9th August 2008

On a wet and blustery day at Dorney Lake a new combination in the veteran’s quad of Rob Bailey; stroke, Keith Baldwin; 3, Larry Grant; 2 and John Sewell at bow won the VET E/F. 4x- event over 500m at Maidenhead Regatta. In spite of the inclement weather there was a good turnout of crews across all classes and their trusty supporters. Our quad raced against Wallingford in the heat and we got off to a good start and were moving away from them when something went wrong in their bow seat and they headed for a rather large orange buoy which somewhat impeded their progress. We therefore had them beaten and did not need to implement our race plan (which remains a closely guarded secret) and won easily.

Flushed with success (or was it Robert’s stroke rate?) we faced sterner opposition from a Bewl Bridge VET E crew in the Final. They had not raced a heat and were raring to go. The starter shouted go when our bow still had his hand in the air and was straightening the boat in the persistent crosswind. It was therefore not the most graceful of starts that we have done but we soon moved from panic mode into our race plan (still a closely guarded secret) as Bewl Bridge set off in hot pursuit. They were beginning to catch us but Robert upped the rate to 36 and we held our own to cross the line one and a half lengths in front. Marvellous! We also had a vociferous supporter’s club consisting of Pippa and Lexie Grant who did not let the poor weather dampen their spirits. Special thanks must also go to Gerald Morrissey who also stoically braved the conditions to support us and importantly trailer the boat there and back. Overall a challenging but rewarding day and we are all looking forward to the next event.

Larry Grant