A late call-up to add an extra element of muscle for a Wiv Gigs social row on Thursday evening. Ten minutes before leaving the house and it was pissing it down with rain. The bloody Estuary Wilds weather wasn’t looking great. I dithered. I dithered for perhaps a little too long.
I finally made my move and made the short walk down to the Sailing Club. I was, of course, the last crew member to arrive, causing a little confusion. Apologies, Comrades.
It wasn’t all bad news with the bloody Estuary Wilds weather. The rain had subsided slightly and the sun was trying to make an appearance later in the day. My understanding of meteorological conditions isn’t great. But I do know that sun and the rain leads to a rainbow - or even a Madness single.
This was no time for skanking. We had two boats to launch. I headed off down the hard with Varuna. I had already christened this boat the relegation boat, with two West Ham crew members on board. Chances are that it might sink.
I was about to go on board when out came a call for a crew swap. I was seconded to sit in the first bow of Audacity. Extra bonus point as this particular seat in the boat gets to use the brand new oar.
We had a smooth launch. Soon we were heading downstream with the sun in our faces. All crew members had made the basic error of not bringing out the shades.
This was always going to be a short row. Time and tide wasn’t on our side.
We weren’t alone in making the most of the extra light as we approach the Solstice. We passed Defiance who looked at us as though they were all set for a training row.
We had a quick and economical turnaround at Buoy 28. The reflections in the water looked quite stunning. The WOD’s had their candy box cuteness with all the radiant colours on show.
We were a little ahead of time and so took in a brief detour upstream towards Rowhedge. A lone fisherman was dangling his long rod over the Wivenhoe Jetty.
Some pontoon training took place as we had a cox about to be signed off to go solo. Pontoon training is nothing like potty training, although it can get messy. Two successful deckings at the Rowhedge and Wivenhoe public pontoons were ticked off.
The lone cuckoo in Wivenhoe Wood was making a right old racket. I was more concerned about what was to come with the Wednesday evening bloody church bell practise. We recovered and I made it back to base in time before the onslaught.
