SCBC

We started with a strong row, racing the race we knew we had to; FAT II came at us hard, gaining half a length or so at most, but we rowed well, kept our technique together, and were never really worried. After FAT II were bumped out around Ditton, we raced the rest of the course, preparing mentally for the next race.

Pulling in by the P&E, we took shelter from the rain in the control tent, then rowed up to the start. A couple of good practice starts set us up well. We then introduced our new plan to help us deal with the rough water we were not used to under the motorway bridge. No whistles even if we deserved them until after the bridge to let us focus on our race.

The start was strong and quick and we rhythmed to 35/36, but had to be told about it a couple of times, despite making it a focus of all our starts since yesterday (9 in total!) We held it together fairly well in the rough water. Our tactics had helped us set the rhythm up to be so much better than yesterday's attempt.

But as we came out of the bridge, the call came from the bank 'on-station'... we'd expected to be gaining by now... we pushed on, but then came the words from the bank "2 lengths"... what had happened? We kept our focus well through the course, but never made any more progress on Christ's until after the Railway bridge where we had a massive push for the finish, and picked up a length or so. Today was frustrating, and Christ's were better than we'd given them credit for pre-race, but we rowed a good race, and never gave up. Tomorrow is a new day, containing another challenge, but we row better in clean water, and when we're being pushed hard