Conwy Pirate Weekend

We had a lovely letter and these photos from the Chamber of Trade from Conwy thanking us for rowing in the Conwy Pirate Weekend. Can't wait for next year's event in May 2013. http://www.conwytownevents.co.uk/

Pirate Day

Elen and Macsen made a foray to Conwy Pirate event  http://www.conwypirates.co.uk/ at the request of the Town Council - we headed the bill and stormed the harbour with our usual style. We raided the 'Pickles' and in true pirate mode made off with three of their crew plus a bounty of Brady beer. The course was set for a race round the harbour so we kidnapped an unsupecting Llandudno lass to make up the crew then following the massive cannon roar (Barry eat your heart out) we wizzed round the moored boats to the applause or were they jeers of the crowd. We landed then headed for the marvelous Guild Hall for a tour and cup of tea courtesy of the Town Clerk (thanks Helen) then back to the boats. Little did we know the tide had exposed acres of oozy black smelly mud and left the boats high and sticky. Never to be deterred we squelched in up to our knees and slid our way, hauling the boats to the river, again to the jeers of the crowd from the Town walls.  A truly successful day on the water.

Row to Trefor - Friday 4th May

We left Plas Menai just after 10am (high tide Menai Bridge) and reached
Abermenai Point (5.0 miles) after 45 minutes of very easy rowing.
Caernarfon Bar where there was some interesting surf and the bottom
not far below us was surmounted a few minutes later and we headed out
into the bay. It took a further 2 hours to reach Trefor with about 20
minutes spent resting off Clynnogfawr where two mackerel were caught.


The wind was forecast to be 8 to 10 mph but was closer to twice that
so it helped us a lot but surfing down the waves was a little
disconcerting so our hopes of continuing on to Nefyn were reluctantly
dismissed and we took the safer option of landing at Trefor's small
beach, behind the jetty, for a picnic. 2 hours 45 minutes altogether,
14.7 miles. A great day out, and the room is still lurching about a
bit as this is written 4 hours after coming off the water. Many
thanks to Neville and Andrea for coming to Trefor and towing us back
to base. 

Ian 

Caernarfon rowers took part in the Porthmadoc League Races today in glorious sunshine.  Eight rowers meant that there was enough crew to enter all 3 races.  The women's race was first on the programme with teams setting off from the narrow harbour in 30 second intervals and following a course of approx 3 miles with 2 buoy turns and returning to the harbour. Coxed by Ian, the women started towards the rear of the field with only two Porthmadog boats starting later, rowed out against the tide with a side wind and thus returned with the tide on their side. Overtaken by both boats,  they kept a steady pace and finished in 37 mins, 47 seconds earning them second place in the Ladies Supervets category.

Next off were the men rowing the same course but with a later turn thus making it approx 4 miles.  Again, Elen 58 was one of the last to start and managed to pull away from the trailing boat and kept pace with the rest of the field.  Rowing hard all the way, the men finished in 44 mins, 32 seconds which earned them First place in the Men's Supervets category and a trophy to take home for the clubhouse
cabinet.

Tidal constraints meant that the men got no rest before competing in the mixed race which followed the same course as the women's race.  With more boats competing, Elen set off earlier in the field.  This made for an interesting finish with stiff competition vying for position as they entered the narrow harbour.  The team finished in 32 mins, 49 seconds, and we noted with some satisfaction that there were 3 boats slower overall.

Women's: Ian (Cox), Elin, Angie, Issy, Meg
Men's:     Angie (Cox), Neil, Mike, Ian, Trevor
Mixed:    Ian (Cox), Neil, Mike, Angie, Elin

Our blog is here... and so far it looks good to me. Nice one, Mike. All we need is posts, and a bit of decent rowing weather, on which subject, not so tonight. I boycotted Thursday row due to high winds around the Bangor area, hope this didn't leave a short crew high and dry!  Look forward to less email traffic if we can use this forum for outing reports and other general updates. Aren't we getting professional ?! Angie