2009's Major Happenings

Numbers of participants for the Club's Closing Eights were a little disappointing this year, but with some careful seat juggling we managed to field three crews, including four of our new novices from the Learn to Row courses earlier this year. Heat one saw a close first half between Ken Almand's crew on Surrey and Roger Hine's on Middlesex, but then the Middlesex crew pulled clear to win comfortably. In the final, the Hine crew took on Duncan Hughes, Mark Chatwin et al. in what was expected to be a close-fought race, but on stroke eleven Duncan caught an almighty boatstopper and the Hine crew cruised to a leisurely victory. Congratulations to the winners.

With the excitement over, the Annual General Meeting of the club was held in the clubroom at 12:00 noon. The following officials were elected:

• Captain: Mark Chatwin
• Vice-captain: Graham Lloyd
• Treasurer: Bill Burbage
• Secretary: Malcolm Cook
• Other committee members: Paul Gunn, Roger Hine, Duncan Hughes, Dave King, Ewen McLeod

The AGM voted in favour of the outgoing committee's proposals for subscriptions and rack fees. For the year starting 1 September 2009 the subscription is therefore £370 less a £20 discount for those who pay before 1 November and the rack fee for private sculling boats stays at £155.

Please give your cheque (payable to Quintin Boat Club) to any member of the committee or send it to the treasurer, Bill Burbage, at "Beechlee", Bank Green, Bellingdon, Chesham, Bucks, HP5 2UT. Thanks to those of you who have already paid.

Twelve of Quintin's finest veteran oarsmen plus coxswain Hilary Cook took to the waters of the New Danube canal last week with mixed feelings, somewhat like the weather, which blew hot, then wet, then very windy on the three main days of the 36th FISA World Masters Regatta in Vienna, Austria. For the first time the main racing of the regatta was spread over three days, the fourth day being reserved for scratch mixed races. Pete Meaney and John Ferrario had skillfully worked out the events and combinations of crews so that there were no clashes and everyone had, on average, two races a day.

Vienna Photos

Day One (Thursday) was a real scorcher, with temperatures that must have been in the upper eighties even in the late afternoon. First off for Quintin was an 'E' coxed four, which, for a near-scratch crew, finished a creditable fourth with the Croatian/International composite Mladost/Occoquan taking the medals. However, our main focus was on what was believed to be our main chance - the 'D' eight. Our eyes were metaphorically on the Cinncinnati Boat Club/Swiss Masters combination in lane 7, but it was the Dutch RV Breda/Z.R.Z.V. Te Zwolle combination that squeezed away in the middle 500. Quintin rallied strongly over the last 250 and came in second, reducing the deficit to 2.79 sec. at the finish. So - a mixture of pleasure and disappointment at the end of the first day.

We woke up on Day Two to persistent rain which continued with little abate throughout the day. The sun may not have been shining on Quintin but the gods were. We competed in nine events and came away with some encouraging results, including third in 'D' coxless fours, and 'E' double sculls, second in 'E' singles and 'F' coxless pairs and first in 'D' quad sculls and 'E' eights. It was very pleasing to watch the blue and white vests of Nick Ryan, Charles Harrison, Jonathan Ferris and Pete Meaney powering the "Vin Batten" across the line ahead of the field, even though Pete's was only visible through his very wet white T-shirt which he had forgotten to remove. We awaited the disqualification with bated breath, but it did not happen and the victors sculled up to the winners' raft to collect their medals.

This got us all in a winning frame of mind and when the 'E' eight took to the water there was a great feeling of urgency in the crew, so much so that when the coxswain called for a first ten strokes firm at 26 during the warm up, the rating rose effortlessly to 31. For the race itself, Quintin were drawn in lane 3 with main rivals Mladost/Occoquan International in lane 4. This eight contained the four oarsmen who had beaten our 'E' coxed four to take the medals on Day One, so we were out for revenge. Strokeman Richard Lonergan took the crew out of the blocks at 48 strokes a minute, which immediately gave us a half length lead over the field. The rating never dropped below 39 for the rest of the race, with Quintin crossing the line 1.57 seconds ahead of Mladost/Occoquan and nearly 9 seconds ahead of the third-placed crew. Our time of 3 min. 8.02 sec. was the fastest for the whole event, the other heats being won in times 4 to 5 seconds slower, so we really felt we were "World Masters."

Day Three was, for some of us, a day too far, especially as there was a raging head wind blowing and the course was roughing up like the Tideway, but for the squad as a whole the nine events yielded our best clutch of finishing positions with third place in 'E' coxless fours and 'D' double sculls (Nick and Charles), second place in 'D' coxed fours, 'D' singles and 'F' singles, and first place in 'D' doubles (Fred Jefferies and Richard Lonergan). Everyone was impressed by their gutty performance, coming home nearly 5 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals.

So it's commiserations to Ken Almand, Richard Ratcliffe and John Ferrario, who missed out on the medals and double congratulations to Pete Meaney, Jonathan Ferris, Charles Harrison, Fred Jefferies and Richard Lonergan, who each won two. Nick Ryan, Graham Lloyd, Tom Bishop and Roger Hine were content with their one medal apiece.

See what effect this has had on the Potwinners Chart.

Thanks go to John Ferrario and Pete Meaney for organising the crews and making it all happen, and special thanks to Graham Lloyd who drove 1300 miles there and 1300 miles back to allow us to row in our own boats. Overall this was the best performance Quintin has ever had at a World Masters regatta.

