What colour were you?

Julia just about managed to survive her first quarter of a century - although, I think it touch and go the following day, when she headed off to her other family for a BBQ, and had to stop off to be sick out of the car!

Anyhow - here is a small selection of all the pictures that were taken!

Bow 10 warming up, stern 10 sitting the boat

Now I would like to see this racing through the docks.... Brewery bend could be a bit of an issue though!!!

http://pagopago.com/fautasi/fautasientrance.html

Tick Tock

Ever wondered what make the Women's captain tick?!?

Well now you can find out from her very own website and blog....

I am assuming that the blog will come to life when she spends every waking hour training to get into the GB kayak squad!

Sleeping beauty

So who is this who is taking her rowing so seriously that she has decided to sleep at the boathouse....

Looks like someone has been working hard in her races.

white, orange, blue, green, red or yellow

Which colour will you choose to end up in at the end of the night!?!

Any body fancy a punt on who will be -

a) the first person to get some kit off
b) the winner

I know where my money will be for a)

clic,clic,clic,clic,clic,clic, clic,clic,clic,clic,clic,clic, clic,clic,clic,clic,clic,clic, clic,clic,clic,clic,clic,clic,

While most of us, especially the women who endured 8 hours of seat racing in the wet and wind, were getting wet on the water, Mr Mumford was hurling himself round a mounting bike in the clic 24 hour race.

The weather, before and during the race did not help -

"Perpetual rain the week before had turned large sections of the course into a quagmire making progress tough during daylight hours and very tricky at night!"

He didn't quite make the full 24 hours, with bike and body falling to bits, but still managed a very respectable 170 miles (third overall in the individual event).

well done mate - you crazy fool!!

Evesham and Wallingford Regatta's

This weekend saw the first regatta's of the summer season, and a selection of the club were out competing in the sun of Evesham, and then the wind of Wallingford (at Dorney Lake).

Evesham was it's normal chaos, but this year even worse than normal, with racing still going on until after 8.30 in the evening! The club's showing was not as good this year as last, with the only pot coming from Jane in her billy no mates scull.... although there was a number of good races, and a last minute withdrawal of the WS34+ opposition in the final scratching, and denying a potential pot. Oh, and did I mention the men's double that hit a buoy, and capsized?!?

Wallingford on the other hand managed to run pretty much on time, despite the strong cross tail wind making life difficult on the start keeping the boats straight. There was some good racing, but little reward, the SS 2- coming in a close second, if they had nailed the start then it could easily have been a very different story. The WS48+ won their heat, but came in third at the final, but a good result for a scratch crew on the day. The WS24+ also had a good showing in their heat, but the conditions, and the weekends racing I think taking their toll in the final and coming in close 5th....

Place your bets

Think you know what's what in rowing?

Then place your bets here, and see if you really do know which club is on a roll this year!

http://rowing.inklingmarkets.com

Not seen CBRC mentioned much... time to prove them all wrong?!?

Mix alcohol and rowers....

And this is what you get.....

Lots of daft photo's and some handsfree desert eating whether you like it or not!!

(check back soon for another video.....)

What no more Gurt Lush Awards?!?

As Gurt Lush, I can not really complain about this, but normally one of the Lush awards at the dinner is the romance of the year which was sadly missing from the bill this time around....

A possible nomination?

You might have to zoom in a little

Boat Race CBRC style! (men)

Forget the Oxford v Cambridge boat race, or the upcoming Bristol varsity grudge match, this is some proper racing (with just a little bit of cheating) between the Men's and Women's squads....



With Julia looking forward to her go at the end of the men's race!

Boat Race CBRC style! (women)

Rowing Cornish Style

The return leg of the surf boating tour happened last weekend, and from the reports we have had back sound as if they had a fun day out in our 'skinny' boats, but were glad to get back to what they know best.

Looking at the pictures they look as if they took to it quite well - in fact it is quite had to tell the difference between the two different sets of rowers!

For an idea of the type of conditions they are used to, check out their website, and wait for the video to load up!!

Race Practice

Some of you may have been aware of our visitors from Cornwall at the weekend - More of that shortly - but I have come across this picture, where it looks like the men's squad coxes have been practicing their steering again in time for seat racing this weekend....

Get Down n' Boogie

Only once a year are we graced with a night such as this coming Saturday.

The man who possesses eternal youth turns another year older, so roll up roll up and come and join Crusher on his birthday drinks.

By coincidence, this night is shared with another birthday... The planets are aligned, the moon is full, and Steve gains another year!

Here's the plan then:

"We are planning on having a few drinks on Saturday night. Crusher has specifically requested that we meet at Zero Degrees on Park Row at about 8 as it's where all the 'young people' hang out...

http://www.zdrestaurants.com/zerodegrees/bristol.htm

As a treat for you all Crusher will wear his Speedos for the evening..."

We will be joined by the Surfboaters (more on that later), and dancing will be compulsory into the small hours.

It's a Baby!

It has been totally remiss of me not to have mentioned the latest addition to the Baker household in the last few days. Don't take it from me, here is the update from a very proud new Dad:

"Well, as of 11pm last Thursday, Harry Baker appeared, three weeks early and weighing in at 8lb2.

To make life a little more interesting, the labour lasted 23 hours before he needed to be delivered using forceps - not for the faint-hearted. Unfortunately, that caused a "bit" of bruising, the upside of which are some very cool photos for his dad to show off. Harry's the small purple one on the right, by the way. Most of the bruises in the photo have now gone, although he still has a couple of black eyes and is being treated for jaundice caused by the bruising."

Gurt will be sending a small bottle of cider round (sterlised of course!).

Best wishes from all to Mum and Harry.

(PS. I hear Sparrow is available for babysitting duties)

CBRC Ball 2007

What I night!

A big thank you to the absent organisers - all went with a hell of a swing. There were a number of incidents throughout the night, but I can only assume it went with a bang if it started like this.

But when it started like that, it was only going to go one way!

We had a brief round up from the one and only Pete Vallance, followed by the 2007 Gurt Lush Awards.

My congratulations go to the following winners:

Fashion Statement of The Year

Crusher

Crash of The Year

Rob Beever

Tart of The Year

Jimmy Young

The Gurt Lush Award

Dr Charlie Jones

The evening went rapidly downhill after the awards, with a determined effort to split the Men's 1st and 2nd eights in a chaotic boat race (sponsored by Smirnoff Ice).

But only one man can claim that his cross dressing would not be stopped by his requirement to wear black tie. Step forward Baggy

Roll on 2008!

It's Official - I Can'tTake My Booze

So there I was, the day after seeing Sparrow cuddle that baby, I met a man who introduced me to this new web site:

http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com/issues/09_03/09-03-reasons-to-get-drunk-jan.htm

Before I knew it I had started on the full calendar, and lost a fortnight.

I am back - albeit, with an almighty headache - but normal business is now resumed!

Baby Sitting Services Available

For those few of you who may require some cover in order to attend the CBRC Annual Ball next week, I have come across a new baby sitting/child minding service.

He comes highly recommended, and as can be seen below, will be happy to take your 9 day old baby out on the town!

Tales from the Tideway

The boys did not have much luck this year at the HORR, with what some insiders were saying was the fastest crew ever to come out of CBRC!

It appears that it was a little choppy on the river down in London village, and only 45 crews started the race and 29 finishing - all the other swamping/sinking!

I shall pass you over to Mr Tideway Slug (sink, swamp or swim) for a good description as to the days events! But here is a photo of the 2nd 8 (not managed to find one of the others) to show you the conditions they had to cope with!

The old g*ts on the other hand did managed to get a Sunday paddle and finished 65th out of 180 starters at the vets head on a much calmer river!