coxed four by a flying Uni crew, but the boys assure me things will be set straight at the next regatta.

The pace off the water was similarly a little less hectic - especially when compared to the first Bunbury regatta this year !   After a bit of pasta and a few beers up at Bunbury's (damn impressive) new clubrooms, the path of the nights activities meandered through the Rose Hotel, then onto the Reef nightclub (what is it with that place and everyone turning up all at once ?) and then onto to somewhere else, or so i'm told anyway.  It was also great to have Steve Wienke back down at a regatta and Steve, any time you want to tow the trailer, you only have to ask !

 

Yes, at long last we finally have a stock of racing singlets.  I'll be taking them down to Bunbury and i'll also have them at every regatta until the end of the year.  Cost is $32 so bring your money.  I'm still waiting on the rugby tops to arrive and you can bet after waiting over two months, we'll be going with another supplier next year.

 

Race times for this weekends Bunbury regatta are as follows.  There's 105 events all up.  In events with more than one heat or semi final, the first heat/semi is the time listed.  The regatta starts at 10am and make sure you are at the regatta no later than 1 hour before your first race.  Boat loading will be at 6pm Friday and unloading at 4pm Sunday afternoon.  A load sheet listing which boats are to be loaded and where they will go on the trailer will be posted on the pin up board in the boats shed on Thursday morning, so if you're rowing Thu' and you're sure your boat wont be required again before the regatta, please try and have it de-rigged in advance.

Race                                                                    Heat                    Semi Final                        Final

 

Club                Novice/SJ Scull        All Novice/SJ        Veteran        Open        Premiership

ANA                    1025                      1505                      340            1419          3264
BRC                     650                        790                        1085          2076          3951
CUBC                  60                          60                          218            299            577
ECUP                   35                          35                          0                826            861
FRC                     430                        490                        525            1434          2449
MURC                 115                        345                        0                1215          1560
SRRC                  620                        680                        640             5361          6681
UWA                   50                          80                          40               2345          2465
WARC                715                        1025                      460             3596          5081

Doing a great job guys and gals.  Keep up the good work !

 

Just a quick reminder of what's on this week.  Dinner is on this Wednesday night in the clubrooms (second Wednesday of every month).  $10 gets you a great meal courtesy of Caroline and Richo.  Boat loading for Bunbury will be this Friday at 6pm and unloading will be at 4pm on Sunday afternoon.  Half of every crew going down is required for loading and the other half for unloading.  Boats will not be loaded for crews who don't show up and with only four regattas to go, boats have to be unloaded and re-rigged after, rather than left on the trailer for a week as has been happening up until now.    As soon as i have the draw for the Bunbury events, i'll post it on the message board - probably Wednesday morning.

 

Thankfully, the club's last non rowing commitment for the year is over and we can now concentrate on the run to the end of the season and getting out on the water for a few more rows.  Luckily, the weather held off and we had decent conditions for the food selling and boat carrying troops who did a fantastic job on the day.  Plenty of helpers came down which was great to see, although the same old faces still definitely lead the way when it comes to putting in the long hours.

Many thanks to Pam for doing a great job cooking up the beef and onions and Ngaire (hope that's spelt right !), Aide, Jill, Margaret, Charmaine, Jess, Jenny, Marianne, Rose, Mahoney, Richard C, Tiff, Sue and everyone else who helped out selling 300 hot beef rolls and countless cups of tea and coffee.  Apologies for any names i've forgotten - the day's already a bit of a blur.  Also, a great job was done by the boat carrying crew of Lambsy, Jill, John T, Chesty, Richo, Charmaine (multi talented !), Lestelle, Toto, Golden, Ron and Ian (i hope that's everyone).  All up, i think they carried about 400 kayaks and 70 odd speedboats and the new method of getting the speedies out was a big improvement.

Finally, a big thanks to Siok for being the first to arrive and the last to leave and effectively running the whole day.  All up, the club should get around $1,100 (very) hard earned dollars out of the event.  Big pat on the back for everyone who helped out.

 

Yes, you could be forgiven for wondering did anything else happen at the club in the month of July other than the Sandalford row.  Well, while the day was a huge success, life has been going on pretty much as normal for everything else.  

The club endured a couple of days or darkness earlier in the week due to the main fuse box for the surrounding area pretty much self destructing.  Unloading and de-rigging boats by torchlight became a common if somewhat tedious occurrence until the power was restored on Wednesday.  Traveling troubleshooter  and resident of various 'disputed zones' around the world Simon Cook, popped in for a week or so (conveniently timed to coincide with Sandalford i notice) to get his yearly fix of sculling without the risk of being shot at and also to display an impressive list of newly acquired gadgets, including his digital camera from which all the Sandalford shots below came.  

