Spitfire Boat Club
Rowing the Stour since 2001!

Racing

Spitfire Boat Club at the Danson Dashes

Michele Thomas No Comments

Glorious weather saw four Spitfire rowers (Manuel Marques, Ben Askin, Jon Gater & Michèle Thomas plus two junior Gater supporters and five University of Kent Rowing Club members (Aaron Bird, Charlie Forster, Kieran Waterhouse, Matt Willis and Theo Ashley-Hacker) travel to Bexley for this 500m sprint event, hosted by Erith and Gravesend rowing clubs.

Open 4+
In the fourth race of the day Ben, Manny, Jon (back to rowing after a long lay-off) and Nick Druiff from Maidenhead RC, ably steered by Kieran (making his debut as cox), had a good run down the course in the David Ravens. The crew lost to the eventual winners from Poplar, Blackwall & District. (Huge thanks to Nick who, rumour has it, thought he was subbing into an established crew…)
In the same category a University of Kent crew of Charlie, Matt, Aaron and Theo, once more coxed by Kieran, were unlucky to lose to a strong Maidstone Invicta crew.

Open 2-
Another crew on the water before 10 a.m., the UK crew of Charlie and Matt had an excellent win in the rudderless pair beating a Maidstone Invicta crew. This propelled them into the final which they narrowly lost, again to a MIRC crew. (NB restore rudder before next event.)

Mx Masters E/F 2x
Michèle teamed up with a Gravesend rower in the CJ – the less said about that the better, but the Ardingly crew did not have to row too hard to win.

Open 2x (band B)
Aaron and Theo took to the water for this and despite looking good once again UK lost to Maidstone Invicta.

Open Masters B 2x
Manny and Ben had a close race in the CJ, against a double from Fairlop RC, overhauling them after their fast start but eventually losing out.

The Dashes were characterised by great organisation, friendly volunteers and peerless commentary from Andrew Blit, who even gave a mention of our illustrious captain’s academic career – thanks to all involved.
We may not have come home with any trophies but the spoils from the local Turkish Food Centre may have been some compensation.

Many thanks, once again, are due to Manny and the Puntonator for towing and Ben for shifting much of the equipment (and a reluctant rower). 

Full race results available here: https://easyregatta.co.uk/er_raceorderlive.php?rID=1926&er

Some photos of the event (courtesy of Clive Harlow from MIRC):

Spitfire at Huntingdon Regatta 2024

Manuel Marques No Comments

After a series of cancelled events, Spitfire Rowing Club eagerly participated in our first regatta of the year at Huntingdon. This event was particularly special as it marked the return of Huntingdon’s regatta, which had not been held since 1989.

Early Start, Smooth Arrival

Division 1 of the event began at 08:30, making it an early start for our Spitfire crews. Despite this, we arrived at the friendly Cambridgeshire waters without any issues. Special kudos to Spitfire Chair Tom, who expertly handled his boat trailering debut, perfectly manoeuvring into an HGV space at the services.

A very early start for the East Kent crew! Thankfully, the light mornings help…
Spot the intruder! ???? Tom did a fantastic job reversing the trailer into the parking space, especially since this was his very first time doing so with the club’s trailer!

Key Highlights and Performances

Joining us was the University of Kent RC’s new director of rowing, Charlie Forster. Charlie competed in the Band 1 Op 1x event and later joined us for a composite 8+ race. Although he had a close race in his semi-final, he narrowly missed qualifying for the final.

Lucy Abbott, one of our 2023 Learn-to-Row graduates now racing for Maidstone Invicta, teamed up with LTR Coordinator Mark Latymer in a mixed 2x. Despite being a newly formed crew, Lucy and Mark performed admirably, navigating the winding course with skill and avoiding any mishaps that plagued other crews throughout the day. However, they faced a formidable Cantabrigian crew, who ultimately proved stronger and went on to win the overall event.

Club Captain Manny and Chair Tom, who last raced together in 2021 at the Sudbury regatta, reclaimed their winning form in the Op 2x. Despite a slow start, they recovered and won by 1 ½ lengths.

Manny and Tom powering through to winning their event, narrowly beating the home crew over a hard-fought race.
Happy times!