Summary of Results

Official results sheets for all our races can be downloaded in pdf form through the links below, courtesy of the regatta committee. Full crew details are given. Only the ages shown on the sheets bear no relation to reality!

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Photographs of the trip may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=709.

Due to unforeseen circumstances our September Open Day has had to be cancelled, but the next Learn to Row course will still start on Sunday 20th September as planned. If you were planning to come to the Open Day as a precursor to the Learn to Row course, why not come down to the club on the evening of Wednesday 16th September, meet some of the club members over a beer (or similar) and get some of the administrative preliminaries out of the way? Proceedings start at 8:15 pm. You can find where the club is on our Location page. Once you have found the riverside, you will find the clubroom by venturing up on to the balcony and entering through the doorway.

It's been a quiet few weeks, what with the Captain being away on his honeymoon, and many other club members taking a break from the ardours of rowing, including your own correspondent, but one person kept the club flag flying for the annual pilgrimage to Stourport - your very own vice-captain, Graham Lloyd. Undeterred by his lack of success at Maidenhead Regatta the previous weekend, Graham achieved a 100% record for the club, winning Veteran F sculls on both days.

We have received news of the death of a past member, John Williamson, known to his friends as "Red". John was a member of Quintin in the early 1960s and rowed in the first eight in the 1961 Head of the River Race. The Rowing Almanack for the 1961 season reveals that he rowed at 6 in the winning Thames Cup eight at Marlow that year - in a field of 32 entries! Unfortunately his work took him out of the country just before Henley (see below) and so changes were made for HRR and the later regattas: Bill Barry and Jon Whitmore replaced John Williamson and Ted Harris.

Michael Smyth writes from New Zealand, "Red died last week and his funeral was on Saturday at St Mary's Church in Auckland. Red was a member of Auckland Rowing Club but I understand from my many conversations with him that he was also a member of Quintin for a while whilst he was in the UK - I'm afraid I don't have the dates but I think Jumbo Edwards had something to do with his crew.

From the best of my recollection, Red was in a very successful Quintin 1st eight and often relayed the story of how they paced the Oxford (or Cambridge) boat race crews and gave them a good thumping. Unfortunately, he didn't represent the club at Henley because his job called him to work overseas in the Middle East just prior to the regatta.

Red lived a very full life and coached school crews right up until the last. He suffered a stroke a couple of years ago but that did not stop him. He will be fondly remembered."

If anyone wants contact details for the family then Michael Smyth is sure he can get them. Contact secretary@quintinboatclub.org.

Ced Nowell, now in Ontario, recollects: "We used to call him Kiwi and he was a great power rowing behind me during that year. 1961 was the first Thames Cup that a QBC crew had won since 1936, I remember being told. The party that night at the Club was memorable. All the old members surfaced and bought us all pints. Our coach that year - as always - was Lou Barry. Jumbo Edwards coached Oxford. Lou was a Squadron Leader and a professional. Edwards was a Group captain and an amateur. A formula for rivalry. Edwards wanted wanted us to row a full course trial against his crew rather than just act as a pacing crew for a third of the course and offered a two length start. Lou said it was not a good idea but then said "OK", declining the two lengths. Oxford never had a chance. Lou said sorry to Edwards and thank you to us. I know that Alec Field in Auckland had become acquainted with Kiwi in NZ."

Gym Opening Photos

The club celebrated the official opening of the gymnasium and the christening of two new boats by holding a well-attended lunchtime barbeque, on which, for a change, the sun shone. Captain Mark Chatwin kicked off the proceedings by introducing Bob Slade, whose task was to christen our new double scull / coxless pair the "Norman Webster". Bob recounted how he and Norman joined the club in the early 1960s and found themselves rowing together in a pair - indeed representing the club in the Silver Goblets and Nickalls' Challenge Cup at Henley in 1961. Norman was a regular on the "Bridges Run" throughout the 1970s and will be remembered by some of our slightly younger veterans for that. When Norman died he left a generous donation to the club, and it is with this in mind that the new boat was dedicated to him, complementing another of our Empacher doubles, the "Bob Slade", already in the boathouse. Bob anointed the new boat with a suitably meagre dose of "bubbly", the rest being kept back for drinking. Mark then introduced ex-captain Ricky White to initiate the christening of our new Empacher eight. Following the club tradition, this was named for the club's captain by giving it the monicker "The Lady Lindsay". This was slightly unusual as Mark has yet to marry the aforementioned lady (but the wedding is imminent). The boat was again anointed with "bubbly" (this time by Lindsay) and then proceedings moved to the doorway of the new gymnasium, where former captain Brian Shaw cut the blue ribbon and declared the gym formally open. All present then feasted themselves on "bubbly" and burgers.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=689.

Our Veteran D eight flew the flag for Quintin at this year's Henley Veteran Regatta. The draw revealed that they were faced potentially with the prospect of four races; two on the Friday and two on the Saturday. Having dismissed X-Press and Melbourne University, Australia in the first and second rounds on the Friday, they won their semi-final on the Saturday, only to lose to arch-rivals Crabtree in the final. Quintin led off the start but Crabtree proved too strong and rowed through to take the prizes.