Regatta entries continue to be the strong and the club is still hanging onto a lead in the Novice pennant as well as recording some good wins in Open and Veterans.  Graham Beer and Kris Kaminsky made a pretty impressive debut at their first regatta by taking our the men's novice double as well as teaming up with Al and Lambsy to win the novice quad.  Both the surfy guys and gals crews had good wins, with the guys now out of novice and ready to concentrate on their push for a Maiden four championship and the girls likely to be doing the same after the next regatta.  Laurie and John's efforts with the schoolgirl group have been paying off ,with placings in novice and subjunior quads and doubles starting to come on a regular basis.  It was also great to see all 5 women's novice fours entered at the last regatta for the first time.  Now if we could just start having some 1-2-3 finishes gals, that'd be great !  Chesty Bond and the Bravo Boys have been through more combinations than your local Chinese takeaway, but with Richo back from sunning himself on the beaches up north, they might get back into the swing of things and actually start winning some races again !

Next weekend is the Bunbury regatta and if you're going and need accommodation, make sure you let Dave know this weekend because we have to pay a deposit based on the number of people who are going.  While i'm on the subject of Bunbury, none other than Steve Wienke has volunteered to tow the trailer down for us on Saturday.  Steve, you're a life saver !  Bunbury Rowing Club are also putting on a show up in their clubrooms on Saturday night with $5 for a pasta and salad meal and drinks at club prices.

Well, that's about it except for one final note.  Glyn, Brett, Golden and Steve, i've seen Tim's photos from Sandalford and if you're thinking about paying off Laurinda from Westies for her negatives, you'd better keep some cash in reserve to take care of Tim as well !

 

Even the wettest day of the year (well, so it seemed anyway) couldn't spoil a great day on the water and an even better day off it, at Sandalford.  With 88 starters filling 16 boats for the 15k trip up Perth's best stretch of river, it was just huge.  It was great to see so many Westies (which way to the bar !) and John XXXIII (are we the only civilised people here !) members along as well which made for a great atmosphere.

Despite the assembled crews at the start looking about as organised as this years starters for the running of the bulls, they all managed to magically find their boats and hit the water pretty much on time thanks to some great co-ordinating/cajoling/pleading by Lambsy.  Probably more worrying was the number of bottles of champagne that had been polished off before crews had even got in the boat (substantial !).  Chesty's water bombers got the action going with some surprise attacks while the green snot eight with Steve (the mad) Monk leading the charge, arrived at the 3/4 distance champagne stop having already polished off four bottles.  

As you'd expect, the D cups just couldn't control themselves and quickly got into 'uniform', but they were one-upped by the men's quad who decided to go the full slide monty right through the middle of the champers stop.  When do you get those photo's back Tim ?  Anyway, we eventually got to Sandalford in one piece and after some hard yakka getting the boats up a pretty steep bank and onto the trailer, we just beat the rain and made it to lunch (albiet an hour late) and just avoided a major revolt by the kitchen staff.  Lunch was great although the buffet did eventually run out of food but hey, i don't think anyone told them they were going to have to feed 80 odd rowers who'd just rowed 15k's and had a healthy, alcohol induced case of the munchies !

With the day blending into a haze of red and white wines disappearing at an alarming rate, we figured it was far too early to call it quits, so we boarded the (leakiest piece of crap) bus to the next stop, which just happened to be the Civic Hotel in Inglewood.  With all the required ingredients for a place worthy of  continuing our evening (it was dry and served beer), the crowd danced the night away and really put the final nail into those hangover coffins.

Anyway, it was a great day and if you didn't go, you missed out !   Big thanks to Richard for doing a great job of organising it all, Laurie for towing the boat trailer back and John, Grace and Charmaine for braving the elements in the dinghy on the way home.  Also, a big thanks to long time supporters of the club Lycopodium and also Acme Group (suppliers of quality ventilation and filtration equipment to the mining industry) for supplying the champagne (and not the cheap stuff either !) on the day.

Check out a few of the photos and click on them for the big picture.  We'll get some more up as they come to hand.

Group shot  Rare shot of the green snot crew not drinking !  Which way do we go again ?  Does this boat make my bum look big ?  The brains behind it all - Lambsy (aka Richard).   Damn getting these boats out is hard work....  There, it wasn't that far now was it.......  More wine please !

and some drunken revelry from the Civic....   Please, don't make me drink any more beer !  Richo !  Go Westies !  and to hear what Claire has to say - click here

 

As usual, with the Avon descent finishing right on the club's doorstep, we'll be doing our usual catering and boat carrying effort on Sunday, the 5th August.  Volunteers are needed to help either in the food stall or with carrying boats away at the finish line.  We need enough members to fill two lots of three hour shifts for each area, so please add your name to the sheets on the notice board down at the club.

 

The Sandalford row is on this Sunday and judging by the numbers, it's going to be a big event.  Club members, please get down by 9:30, to assist with getting the boats out and getting crews organised.  To everyone who's rowing up to Sandalford, don't forget to bring a bag with your dry clothes so you can get changed into something semi respectable once you're off the water.  Sadly, there's no showers up there so it'll just have to be shower in a can time !

 

The next sculling course commences this Saturday at 9am and John could certainly do with some assistance in running it.  John will be going through the course outline in this first session, which details what