Clwb Rhwyfo Porthmadog Rowing Club

ABERDYFI Rowing Club held it’s annual longboat rowing regatta on Sunday last, 11/07/2010. Unfortunately only the Ladies team were available to attend to challenge the 11 other clubs that turned up from all over Wales to take part in the event. Some clubs even fielding two or three teams at a time.  Clubs present were Aberystwyth, Borth, Mochras, newly-established Aberporth, Pwllheli, Llangwm, New Quay, Porthmadog and hosts Aberdyfi.

It was extremely windy, with gusts of up to 17mph at times, which made the decisions about the course of the races very challenging for the officials. With a strong ebb tide and a strong NW wind, standing waves were present for some of the course.  The ladies’ race went off first and were timed rather than the usual Grand Prix-style start, and this meant that for crews, it was very hard to judge how well they had performed. The ladies race proved to be extremely tight with; Portmadog finishing third in 33mins 20secs, Aberdyfi second in 31minutes 44 secs, and the winners were Aberystwyth in a time of 31 mins 14secs.

Calmer seas followed for the seniors and mixed races, where Aberdyfi went on to take the titles. The next scheduled race regatta is in Aberaron, 15/08/2010.

On Saturday 26th June a team of rowers from Clwb Rhwyfo Porthmadog headed to Pembrokeshire for one of the most exciting races of the season – the Ramsey Island race, organised by Porthgain rowing club.

This was the first time Porthmadog rowing club had taken part in this 7 1/2-mile race, which leaves Whitesands Bay near Saint Davids, circumnavigates Ramsey Island and returns to the bay. The weather conditions couldn’t have been better this weekend, with perfect sunshine and a Force Three southerly wind. The race started at 3 pm to take advantage of the incoming tide, with 21 boats on the start line – 18 Celtic longboats, 2 Cornish gigs and 1 yole. Porthmadog entered a Mixed crew, with two men, two ladies and a cox.

All boats first headed south from the beach to St John’s Point, where coxes had to navigate the rocks and choose the best line to hopefully pull ahead of the rest of the fleet. The Porthmadog Mixed crew had a strong start, quickly drawing away from the other Mixed and Ladies’ crews and even overtaking two Men’s boats within the first ten minutes of the race, before drawing level with Porthgain Men who were rowing in a Cornish gig and had six rowers.

Porthmadog entered some slow water when navigating the Bitch and Pups and Horse Rocks on the eastern side of the island, quickly learning that local knowledge would prove a big advantage in these complex waters. Despite Porthgain Men having taken a better line approaching the southern end of the island, Porthmadog gave a big push to pull ahead again before the most notorious section of the race, the Twll. Here, all boats have to pass in single file through a narrow channel between Ramsey and the rocky islets to the south. The channel is only wide enough for one boat, with tall cliffs home to nesting sea birds towering either side. As crews pull out of the Twll, a stopper wave presents a further challenge for both coxes and rowers.

Porthmadog navigated the hazards well, overtaking Tenby Men just west of the Twll. The Porthgain gig quickly managed to pass both Tenby and Porthmadog once through the Twll. Although frustrating, this actually gave the Port Mixed crew a considerable advantage, as our cox was able to use the other crew’s local knowledge of the water and race and follow the line the Porthgain boat took very close to the rocks on the west side of the island, while other crews stayed further out to sea.

This enabled Porthmadog to overtake Llanion Men who had held them off until this stage and also gain a lot of ground on the second Men’s Celtic in the fleet, Newquay. Our crew stayed strong to the finish, finally crossing the line after 1 hour, 11 minutes and 44 seconds as the first Mixed crew to complete the course, third Celtic longboat (beating four other Men’s crews and just twenty seconds behind the Newquay Men) and fifth boat in the fleet overall.

Llangwm Men took home the trophy, completing the course in 1:08:25, with Llangwm Ladies also taking home the ladies’ trophy. The final boat in the fleet was a Newquay crew, which took 1 hour and 27 minutes to complete this exciting and demanding course.

Congratulations to Cox Simon Pendrell and rowers Sarah Medcalf, Pete Hughes, Mark Hobley and Elaine Hackett on their achievement.