Our first four drew Nottingham Rowing Club's 'A' crew in the first round of the Wyfold Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. This was always going to be a tough one as Nottingham had beaten them by some nine seconds over 2000m. at the Metropolitan Regatta back at the end of May. The crew put on a valiant show and were always behind, but managed to close the deficit to ¾ length by the finish.

Full results for the Wyfolds at https://www.hrr.co.uk/henley-results/search/2009/12784/0.

The Quintin result also appears in our Henley Records.

Henley Qualifiers Photos

The club entered two crews for the Wyfold Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. Both coxless fours were called upon to perform in the qualifying race on Friday afternoon, 26th June. The competition was bound to be fierce as only fifteen places were available to the forty six crews competing. In the now time-honoured tradition Quintin 'A' (Richard Ratcliffe, Alex Page, Mark Chatwin and Kenny Almand) qualified in alphabetical order, but unfortunately the 'B' crew (Ewen McLeod, Dov Ohrenstein, Miguel Llanos and Radek Cirmirakis) failed to make the cut.

Photographs are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=686.

The club entered two crews on both days of Marlow Regatta (2000m. on the Saturday, 1000m. on the Sunday). The crews both raced in IM1 coxless fours and came up against stiff opposition on both days. Crew compositions: QBC 1 - Kenny (S) , Mark (3 steers), Alex (2) Richard (B); QBC 2 - Dom , Radek , Dov , Ewen.

Full results are available at http://www.themarlowregatta.com/results/results/2009/.

The Quintin results are shown below.

Saturday

Race 21 - Intermediate 1 Coxless Fours Heat 3 - 10:24

Race 22 - Intermediate 1 Coxless Fours Heat 34 - 10:29

Sunday

Race 15 - Intermediate 1 Coxless Fours 1st Semi-final - 10:45

Race 16 - Intermediate 1 Coxless Fours 2nd Semi-final - 10:50

Race 35 - Intermediate 1 Coxless Fours Final - 12:35

The Quintin "Racing Vets" took on the UK's finest at Nottingham this weekend in the National Veteran Rowing Championships. They won Veteran D eights, beating main rivals from the Vets' Head, Upper Thames and Crabtree. Things were a bit tougher in the Vet C VIIIs and Vet C IVs, in both of which they finished third. Crew personnel: the eight - Charlie Harrison, Nick Ryan, Roy Davies, Pete Meaney, John Ferrario, Jonathan Ferris, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan, Belinda Davies (cox); the four - John Ferrario, Jonathan Ferris, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan. Unfortunately Tom Bishop was unable to take part, as intended, in the Veteran F single sculls.

Quintin Results:

Race 241 - Open Veteran D Eights (D.8+ H) 11:43 first 5 to final race 321

Race 253 - Open Veteran C Coxless Fours (C.4-) 12:24 Final

Race 253 - Open Veteran D Eights (D.8+) 17:30 Final

Race 310 - Open Veteran C Eights (C.8+) 16:40 Final

New Gymnasium Photos

It was an otherwise uneventful Tuesday evening at Quintin Boat Club, with the Supervets getting a practice outing (isn't that cheating?) before Nottingham (see above), and the novice development squad due for a spot of land training, but there was something special about it - the doors to the new gym were open! Not due to be opened officially until July 12th, the gym is now available for all Quintin members to use. Take a look at the photographs.

These are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=678.

Met Reagatta Photos

The last weekend in May, as well as containing a full schedule of sporting events, also turned out to be the hottest of the year so far, with temperatures, need I say it, "soaring" into the upper 20s (Celsius). While others were involved in the F.A. Cup Final, the first match of the British Lions tour, the Rowing World Cup or the last day of Oxford Eights, Quintin took to the waters of 2012 Olympic venue Dorney Lake to take on the best of the rest at the Metropolitan Regatta. Long-gone are the days when the course was the 2000 metres from Harrods to Putney (or even upstream through Putney Bridge), with the added excitement of a Tideway stakeboat start, but the trophies are still the same and the medals as coveted as ever. Nowadays it is six-lane racing on a dead straight course and racing takes place over two days, with separate events for each day.

On Saturday the club boated two IM1 coxless fours in a field of 33 crews, split into two divisions. Our division A crew of Mark Chatwin, Dov Ohrenstein, Richard Ratcliffe and Kenny Almand had a tough heat against Lea RC, Nottingham RC, Bedford RC and Bradford ARC, and could only manage third place behind the Lea and Nottingham. Nottingham went on to win the final with Lea in second place. Meanwhile, in division B, Nick Ryan had gallantly offered to forego his supervets eights outing and sub in for an unavailable Chris Watterson, joining Ewen McLeod, Miguel Llanos and Alex Page in the line-up. Their first heat was against a very fast Star Club crew, Vesta, Gloucester and Bath University and they achieved a creditable second place behind Star Club to qualify for the final. In the final they were again out-gunned by the victorious Star Club and also had to concede to Thames and Nottingham University.

Full results at http://metregatta.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2009-Saturday-Results.pdf.

On Sunday the club again entered two IM1 coxless fours, but unfortunately Nick Ryan was unavailable to repeat his heroics of the previous day and the 'B' crew had to scratch. There were a number of other scratchings, but the Sunday field was still quite large, with 18 crews competing. In the first heat Quintin drew Thames, London 'B', Staines and Bradford, finishing second behind Thames to qualify for the semi-final. In the semi-final they came third, just over a second behind the University of London, with London in first place. In the final they gained their revenge on UL, finishing fourth behind Thames, Lea and London. The Sunday crew was Mark Chatwin, Alex Page, Richard Ratcliffe and Kenny Almand.

