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Wellington Rowing Club Newsletter February 2021  |
Upcoming dates:
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A few words from the President Very sad news to start the year as we mourn the passing of Sam Seath, until recently the President of Wellington Rowing Club. Over the last few years Sam has contributed tremendously to the club as an officer, volunteer and Masters rower. An article below details Sam's contributions. Our sympathies are with Sam's family. I should also let you know that prior to Christmas, Liam McArthur decided to step down from his role as Club Captain due to the pressures of work and his own rowing commitments. I'm sure you'll all join me in thanking Liam for stepping up into the role at the AGM earlier this year and giving the job his full commitment and energy since then. As we were approaching the peak of the season with major camps and regattas coming up between now and April, Joe O'Neil, life member, former captain and women's coach, offered to step in to the role of Acting Club Captain to cover us for this period. Many thanks Joe. As we enjoy some great results from KR2 and look forward to the final regattas of the season, the Board has also been looking further ahead. You may have heard that Kiwirail has abandoned its proposal to shift operations to King's Wharf. We had been working alongside other users of the inner harbour to lobby against the development, so we welcomed news of the decision to redevelop Kaiwharawhara. Further afield, we are working with the Wellington Rowing Association to secure a replacement for the 'green shed' at Petone and to consider options to improve access to the water away from Wellington Harbour. Finally, since we're still at Level 1, please remember to scan in QR code when you enter the boathouse! Thanks, Huw. |
Club Captain's report First club captain's report from me. The role has been reactive since I stepped up, dealing with the immediate challenges of four camps at the same time, not enough towing vehicles and four locations. All the schools and coaches worked together to make it relatively easy. However, we need to make it easy for Mitch going forward. Deidre has given her the schedule of trailer movements for the wharf access, we can use that as a baseline for transport requirements next season. I'd like to acknowledge the committee for rallying round to agree the purchase of the new coxless four, we took temporary delivery of the boat this weekend and the women's crew vindicated the requirement by winning a bronze and silver medal in her. I can confidently say that they most likely wouldn't have had the success without it. More to the point, we wouldn't have been able to put all our crews on the water with the two club fours coinciding with the men's four. It was great to see podiums from the senior grade down to the age group categories, with Onslow college picking up three medals at the NICC. St Pat's also had a good showing, missing out on a medal in the octuple by the smallest of margins. I just need to come up with a name. Wellington podium winners from North Island Club Champs:
The next few weeks we see the club crews off to the National Champs in Twizel and McLauchlan shield in Wellington. Thanks, Joe. |
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School Reports St Mary’s College Rowing The Christmas Regatta for the St Mary’s squad was quite an event, despite the lack of water time due to windy Wellington over the last few months, all the novice girls managed to handle the ‘pomp’ of Xmas Regatta well. The Novice Quad sadly, sustained a ‘tip’ at the start along with five other boats in the event and photos from that went viral on social media – ‘any publicity is good publicity’ they say! Disappointingly, summer camp in Wanganui began with a ‘windy’ one on the first day but flat water and sunny weather for the rest of the time, allowing lots of boat time and all that attended made huge improvements during the week. Onslow College Summer Camp this year was fantastic, as usual, with four full days of rowing, accompanied by plenty of eating and topped off with the tradition of the Waratah 5000. The gains made over this camp will soon be put to the test at North Island Rowing Champs, and with the hugeness displayed in the Waratah there’s no doubt Onslow will be getting plenty of finals. This year we had the Boys U18 Double, Josh Clark and Ryan Calvert take out the Waratah, with second and third place being taken out by some rather last-minute junior boy crews. Another tradition that took place was the Summer Camp Talent Show, with stunning performances from the novice boys, junior boys, senior boys, and girl’s squad. Although the decision was tough the hosts of the show decided that