𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 – 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮

The sun shone and the birds chirped as the jovial westies squad arrived at A.N.A., lead by the Westies captain power trio of Sam Toland, Ruth Morris and Westies newest and fluffiest mascot, Sebastian Morris-Toland! The weather may have been a little chilly, but the West Australian Rowing Club were all keen to show what precisely 7 days of hard training had done to change our fortunes from last week’s Mettam’s Regatta.

The mornings boat loading session was cold and dark, and punctuated by some major absentees. Simon Cocks (oops) and Stephano Balosso decided that this morning just wasn’t for them; good riddance, I say. I have never seen a less chaotic, smoother or well organised boat loading! Everything ran ahead of schedule, zero shouting, comprehensible English was spoken by all, and there was exactly the right amount of not Simon. Perhaps a boat loading this smooth will never happen again, and strangely, it all occurred without both of “gods gifts to boadloading”. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide… Another notable omission from boat loading was treasurer Dejan “Goat-House” Bouwhuis. Boat loading began at 5:00, and when asked at 5:15 by Joe Dawson; “are you awake”, Dejan replied; “yeah…” “why?”.

Now that’s a man I really want handling my money.

The trailer then set off for A.N.A., with the westies squad in tow. As the boats began to assemble themselves on the banks of the Swan River, the Dawson brothers (the “technician” and the “magician”, I’ll let you decide who is who) began taking some liberties with Tyler “my hero” Clement’s camera. I imagine some of the snapshots won’t appear on this Facebook page, but feel free to ask Joe about it, he’s quite proud of his work.

As the rowers made their way to the race start, the perilous course began to rear its ugly head. The Guildford to Garret road course is a proper doozy, with treacherous turns, chaotic corners and surprisingly slippery straights awaiting the ballsy coxswains who had to navigate the course. To successfully and quickly race this course is nothing short of a miracle, and Elise Christou was kindly rewarded for her good work with a dunk in the freezing cold river, shortly after the race finished. That one just didn’t go her way; thanks Georgia Seed!

The racing results, however, largely did swing in Westies direction. A dominant win in the women’s A eight was a great showing from the crew, and the men executed a brilliant race, beating the swans A eight by only 1.86 seconds. Full credit to the boys, good footy from the fellas all round, great scoreboard pressure and a lot of hard ball gets which really got us over the line in the third quarter. The masters composite quad won their event by default (being the only entry in the event), but a win is a win, so well done! Unfortunately the open quads struggled in 3rd and 4th, but finished strong.

Overall, this regatta was a resounding success, most notably from our A grade men and women, who showcased their strength on a tricky course.

Well done to everyone who competed, let’s keep the momentum rolling for the next regatta.