In the mixed coxless quad event, club secretary Michèle joined Lucy, Tom, and Manny. Although they had a strong row, they couldn’t overcome a fast start from the Huntingdon crew.

The smiling Mx 4x- crew on their way to their race against Huntingdon. (photo by Mark Latymer)

Michèle and Mark Latymer later competed in a Masters mixed double race against St Ives. Mark skillfully steered the boat through the winding course. Immediately after, Mark joined our final event of the day, the composite 8+ with Manny, Charlie from UKRC, and oarsmen from Huntingdon and St Ives.

Michèle and Mark powering through the finish line in their Masters mixed double. Shortly after finishing, Mark jumped into the ‘3’ seat of the composite 8+ – no time to lose!

The 8+ race was particularly meaningful for the Huntingdon stroke, Edward Adams, as it was sponsored by his family in memory of his late father, Graham – who was also a Huntingdon rower, having served as captain, treasurer and club chair for over 60 years. The Huntingdon/Spitfire/University of Kent/St Ives composite crew had a fast start and maintained a high stroke rate, eventually outpacing the Newark crew despite their persistent challenge.

The winning composite 8+ crew, from bow to stern – including rowers from St Ives RC, Spitfire BC, University of Kent RC, and Huntingdon BC. (photo by Tom Hurst)

A Day to Remember

Overall, the Huntingdon regatta was a brilliant experience. Despite torrential downpours at lunchtime, which highlighted our need for a club gazebo, the weather was mostly fine, with light winds and mild temperatures providing good rowing conditions. Tom continued to impress with his trailering skills, navigating us out of a boggy field without the need for a rescue tractor, much to the admiration of those with larger vehicles.

We look forward to returning to Huntingdon for more smooth, stress-free racing in such a beautiful setting with friendly participants.

Well done to all who participated and contributed to making this a memorable event.

Sunday 16th October- Huntingdon HORR- an early start for SBC’s keen team!

Manuel Marques 2 Comments

by Krista Davis

A 0500 start from the boathouse saw the team arrive at Huntingdon by 0740, a little chilly, but all ready to rig up and go.

Last year SBC returned for the first time in a while for more racing in the stunning Huntingdon surroundings. This time though, we were able to bring our own trailer and therefore our larger crewed boats. A modest team of 7 entered in to both Division 1 and Division 2, seeing the men boating first. Manuel Marques, Mark Brice and Mark Latymer joined forces with Huntingdon Boat Club to race a Masters 8+ ( a natural continuation from the 8+ sprints we did with them earlier this year at the Sudbury regatta), which also featured rowers from St Ives RC as well as one of the coaches from King’s School Ely.

The boat, stroked by Manuel and steered by experienced Coxswain Alice Ray from HBC, flew down the 3.4km course and produced the 2nd fastest time of the day, winning the Masters 8+ event.

New for this year, Huntingdon also provided a shorter, straighter 2km course which was raced by our Womens 4+. Crewed by Sarah Fry, Krista Davis, Sarah Tyler and Michele Thomas, this was Sarah F’s and Krista’s first time at Huntingdon, and in our David Ravens coxed brilliantly by SBC’s Abbie Latymer, the ladies finished in 11:26.

In Division 2, racing the full 3.4km course, our rowers entered both the sculling and sweep oar events. Our two dynamic duos, Sarah F/Krista and Mark L/Mark B both entered double sculling events.

In the glorious mid morning sunshine, (thermals stripped off along the way!) Sarah F and Krista took Jack for a blast along the much more technical course, with Mark L and Mark B in the V Club 3. Battling a winding course, daytripper and canal boats, and of course….. swans! both pairs finished the course in 19:03 and 18:16 respectively. Slower times than both crews were aiming for, but after minimal training sessions together for the girls and a ‘surprise’ tree catching out both crews (sack the bow seats!)- there’s always next year.

Also up in Division 2 was the Mx4+. Manny took the stroke seat in the David Ravens in a composite crew of Sarah T, Michele and Coach James of King’s Ely. Abbie once again expertly steered the 4+ through the tight bends at the end of the 3.4km course, with the crew finishing in 16:03.

Overall, a great day had by Spitfire BC at Huntingdon.  Wafts of bacon butties, tea, coffee and cake from the marquee, alongside friendly faces, and beautiful Autumnal weather made for a lovely atmosphere.

