RYDE & SHANKLIN REGATTAS. Saturday, 4th June and Sunday 5th June, 2022.
Ryde Rowing Club, have not been able to host a Hants & Dorset ARA Championship Regatta for two years – 2019 being the last one held - due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the the work on the collapsed Sewer in and around Appley Park by Southern Water. So the Wightlink sponsored Club had hoped that this year would see a return to a full Ryde Rowing Club Regatta – which was scheduled to take place on Saturday, 4th June, 2022.
Unfortunately the conditions on the day were far from ideal with a strong North Easterly breeze – the worst possible direction for the Ryde course - and although every effort was made to get the Regatta under way racing had to be abandoned after only two events had been completed. A very disappointing outcome for the Ryde Club and all the visiting Clubs although with Shanklin Regatta going ahead on the Sunday this was not a completely wasted trip!
The two events that were completed at Ryde were the Ladies Senior Coxed Fours and the Mixed Masters Coxed Fours. In the Senior Ladies fours all the crews involved rowed impressively in the very difficult conditions – Coalporters winning the event from Poole in second and BTC Southampton in 3rd. The Masters Fours race proved more difficult with two of the four crews in the event being swamped – Southampton before the buoy turn and Coalporters at the turn – with BTC winning the event and Poole 2nd – and this situation – where two experienced masters crews could not cope with conditions - led to the abandonment of the Regatta on Safety grounds.
This was the first time in around 30 years that a Ryde Rowing Club Regatta had been lost to the prevailing sea conditions.
The Club would like to acknowledge the support of their sponsors – especially TLM Laser the Regattas main sponsors and the event sponsors Goodleaf Tree Climbing, DIGS Michael Jenner, Wightlink, Ward House Mortgages & Life, Spinlock, the Appley Manor Hotel, the Ryde R. C. 100+ Club, Ryde Harriers, Neaves Rowing Services, the Griffin and Horse & Groom Public Houses, Harwoods, Tommy Clark – Tree work, Landscaping and Fencing and Isle Scaffold Ltd – who provided the start platform.
They would also like to thank all the Services especially the Ryde Inshore Rescue who provided the critical safety cover backed up by Ryde’s own Safety boat.
It would seem unlikely that the Club will be able to find a suitable date to re-run the Regatta this season due to tidal constraints and other Hants & Dorset ARA Fixtures so it would seem likely that the Club will have to wait until 2023 to stage a full Regatta once again!
So with no Ryde crews going afloat on the Saturday Ryde they had to make do with Shanklin Regatta held on Sunday, 5th June where fortunately the wind had subsided and the wind direction was not such an issue.
Ryde had a 3rd place for their Men’s Coastal Junior Four A Crew of - Matt Chambers, Ben Sanderson, Joel Smith and Austin Smith coxed by Bryony Reeve - but this was tinged with disappointment as they were 1st to turn!. Our new Coastal Junior B crew – following their promotion to this status after Christchurch Regatta - of Bradley Whiting, Paddy Kearney, Will Hall and Elliott O’Sullivan with Mai MacKay coxing did well in their first Regatta as Coastal Juniors.
Our Novice A of Yogi Ashworth, Lars Groothuis, Issac Gibson and Dan Sanderson coxed again by Mai MacKay probably had the best Ryde result of the day finishing a fine 4th place in the final and we also had a second Novice crew of Harry Jones and Edward Williams which was put together on the day with 2 Poole rowers – and coxed by Otis Ripley – in his first Hants & Dorset ARA Event and who did particularly well - also the crew also performed well to finish in 6th place.
Ryde J16 Coxed Quad of Yogi Ashworth, Lars Groothuis, Issac Gibson and Edward Williams coxed once again by Otis Ripley - raced a quad boat and again performed well to finish 3rd.
Ryde two available Novice Ladies – Chloe Hughes and Hannah Lake teamed up with 2 ladies from Southampton clubs to compete and showed encouraging progress.
The two Men’s Coastal Junior Pairs had a frustrating experience – the A Crew of Austin and Joel Smiths suffered an injury to Joel which stopped them before the end of the race and the B Crew Paddy Kearney and Will Hall had a boat problem at the turn and this ended their race.
Ben Sanderson sculled in the Men’s Novice Sculls but didn't make the final. Dan Sanderson sculled in the J16'S and was a credible 5th place.