Full results at http://metregatta.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2009-Sunday-Results.pdf.

Some crew photographs are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=673.

Yet another bsnk holiday weekend, yet another glorious spring morning and yet another clean sweep for the Supervets! Charlie Harrison and Nick Ryan kicked things off at 9:23 a.m. with a tough race against a seasoned Ardingly Veteran D double, followed by the final against Marlow at 10:10, which was a comfortable win for Quintin. Then at 11:15 they were on the water again for the straight final of Veteran D eights, again against Marlow Rowing Club. This was the first race of the season for the eight since the Veterans' Head but Marlow, who had already had a close race against Walton at Marlow Spring Regatta, and were stroked by ex-Quintin strokeman Paul Mullan (1984 vintage), proved no match and were beaten by some 4 lengths. The full Quintin line-up was: Charlie Harrison (bow), Nick Ryan, Roy Davies, Roger Hine, John Ferrario, Jonathan Ferris, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan (stroke), Belinda Davies (cox).

Take a look at the Potwinners Chart.

Chiswick Regatta saw a very pleasant beginning to the Bank Holiday weekend, with a blue sky and only a gentle folling breeze for competitors to contend with as racing commenced at 9:15 a.m. on a full tide. Racing went off at more or less five minute intervals throughout the day, with breaks for lunch (1:15 to 2:05) and the turn of the tide (4:15 to 5:15), the last race running, on shcedule, at 7:05 p.m. There were some pretty exciting races and a few close verdicts, including victory for St. George's College over King's School Canterbury by three feet in a heat of the women's novice double sculls.

Chiswick Regatta Photos

Quintin mustered what forces could be found to enter six events and we are happy to report that all came away with pewterware. In the men's intermediate 1 (IM1) coxless fours, Mark Chatwin, Dov Ohrenstein, Richard Ratcliffe and Kenny Almand beat Tyrian by a comfortable 3 lengths. In the men's intermediate 2 (IM2) coxless fours, Ewen Mcleod, Chris Watterson, Miguel Llanos and Alex Page beat Tyrian (again) by an even more comfortable 4 lengths. In the Veteran C coxless fours John Ferrario, Pete Meaney, Fred Jefferies and Richard Lonergan beat Tyrian (again again) by 2¼ lengths. The veteran D quad scullers (Nick Ryan, Roy Davies, Richard Lonergan and Pete Meaney) beat Vesta by 3 lengths, and in veteran D single sculls Nick Ryan beat Radosevic of Ardingly by an "easily" verdict. Frank Webb, bringing up the rear as usual, gave us a nail-bitingly close finish when he triumphed over Ken Williams of MAABC by half a length in the Veteran H sculls (age 70+ for those losing track of these things). It was good to see octogenarian Vin Batten on the clubhouse balcony and on the lawn watching his club's successes.

Lots of regatta photographs are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=640.

We are pleased to announce that Quintin member Geoff Garbow completed his first London Marathon in a time of 4 hours 26 minutes, in the process raising over £1000 for his chosen charities, Macmillan Cancer Support and the Brazilian children's charity, Tribo. Geoff says that he is sure he would have broken the four hour barrier if he had not had to queue up for a very necessary pit stop.

Late bulletin: David Ford also ran in the London Marathon, clocking a time of 3 hours 58 minutes and 12 seconds, and raising £2850 for Prostate Cancer and Macmillan Cancer Support. Ex-member James Waite completed in a staggering time of 2 hours 46 minutes, not bad for a rower!

The Veteran C four clocked up their first win of the season with comfortable victories over Sons of the Thames 'B' crew at 9:10 in the morning and Sons of the Thames 'A' crew in the final at 13:55. They have thus, advertently or inadvertently, opened up this season's Potwinners' Chart. Crew: John Ferrario (bow steers), Jonathan Ferris, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan (stroke). Full results here.

Club Sculls Photos

It was a sunny spring morning for the annual club sculling championship - the Bob Slade - and there was a good turnout of some fifteen scullers. Unfortunately the reigning champion, Mark Chatwin, was forced to withdraw at the last minute due to illness, so the fight was on for a new pair of sculls to take the crown. The course was the usual one from the Pink House to the Quintin Clubhouse, and the race was, as usual, organised complete with sealed handicap, by Malcolm Cook. In spite of the spring weather, the stiff breeze and the inevitable coaching launches gave for some testing conditions along Brentford Dock, where the more experienced hands were seen to be faring better than some of the younger scullers. Kenny Almand led the processional race off the starting line and maintained that position throughout, posting the fastest time of 16 min. 38 sec. to regain the title he last won in 2006. Alex Page followed Miguel's example from last year by taking the handicap prize at his first attempt.

Geoff Garbow brought up the rear with a spirited performance to put the finishing touches to his London Marathon training. Geoff was heard to say, "Are we there yet?" as he was passing the yacht basin. Let's hope he makes it all the way on the big day. Thanks to Adrian Ballardie for some excellent photographs.

Full results may be found at ../sculling/results.php?ref=2009.

Photographs of all the scullers can be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=622.

We recently had an enquiry from a relative of Christian Bruusgaard, a Norwegian ex-oarsman who died in his eighties earlier this year. Christian had lived in England in the 1930s and had told his relatives about rowing for a club at Chiswick and racing at Henley. His relatives didn't know the name of the club but they wanted to find out more about his rowing career in England. Having drawn a blank at the River & Rowing Museum, they googled "Chiswick rowing clubs", found Quintin and emailed us - without really expecting to get anything useful. We were able to tell Christian's relatives that he had rowed for Quintin in 1938 and 1939. We were even able to give them details of his regatta results, including the line ups of his winning crews. Christian Bruusgaard had an especially good season in 1939, winning five pots and rising through the statuses. In the early part of the season he won Junior Eights at Putney and Walton. He then won Junior-Senior Eights at Kingston. His season culminated in winning Thames Cup Eights at Maidenhead and Henley Town.

We believe the photograph of Christian was taken at a boat naming ceremony in 2006.

The following news item will, no doubt, interest our older readers, but will also give our current members an insight to the spirit of the Club. It was published in the March 1960 edition of the Polytechnic Magazine. Does anybody have any copies of other back editions of this publication? If you do, will you e-mail a copy of any material relevant to QBC to web@quintinboatclub.org?

"Having received no serious complaint - save from G.G. - about my last month's effort, I set out this report with new zeal and encouraged endeavour (how's that for padding!). The general atmosphere at the Club these days reminds me of a form in school which has much work to do, and is making a fairly serious attempt to do it. Unfamiliar faces appear during the week for a surreptitious run and subsequent shower, the latter appearing to be as important as the training itself. Basil is happy with his books: I know that sales are boosted by a larger number of small consumers rather than by a hard core of regulars. All this is, of course, to the general good.

The first boat has still to settle down, I'm told. There are one or two changes to be made before the Head which, Lou Barry tells me, were planned some time ago. To onlookers, it appears that the crew is gaining a higher degree of uniformity than was apparent last month. There are, however, many individual points to sort out before the boat begins really to move. Perhaps the forthcoming changes will produce the desired result. The second boat, alas, has dispersed owing to the inability - or otherwise - of crew members to make themselves available with any regularity. Four members of this crew together with Slade's Four will make up a second crew for the Head; they had their first outing on 21st February. The "Sunday Eight's" appearances are becoming more regular now, though they are still very reticent insofar as a progress report is concerned. Divers veterans appear too, all preparing, no doubt, for our Annual Pilgrimage to Putney. If only the Club were as active as this all the year round - maybe some more pots would appear over our magnificent fireplace.

Tony Dunn says that he is pleased with the novices and that he now has about a dozen down regularly. Their eight seems to me to have improved in leaps and bounds, or is that too real a description? Anyway, Tony is optimistic and the future Junior Eight in good heart; I have it, though, from reliable sources that they are not as fit as they might be!

Please note the following dates; arrangements will be as usual at the Boathouse for the Head and for the Boat Race.

Tideway Head of the River: March 26th.

Universities Boat Race: April 2nd.

Scullers Head of the River: April 9th.

Our Annual Rowing Service was held at The Polytechnic on 14th February - it was, I understand, well attended and much appreciated by members.

B.A."

Editor's note: Some parts of this report could have been written this year, proving perhaps that not a lot has changed at QBC in the intervening near-half-century. It is assumed that the correspondent, "B.A.", is Brian Aldridge. "Basil" is Basil Kemp-Gee, who was Bar Steward at the time, and seemed to be very pleased with "his books".

Farewell to the Tank

The Club is pleased to announce that work commenced on Monday, 23rd March on the conversion of the former rowing tank room into the club's new gymnasium. The building work is expected to take five to six weeks and we believe that the equipment has already been ordered. It is with a tinge of regret that we say farewell to the rowing tank, which was a valuable asset to the club in the teaching of novices until it was condemned by the University. There had been a tank on the site for many years - it had previously been housed in a wooden shed before the concrete and brick building was erected in the 1970s - and it was originally constructed through the blood and sweat of club members as a memorial to the members who gave their lives in the Great War. R.I.P.

A last look at the tank can be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=620.

Another glorious spring day on the Tideway for the 29th Vesta Veterans Head of the River Race, usually just called "the Vets Head" (apostrophes lacking). Some of the Quintin contingent were able to share in the glory, the "Supervets" just about living up to their name by finishing 10th overall, and Dick FIndlay's Occaquan composite coming away with the Veteran G pennant.

Veterans Head Photos

Quintin had two crews in the Veteran D category; the "Supervets" going off at number 75 and the "Barflies" at No. 76. The Supervets, expertly coxed by Belinda Davies, soon established a powerful rhythm and started to cut their way through the Veteran D division, overhauling the Poplar B. & D. crew before Barnes Bridge and overtaking crews sometimes three at a time between the bridges. One crew, Northwich, starting No. 72 with one-time Quintin member Doug Pickup on board, put up a good fight, not yielding until Fulham football ground, but Belinda's calls made sure they were killed off and the supervets even passed crew No. 57 (Bewl Bridge) just before the finish. In spite of this spirited row, the crew only managed 4th in category, finishing in 20 min. 13.34 sec. some 25 seconds behind a presumably packed Crabtree eight. Upper Thames were second in the category, only 11.6 seconds ahead, and a Swiss crew from Geneva squeezed Quintin out of the bronze medal position by a mere 1.8 seconds. On the plus side, there were only one Veteran B crew and two Veteran C crews faster (Veteran As don't count, do they?).