the senior boys were the winners, with a close second going to the girl’s squad, sporting more facial hair than Zac Woods. The most exciting part of camp, however, was the training row for the Boys U18 Eight, preparing to win the Maadi Cup this season, with their former coxswain Tarek Patchett stroking the boat and a new coxswain who doesn’t even fit in his seat. The speed produced by this boat was phenomenal and those who had the privilege of seeing the boys row agree that they are bound to win. Unfortunately, this was the last Summer Camp for some of our senior rowers, but with four great Summer Camps under their belts, and the promise of never having to do another Summer Camp 2k ever again, they will have plenty of reason to look back fondly. |
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Master's Update Throughout the past year, masters have been religiously continuing to row despite weather and despite cancelled regattas. In fact we had only one race in 2020 and we won that with a scratch eight at Porirua Goodwill Regatta. In December we held our annual Christmas row, which is always well attended and and the rowing accompanied by Christmas nibbles and a small bit of cheer. It was a welcome completion to a year of challenges. We managed to put out an eight and four and in fact it turned out to be an excellent row with “tricky” Dick and Laurie present in the coach boat. All rowers over the age of 27 to come down and join us on the water or on lunchtime ergs. Contact Masters coordinator Richard May (richard.may@arcblue.co.nz) if interested. |
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Spotlight on: the Maintenance Team! Each newsletter we have shone the spotlight on someone in the club. In the past we have done athletes but we thought for this one it would be good to pick some of the volunteers, to let people know the huge amount of work that goes into keeping the club running smoothly. Who better to start with than Warrick Fowlie and Laurie Counsell, the two guys who manage the repairs and maintenance to the club’s gear and keep it in good going condition. We put a few questions to Warrick and Laurie: You call yourselves members of the Maintenance Team. Who else is in the Maintenance Team? Every club member is really part of the maintenance team – in that every club member can do something towards keeping the club and its plant running smoothly – carrying out the pre-row checks before every row, putting the tennis balls back on the riggers before the boat goes back in the shed, making sure the boat is deep enough in the water before hopping into it, ... these are examples of how people can minimise damage to boats and therefore minimise maintenance. Other key members of the Maintenance Team include Deidre Burke and Jason King, who are really skilful in fixing bigger holes in boats, and Mitch Carroll who is responsible for ordering all the bits and pieces required to keep everything going. What is a typical week in the shed for you guys? There is no such thing as a typical week – what we do in any one week depends on what’s on the list, the time of the year (we are generally busier leading up to the major regattas) and, to a certain extent, the weather (you are more likely to see both of us in the shed on a rainy day). I suppose at this time of the year one of us will be at the club sometime on most days, even for an hour or so, to makes sure that we can keep on top of everything. Who does what? We both do everything, although Warrick specialises in the bigger, building jobs, while Laurie tends to target the smaller, boat repairs. What’s the process for getting things fixed? The best way to get something fixed is to fix it yourself, especially for the easy things. But if you can’t do that then send an email (or a text message) to fault@wellingtonrowing.org.nz describing the problem. Give as much detail as you can – attach a photo if you think it will help. Each fault is logged, categorised, prioritised, and allocated to a “fixer”. What’s the most common thing you have to fix? Sadly, the most common fault that has been reported since records began in April 2016 is damage to the hulls of boats. Over a quarter of all faults reported to rowing plant have been holes, dings, boat taking on water, etc. Many of these holes are small indentations from riggers from other boats being banged into the hull, often, but not always, during boat loading/unloading at regattas and camps. A lot of this type of damage also occurs in the shed – and the rate of damage has not reduced significantly since the use of tennis balls on the riggers was implemented. This is almost double the next most common issue of seat problems – mainly wheels. See the table for a summary of all faults reported between April 2016 and 21 January 2021.
What’s the strangest fault you’ve had reported? Probably a decorative panel which fell to the ground from high up above the double doors that access the deck above the erg room. This has been on the list since late 2016 – we need scaffolding to be able to get up to reattach it – something that will be done soon, with the upcoming painting of the building. How long have you been doing this and how did you get into it? We have been doing this off and on for years, initially just on Sundays, but after Laurie retired the weekdays became an option (“It keeps me off the streets!”) and it sort of just grew from there. Why do you do it? What motivates you? Tell us something about yourselves and your rowing careers. Laurie: I started rowing for St Bede’s College way back in the 1960s. My only claim to fame is that I stroked the St Bede’s Eight in the 1968 Maadi Cup on the Wanganui River. I got involved with the Wellington Rowing Club in the mid-1990s helping out with a bit of coaching when my son took up the sport with St Pats (as you do). And the rest is history.... Warrick: I became involved in rowing when my daughter Kirstin started rowing with Onslow College. I did not know anything about rowing beforehand but I became a parent helper and coach boat driver in my first season……At the start of the 2nd season , I was told I was coaching novices and I didn’t know how to say “No”….And the rest is history……… |
New rowing facility at Honiana Te Puni Reserve- Petone Many of you will be aware that the WRA "Green Shed" is due to be requisitioned by NZTA as part of the cycleway construction, and later demolished as the cycleway will be built through the shed. The WRA have been having ongoing negotiations over the past two years with NZTA, Iwi and Hutt City Council regarding a replacement building. These negotiations are now complete and NZTA have agreed to build a new rowing facility based on Honiana Te Puni Reserve on the Eastern side (turning left instead of right as you enter the Petone reserve). The rowing race course will remain in place alongside the cycleway/ motorway. The project plan is currently in front of the Environment Protection Authority, with an outcome expected in March. Tenders will then be called for all parts of the cycleway project with an expected start date of September 2021. Given this is a "shovel ready" project, we are expecting swift progress and the new building is scheduled to be up and ready to move into in March 2022. Under the terms of the agreement, the rowing building needs to be completed before the cycleway construction gets underway. NZTA is building, at their cost, the building with 2 rowing bays (the same as what we currently have). The Wellington Water-Ski will also have a bay. We have the option in the consent to extend the building to include a third rowing bay. This is up for discussion by the WRA Board, with a presentation to the Board being made in February. The WRC Committee and Board are keen for the extended footprint to go ahead, giving us flexibility for more plant/ trainings to be held at North End. Once we know whether the WRA has approved the extended footprint, there will need to be some very active work around raising the funds. This is a great outcome for the Wellington Rowing Community. |
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Update on the club preservation work Over the past few months we have been actively applying for funds to complete the balance of the external preservation of the building. We are delighted to let you know that we have been successful with two grants ($70,000 and $129,795) and now have enough to start the works. This is truly a fantastic result given the current Covid-19 environment and how funds are being allocated at the moment. We had strong support from Heritage New Zealand, our local MP Grant Robertson and the conservation architect Ian Bowman. These grants will mean that we can move forward with the balance of the work on the east and west faces and the turret with confidence. The building work, stripping and painting is due to start on the 1st March through to the 10th May. The scaffolding around the lagoon side will be placed in such a way that boats will still be able to be moved in and out of the shed. We have a limited time for the work to be completed as WCC will be starting the work replacing the wooden decking on the 10th May. So you have a bit of a handle on how successful our grant funding for the building work has been over the past five years since starting the seismic work, WRC has received over $500,000 in grants to help restore and preserve our building, demonstrating how lucky our membership is that we haven't had to self-fund all this work. |
Pitch Perfect We thought it might be helpful for new rowers, coaches, parents if we included a few articles on technical or mechanical aspects of rowing and ensuring a boat is set up properly for your crew. The first article in this series will cover pitch. In rowing, pitch refers to the angle of the blade or spoon relative to the water. Usually the top edge of the blade, when squared, is slightly tilted towards the stern of the boat. A certain amount of pitch is required to allow the rower to apply force effectively. Too little pitch is likely to cause the blade to go deep, too much will cause it to ride out of the water. Pitch is determined by a combination of the construction of the oar (“built-in” pitch), the adjustment of the pin (around which the gate swivels), and the construction of the gate. It is important and measurements need to be very precise as a variation of half a degree can make a difference. Accurate measurement also enables the coach or crew to make informed decisions and to gauge the effect of changes. You can read more about pitch and how to measure it in this document. |
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