Nostalgia Piece. Herne Bay South Coast Rowing Championships.
/Nostalgia Piece. Herne Bay South Coast Rowing Championships.
This Saturday, 3rd September, Wightlink sponsored Ryde Rowing Club will be competing at the South Coast Rowing Championships being hosted by the Coast Amateur Rowing Association at Herne Bay in Kent. The last time the Club competed at Herne Bay was thirty-one years ago - in 1985 - the last time they hosted the Championships - in what was one of the most significant days in the Clubs 139 year history.
In the same season as the Club won its first ever Hants & Dorset Senior Fours points and the Association Senior Four Championship the crew was selected to represent the Hants & Dorset Amateur Rowing Association in the Senior event at the Championship Regatta and went on to win one of the closest ever Championship races in an epic struggle with the host Club from Hearne Bay in a race which is still rightly remembered as a classic as the following report by the late Arthur Chatfield, the Hants & Dorset Association Secretary at the time relates - "On a bleak and Cold Herne Bay coastline the supporting events gave little to enthuse about and the Regatta and needed a lift. The Senior Championship event provided the answer with a memorable race and a superlative performance from two crews, Ryde and Herne Bay that will live long in the memory. By halfway on this superb 2000 meters straight course, Herne Bay racing with all the flair of a host club giving a party, had established a three-length lead and appeared indestructible. Christchurch and Ryde in that order were the nearest challengers. Within 500 meters of the finish Ryde on the outside gave notice of intent by raising the strike to an incredible forty. Herne Bay responded both crews leaving Christchurch for dead. At 200 meters Ryde had reduced the lead to a length and were throbbing on all four cylinders, power was but part of their ploy, perfect timing and swing gave them the impression of being mechanised, hands steady as rocks, eyes drilled on the neck in front, it was perfection, they were gaining every stroke on a Herne Bay crew giving a repeat performance of perfection. Within 50 meters they were level, Herne Bay in desperation raised their strike yet again and inched to the front as a rogue wave raised the bows of both boats horrifying the watching supporters, but neither crew faltered. Courage was now the name of the game and Ryde were not found wanting as they threw their bodies forward with a last ditch effort that gave them the verdict of three feet at the line. The immediate silence on the crowded beach was indicative of having seen an epic." The Club also had two open event wins that day - the Men's Junior Fours and the Men's Novice Fours, won after a re-row and in a borrowed boat.
Ryde's winning Senior Crew - which went on to win two more Hants & Dorset ARA and South Coast Senior Fours titles in 1986 and 1987 -in the most successful period in the Club's history Mark Singleton, Nick Pike, Lee Rayment (Cox), John Pike and Russell Page.