A huge thankyou to all at Huntingdon BC for an impeccably organised event . With no delays to race start times, it meant Spitfire could head back South to be unloading at home before sundown.

Big thanks also to those crew members from St Ives and Kings Ely for featuring in some of our composite crews.

We look forward to Huntingdon HORR 2023!

Spitfire at Autumn Maidstone Small Boats Head 2022

Manuel Marques No Comments

Sunday September 25th dawned bright and cold as SBC headed off to the River Medway for our first head of the season: Maidstone Small Boats Head.

For many of our rowers, this was their first look at a 2.5 km course with many hazards: moored boats, bridges and “Bow, take a look!” – no, that’s not a half-submerged human – it’s a tree stump wearing a hi-viz gilet. One or two others could probably row it with their eyes shut (Lewin I’m looking at you). The river isn’t without its compensations, though, outside the fury of the race. Marshalling (chilled) beside the superb Allington Castle and finishing (overheated) near the mediaeval Archbishops Palace added interest.

We put out crews across all four divisions, coxed fours, quads, doubles and the particularly intrepid singles; open, women’s and mixed. This year we didn’t bring home the pennant for the fastest crew but everyone had a great day and did us proud. Well done to rowers Amy, Dave, George, Jess, Krista, Lewin, Luke, Manuel, Mark B, Michèle, Sarah F & Tsvetelina and a big shout out to Abbie for superb coxing in some very challenging situations.

A big thank you to Manny for herding the cats and Bricey for getting the boats to and from Maidstone. First-rate organisation from Maidstone Invicta, friendly faces from the rowing community, great sunshine and delicious refreshments made for a great day.

Some photos of our crews racing (courtesy of Clive Harlow from MIRC) below:

Spitfire at Exmouth Regatta

Manuel Marques 2 Comments

The crew (L to R: James Knight, George Matthews, Billy Baxter, Manuel Marques, and Exmouth RC coxswain Björn Foch)

A dauntless crew of Spitfire members travelled to sunny Devon a couple of weekends ago to take part in Exmouth Regatta, organised by Exmouth Rowing Club. This regatta is held on the estuary of the river Exe, with a buoyed course of 6 kilometres (for coxed quads – smaller boats raced a shorter version of it).

Thank you Jon (2nd from the left) for the amazing hospitality, and Mike (1st from the left) for having built such a fine boat!

Exmouth RC very kindly lent us their boat Ruby (built locally by Exmouth RC member Mike Drew), and gave us a crash course on offshore rowing the day before the event. This served as an amazing opportunity to see the sights around Exmouth, a gloriously beautiful part of the world.

The start of the Op 4x+ race.

Our crew, comprising captain Manny, vice-captain George, James K and Billy, valiantly battled other local coastal clubs and Exmouth’s own crews, holding their second place for most of the race This was partly helped by the amazing steering carried out by our Exmouth coxswain, Björn Foch, under pretty dicey conditions (as confirmed by plenty of those racing on the day). The crew’s position slipped into fourth on the home stretch, with the other crews making better use of the surf. This race was definitely challenging, but equally fun – flat water rowers like ourselves are certainly not used to the choppy stuff!

The day after the event, we were able to go out on a social row with more sight-seeing on offer. Recent LTR graduate Amy stepped in for James K, and the crew, coxed by Exmouth captain Jon Houghton, was able to really take in the spectacular views; dramatic cliffs, smugglers’ coves, and the deep blue sea, under flat conditions that stood in stark contrast to the day before! The “social” row ended up being nearly 17 kilometres – exceeding Amy’s previous longest water session by nearly 10 km!

One additional member who travelled to Exmouth over the weekend made a surprise appearance for the land-based side of things. Mortified Rex, a fixture at Maidstone parkrun, graced Exmouth’s own parkrun with his presence, accompanied by captain Manny who really fancied a warm-up before the Saturday regatta. Mort and Manny finished the parkrun in a respectable 24:47, even more impressive when considering the heavy winds that were building up (and roughening the sea for later).

Overall, we had a fantastic time, and we can’t really thank our Exmouth RC hosts more for their hospitality, and the opportunity provided here. We will definitely be back next year!!

Some photos of the weekend: