Thursday 15 November 2012

Rowing in the Dark of Winter

Though the winter nights have drawn in, it doesn't mean evening rowing has to cease.  Sheduled training still takes place Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5.30pm onwards.  So it was tonight that Rob, Angie, Colin and Mike turned up in what were near ideal conditions - very light wind, a weak current offering little resistance on the row out which had built to a strong current to speed the return row.  Cloud cover was thick though which meant conditions were generally dark with little moonlight or ambient light to assist.

In these dark conditions, a single white light is displayed as a warning to other vessels otherwise it's a case of peering into the darkness, knowledge of the local waters and wishing you'd eaten a few more carrots in your time.   Just how challenging rowing in the dark can be was illustrated tonight.  One of the green channel buoys was not visible as it's flashing green light was not operating.  Macsen and her crew came very close to slamming into the buoy but luckily we decided to look ahead just at the right time - about 30-feet from impact.  So, a salutory lesson in the dark though not sufficient to spoil a fantastic row on smooth waters.

Evening Row:- Rob, Angie, Colin and Mike aboard Macsen