The second Veteran D crew, the "Barflies", chose to go the other way, letting a number of crews pass them by, and failed to attain their objective of beating the "VPs" by finishing 148th (31st in category) in a time of 23 min. 35.10 sec. They were nearly 28 seconds behind the VPs, who started at No.104 in the Veteran E division and finished 134th (15th in category) in a time of 23 min. 7.27 sec.

To end on a high note, the Occoquan (US)/Quintin composite, stroked by Dick Findlay and coxed by Catt Campbell, finished 44th overall, taking the Veteran G pennant in a time of 21 min. 6.99 sec.

Photographs are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=611.

HORR Photos

The spring equinox brought a spring day to the Tideway, with blue skies, sunshine and a not-too-stiff breeze giving very favourable rowing conditions. The sun shone metaphorically on Bill Barry's all-star Tideway Scullers crew, made up of eight countries' Oylmpic single-sculling representatives. They managed to topple Leander from the head of the river by nearly four seconds, in a time of 17 min. 25.21 sec. Unfortunately the sun did not shine on Quintin crews. The first eight, going off at No. 84, dropped to 138th (time 19 min. 22.74 sec.), while the second eight, hastily assembled on the day, dropped even more, from 161 to 332 (time 20 min. 38.05 sec.).

A summary of the results may be found on our Head of the River web page and the full results may be found at http://www.horr.co.uk/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/2009.pdf.

Photographs are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=599.

Learn to Row Team

The learn to row course got big-time on the river this weekend with a coxed pair, a double, a quad and an eight venturing out on to the river and actually leaving the safe haven of the shoreline for the first time. It was a glorious spring afternoon (a few days prior to the equinox), which made for a very enjoyable outing for all concerned. There wa even time for a team photograph.

A group photograph may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=597.

We had an interest in two crews racing in the Hammersmith Head: the vice-presidents (veteran E) went off at number 59 and finished 85th in 13 min. 5.47 sec' and Dick Findlay, stroking a Quintin/Kingston/Tideway Sculllers composite veteran F crew, went off at number 61 and finished 60th in 12 min. 8.05 sec.

The first learn to row course of 2009 kicked off on Sunday 1st March with twenty-something participants braving the British outdoors. The weather looked promising with sunshine at the start, but clouded over as the afternoon wore on. Participants had the chance once again to sit in a racing VIII and this time focused on feeling the balance of the boat through the oars, and discovered what happens when the water comes over the top of your wellies! The course continues on Tuesdays in the gym and it shouldn't be long before we start to venture away from the shore on Sundays.

The "VPs" raced at the Molesey Veterans Head on Sunday. They finished 16th overall in a time of 10 min. 20.94 sec, somewhat off the winning pace. Full results appear to be no longer on the Molesey website.

A rather disappointing result at the Reading University Head on Saturday. The S2 eight came in 45th in a time of 14 min. 29.1 sec. Full results at http://www.ortnerbc.com/RUHORR/results_2008.htm.

Open Day Photos 2

Just to prove my last comment in the previous news article, the weather on Saturday was ideal, as the attached photographs show. The formula for activities was much the same as on the previous Sunday, but because of the improvement in the weather we were able to locate the ergos on the river bank instead of inside the boathouse and we could spend more time with people in the boat without them getting too cold. There was even enthusiasm for a small ergo competition. We are now all looking forward to the Learn to Row courses starting on March 1st.

Photographs are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=580.

Open Day Photos 1

The first Club Open Day of 2009 took place on a rather cold Sunday afternoon, our first guests arriving shortly after one o'clock. After registering their details in the clubroom, guests were treated to a brisk session of instruction and practice on the ergometer rowing machines, followed by a "naming of parts" of our racing boats and blades, demonstrated by John Peters. Guests were then given the opportunity to go out in a racing eight and try their hand at a few strokes of rowing, carefully supervised by Bob Slade and helpers. As the afternoon wore on, so the drizzle set in, and so the tea, coffee and cakes beside the fire in the clubroom were much appreciated at the end of the day. Thank you to all the coaches and helpers who made the event happen, and thank you to all our guests for coming along. Do sign up for the Learn to Row course - the weather can only get better from now on!

Photographs are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=567.

Dinner Photos

The Annual Dinner took place on Friday 6th February in the Mall Room at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall. An excellent meal of smoked salmon with caper berries, steak and Guinness pudding, followed by profiteroles and coffee, was itself followed by the traditional after-dinner speeches. Mark Chatwin managed to withstand the inevitable barracking from the rear of the room to give his captain's take on the year, and Leif Jacobsen kept his promise from last year and gave a short but touching account of his early days at Quintin, adding that one thing he had learned from last year was to stay sober. Many thanks to Dave King for organising an enjoyable evening and to Duncan Hughes for organising the raffle. Bill Dennis cleaned up (metaphorically) by taking first prize in the raffle and winning "heads or tails".

Photographs are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=551.

Tim Maggs has been teaching Kevin McEvoy how skiing should be done. See it all on YouTube.

Once again the weather gods smiled on the Quintin Head and this year's race was blessed with fairly benign conditions for the time of the year. A week prior to the race, gale force winds had been forecast, but fortunately for us (but not for others) these diverted further south to the Bay of Biscay and the day turned out overcast, but dry and bright, if somewhat chilly. Due to the heavy rain earlier in the week the river was flowing strongly with landwater, causing some of the coxswains at their early morning briefing to question whether the tide was ever going to turn. It duly did, but with the race rowed on the flooding tide against a strong stream the course record was fairly safe, even though the event had attracted some quality elite eights from Cambridge University and London Rowing Club.

Quintin Head Photos

As expected, Cambridge entered two matched crews from their Boat Race squad, not wishing to give away too much of their form at this stage, but it was the London Rowing Club Elite VIII that led off the event, starting more than 20 seconds ahead of the first Light Blues crew. It can safely be assumed that the Cambridge crew steadily closed on London, as the gap at the finish was down to less than five seconds, however the second Cambridge crew, stroked by Californian-born Silas Stafford, had similarly closed the gap on their colleagues and took the headship by 4.1 seconds, in a time of 11 minutes 55.5 seconds. The London Elite crew were also beaten by their own Senior 2s, who finished just in front of them, third, to take the Senior 2 pennant. The London Senior 1 crew completed a sandwich of their elites by finishing fifth and taking the Senior 1 pennant. The University of Bristol, winners of the Quintin Head for the two previous years, finished sixth and had to be content that their second VIII won the Senior 3 pennant in 11th position.

Schools put in a good performance, especially St Paul's, who won the J18 pennant in tenth place, and Shiplake took the Senior 4 pennant at nineteenth. Kingston Grammar School recovered from the disappointment of scratching their J18 and J15 eights through illness, to see their J16s take the pennant for that category in 22nd place and their girls take both the Women's J18 and Women's Novice pennants. Emanuel School took the Men's Novice pennant at 30th and Westminster completed the schools' haul of pennants with their J15s at 37th.

The fastest women's crew, and also winners of the WS2 pennant, were City of Oxford in 41st position. Other women's pennants went to Putney Town (WS3) in 50th, who beat Mortlake Anglian & Alpha (WS4 winners) by a mere 0.3 of a second. As already mentioned, Kingston Grammar School took both WJ18 and WN.

Photos of Quintin Crews

This being the Quintin Head, we must make mention of our own crews. The captain led out a mixture of fresh faces and old (?) die-hards in a scratch combination to finish a creditable thirteenth (and 3rd in Senior 2), beating the likes of Marlow and Thames Tradesmen along the way. Meanwhile Dick Findlay organised a band of old (definitely) die-hards to make up a Veteran D VIII, organising it so well that he managed to stay on the bank (as planned) and watch the crew come home the fastest veterans, beating Tideway Scullers' slightly older Vet Es by 31 seconds and Thames' slightly younger Vet Cs by 49 seconds. Unfortunately there were no pennants to be won this year.

The committee's thanks go out to all those officials and helpers who contributed towards a successful event.

A final note: commiserations to one of the University of Bristol women's novice crews, who completed the course to their own satisfaction only to find themselves disqualified because their boat did not have the identification letters required by the PLA. This infringment was reported by a vigilant PLA harbour master, so let us hope this will act as a warning to other crews competing in the future. It pays to read and take note of the Competitors' Instructions.

Full results are at ../quintinhead/results.php?date=2009-01-24.

Photographs of the penannt winners are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=529.

Photographs of the QBC crews are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=544.

If any club members have been fascinated by some of our old photographs, in particular QBC Photo Gallery 1950s 08, and they are also interested in touring, they may like to consider a trip on the River Dordogne this coming May. More information on the ARA website.

It was such a cold, wet day all over the country on Saturday, so wet in fact that our boys threw in the (very wet) towel once the first section had completed. We therefore have a reduced set of results compared with our original starting list:

Section 1 - 10:00 am

Section 2 - 11:30 am

Section 3 - 1:00 pm

Full finishing order at waltonsbh_results08t.pdf.

Photos of all QBC scullers

Thirteen proved to be a slightly unlucky number of Quintin entries for the Scullers' Head, as we ended up with only eleven finishers this year. Mark Chatwin maintained fifth position in S1, with the fastest time for the club. Tom Bishop just missed out on the Veteran F pennant by 0.93 sec. It looked initially as though Geoff Potts had won the Veteran E pennant, but the time first reported for him was a minute less than it should have been - hard luck Geoff! The results for the club's scullers are listed below. The full results are available on the Vesta website. Hugh Davy was missing from the initial results list but finally got a placing. Nick Ryan and Frank Webb withdrew through illness and injury respectively.

Photographs of all the QBC scullers can be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=515.

Burway Small Boats Head attracted over two hundred crews this year, and there were 224 finishers, made up of large numbers of single and double sculls, coxed quads and a handful of coxless pairs. The overall winners were an Ardingly S2 double scull, who sculled the course in 11 min 1 sec. Dick Findlay and Frank Webb flew the Quintin flag. Starting at No. 26 in Division 1, they finished 48th overall, in a time of 12 min. 33 sec.

The full finishing order is available here (pdf format).

Quintin stalwarts one and all took to the icy waters of the Kingston reach on Saturday to take part in the annual Kingston Small Boats Head. There were two divisions, starting at 10:30 and 13:30.

Photos of all QBC competitors

In division 1, the Senior 1 coxless four of Mark Chatwin, Dov Ohrenstein, Richard Ratcliffe and Kenny Almand, put in a sterling performance and were only just beaten by the division winners, a Thames Tradesmens' quad. The Quintin time of 16 min 12.3 sec. was just 1.7 seconds off the winning pace and made the crew the fastest sweep-oar boat in the event. Other successes included Charlie Harrison's 2nd in Vet D sculls (19 min. 42.4 sec.), Malcolm Cook in Vet E sculls (21 min. 5.6 sec.), and Tom Bishop in Vet F sculls (20 min. 11.5 sec.).

