On Saturday the Oundle sailing team took part in the annual BSDRA Easterns team racing tournament, which faces teams in a round robin fashion against one another to determine a winner. The Oundle team set off with a poor start to the day, losing the first three races to opponents who were the eventual top three. For the next three races they faced some more manageable competition and rallied well to win all three. Among those races, the highlight of the day was a victory against Uppingham, despite a mid-race scare due to a capsized boat. For the final three races they only managed to win one. Overall Oundle won four out of nine races which placed them in seventh place out of 12 teams, with Rugby carrying the day. Seventh was a good result and a big improvement on last year, against competition said to have been the strongest it has been in recent years.
The J18 quad travelled to the Nottingham City Regatta to find that they had been bumped up to the Mens’ Elite quads race. Lining up at the start, the squad was sitting between university crews of leviathans, and because it was a headwind, their size gave them an even bigger advantage. The Oundle crew were beaten off the start by most of the stronger crews, but managed to get beside a Nottingham University boat, which they battled alongside down the course. In the end, they lost out to Nottingham by about one length. However, they were not miles down the course and were competitive, demonstrating that they might actually belong in an event like that, which is an achievement in itself.
The second race was in the Mens’ IM2 category, and again they found themselves next to a university crew, the Cambridge lightweight men in a boat that was part of the actual university squad. However, the wind had picked up even further at this time, leaving white crests down the length of the lake as the waves washed over. This meant some of the Cambridge team’s superior technique would be wasted, and the Oundle team would have a relative advantage. Again, Oundle started off a length behind, as they were simply not as powerful as the other boats, and couldn’t get the boat moving as quickly. They settled into what rhythm they could given the wind, and tried to lengthen out the strokes to maintain efficiency. They stuck on Cambridge’s coattails, stern to bow, up until the last 500. Zac Freij (L) called an up and they came together to push the boat speed ever so slightly. They were beginning to close them down, stroke by stroke, seat by seat, and with about 200 to go, they were about to call a final push when they lost a blade. In conditions like that, just catching the top of a wave wrong can take away the handle, and the real skill is the recovery. The squad executed well, and lost maybe half a length before they were rowing again, pushing even harder to compensate. Coming onto the red buoys, with 100 meters to go, they were still about two seats down, but with every stroke Cambridge was losing a little, as Oundle moved up. Oundle crossed the finish line with Cambridge and another boat virtually simultaneously. It wasn’t until the official times came out that Oundle found out that they had beaten Cambridge. However, even that effort wasn’t enough to get them on the podium; they came forth. In two weeks’ time they get to race against crews their own age at National Schools - something to look forward to.
Also at the Nottingham Regatta were the girls J16 quad, made up of Holly Kunzer (N), Alice Gadsby (Sn), Hatty Spencer (L) and Poppy Stopford (D), along with Immie Peckett (K) and Annabel Hickson (N) in singles. All the boats did very well despite the incredibly windy conditions for the full length of the course.
In the afternoon a J18 quad was formed comprising Immie and Alice, Alanna Gilmartin (L) and Annabel. Despite never having all been in a crew together, the race went very well and they achieved a good time. Alice then had to compete in the singles final in her fourth 2k race of the day and showed true dedication to the sport and made the whole team proud.
Good all round effort was shown throughout the day, and the J16s gained some valuable experience racing a 2k against very good crews; just what they needed in the run-up to the National Schools in a few weeks.