Now for the fun bit - Hugh Davy (Vet I) apparently beat Francis Brown (Vet H) by nearly 30 seconds, even though he started 15 seconds behind Francis and did not overtake. Still, the times stand at 22 min 27.0 sec. for Hugh and 23 min. 5.0 sec. for Francis.

In division 2 in the afternoon, Richard Ratcliffe decided to have another go and boated a Senior 3 quad scull, including Miguel Llanos and Alex Page, and John Ferrario drafted in at bow steers. This quad came 3rd in Division 2 in a time of 16 min. 42.1 sec. Bringing up the rear, although not literally, were Dick Findlay and Frank Webb in a Vet G double - their time 19 min. 9.3 sec.

Full results available here (pdf format).

Photographs of all QBC competitors may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=504.

Photos of both QBC crews

More success in the Veteran Fours Head! The Vet E quad (Dick Findlay, Charlie Harrison, Tom Bishop & Nick Ryan) came away with the Vet E 4x- pennant , finishing 7th overall in a time of 20 min. 17.55 sec. and nearly 40 seconds ahead of the Vet D 4x pennant winners. The Vet H coxless four (Bill Burbage, Francis Brown, Hugh Davy & Jim Moyes) faired not quite so well, finishing 127th out of 140 placed crews in 25 min. 1.06 sec.

Full results can be found here (xls format).

Photographs of both crews are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=499.

Photos of all QBC crews

The club had somewhat mixed success in the Fours Head on Saturday. The S2 quad (Charlie Harrision, Pete Meaney, Roy Davies and John Ferrario) had a rather unsatisfactory scull and finished 155th in 20 min. 56.37 sec. The first S2 coxless four (Mark Chatwin, Dov Ohrenstein, Richard Radcliffe and Kenny Almand) faired better and finished 106th in 20 min. 34.15 sec. The second S2 coxless four (Ewen McLeod, Alex Page, Simon Barbour & Paul Persad) finished 311th in 22 min.13.26 sec.

Full results here.

Photographs of all QBC crews are available at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=495.

Nick Ryan and Ben Fowler did not, after all, take part in the Teddington Small Boats Head. I don't know if it was the reason they withdrew, but the weather was foul.

Some belated news from Marlow Long Distance Sculls, where the club had six entries. Charlie Harrison won the Veteraqn D 1x division, in a time of 21 min. 11.3 sec,, Tom Bishop won the Veteran F 1x division in 21 min. 52.9 sec and Frank Webb won the Veteran G/H handicap in a time of 24 min. 4.7 sec, Dick Findlay (Vet G) did 23 min. 20.0 sec. but was beaten by Frank on the handicap. Geoff Potts missed out on the Veteran E 1x pot by 1.4 sec. with a time of 22 min. 35.6 sec. and Malcolm Cook did 23 min.19.9 sec. in the same category.

The full results are available here.

The club had six entries in the Weybridge Silver Sculls. Although there were some heroic sculls by our veterans, only Nick and Charlie won pennants (tankards actually), having three or more entries in their events (and coming first!).

Full results are available by boat type and by category.

The Pairs Head took place on a glorious Indian summer's day, with just a gentle breeze for the scullers and oarspeople to contend with. Miguel and Ewen continued on from their successes in the summer to be the fastest Quintin boat home. Nick and Ben were second, just 3/100ths of a second ahead of Geoff and Tom, who took the Veteran F 2x pennant. The results for Quintin crews were

The full results may be found here, by time and by division (both xls format).

Saturday 27th September saw over 90 people congregate at the Richmond Hill Hotel for the Quintin Ball held in aid of club funds with men in evening dress and the ladies looking fabulous in an array of fashion. Initial drinks were followed by a meal in the Ballroom with the tables surrounding the dance floor and dressed with blue & white table centres carrying on the QBC theme. During the meal the captain initiated the tradition "Heads or Tails" game with £50 going to the winner. Duncan was his usual self in promoting the sale of raffle tickets and I am sure nobody escaped his grasp and all to the good cause of the club. The many prize winners were spread around the tables and it seemed that each table managed to produce at least one winner. Dancing followed with the first set performed by Geoff and his happy band of musicians. Although only having met a few days before, and had one short rehearsal, they played like a well oiled machine. This year there was the addition of saxaphone and bongos which certainly produced a great full sound. The evening closed with the disco and it was good to see so many eager dancers boogying late into the night. A great time was had by all and we thank Jan Jakobsen for her unfailing efforts to organise this now popular event, see you all again next year! (Paul Gunn)

Just to underline the end of the summer and the beginning of the autumn season, Wallingford Long Distance Sculls took place on a sunny Saturday afternoon, 27th September. From the club, Geoff Potts, Tom Bishop and Charlie Harrison took part, and Charlie came away with the Veteran D pennant while Tom grabbed both the Veteran E and F pennants. Full results here(xls format).

Malcolm informs me that the Veteran E handicap of 2:26 shown in the official results is wrong and should be 1:46. I have therefore shown the corrected timings above. Clearly it would not be greater than the Veteran F handicap.