On Saturday 19 June Clwb Rhwyfo Porthmadog welcomed coastal rowing clubs from North and Mid Wales to its annual race day. Seven clubs from Aberystwyth to Caernarfon entered crews of four rowers in Celtic longboats, each with a cox who steers the boat.

After stocking up on barbecue food, cakes and refreshments at the yacht club, spectators gathered on the harbour for the first race at 1 pm. The ladies’ crews took to the water first, with Senior and Veteran crews racing 3 ½ miles in a time trial race, starting and finishing in Porthmadog harbour outside the yacht club. Each crew started one minute behind the crew in front. The crews battled out to the Powder House against the tide, with Porthmadog ladies overtaking three crews who had started ahead of them. All boats faced a strong head wind that made the race quite challenging. Aberdyfi Ladies completed the course in the fastest time, just two seconds ahead of the Porthmadog ladies’ crew, who took second place. Porthmadog Veteran Ladies had a great row and took home the Veterans’ trophy.

The men’s crews raced next, with more favourable wind conditions but still fighting a strong rising tide on the outward leg of their five-mile course. The sun, tide and jet skis ensured no one had an easy row! Aberdyfi Men recorded the fastest course time on the day, beating rivals Mochras to the finish by 38 seconds. Porthmadog Super Vets came second in their class. 

The last race got underway shortly after 3 pm in the Mixed class. A strong Aberdyfi crew once again brought home first prize, followed by an excellent row from Mochras Vets who came in second place, with Porthmadog mixed crew coming fourth out of ten crews.

Everyone had a fantastic day with stunning weather and plentiful refreshments. Thanks to everyone who helped to make the day a success! 

Clwb Rhwyfo Porthmadog have recently secured a sponsorship deal with the Purple Moose brewery in Porthmadog and would like to thank their sponsors for their generous support and lilac t-shirts.

The 2010 longboat league racing season kicked off on June 13th in Shell Island south of Harlech, which was hosted by the Mochras club. Conditions were testing with choppy seas, high winds and the common welsh phenomenon of heavy rain. But this didn’t deter the nine clubs that had turned up to compete. Porthmadog now sponsored by Purple Moose Brewery donned their new lilac t-shirts for the first time.

The Porthmadog Ladies Vets claimed the top prize in their category, with the Ladies team finishing 4th. The men’s teams also did well with a 6th position in the senior and a 2nd in the Supavet categories.  Finally a few hardy rowers braved the conditions again to compete in the mixed races. The senior mixed were held off by Mochras into 5th position, with the mixed vets team  finishing second in their category. All in all a good warm up for the prestigious race of the season the following Saturday, June 19th in Porthmadog.

The rowers of MYC were invited to row this 1909 rowing lifeboat from Porthmadog to Criccieth and back. The 38 feet long 8 feet wide wooden boat weighs just under 3 tons and is powered by 10 oarsmen. She has been restored over the past few years by the Whitby Historic Lifeboat trust and is now in pristine condition with gleaming varnished mahogany interior and painted exterior. The action needed to row her is very different from our normal action that we use when rowing our celtic longboats and she felt sluggish through the water. We had a bit of a tow with Rubber Duck, our RIB, to help us out of the estuary and were greeted by Criccieth’s current lifeboats for much of the subsequent journey. Some of their crew came aboard for a while.

When we eventually reached Criccieth William Riley was tethered to a buoy and the crew ferried ashore on Rubber Duck.
Manon didn’t want to wet her trainers and Bill offered to carry her the short distance to the shore from Rubber Duck. She leaped onto his back before he was ready and both of them ended up in the shallows much to the amusement of the onlookers.
The row back was even harder due to a headwind so the lifeboat was towed back much of the way. All of us who rowed were full of admiration for the original lifeboat crews. How they managed to row such a heavy boat in heavy weather to rescue people was almost beyond belief.
More pictures

The race was run on 30th April starting at 1400 hours, (1600 for the men’s crews). We started in choppy waters and experienced a couple of squalls in the first few hours. Thereafter the weather improved but the sea continued choppy for about half of the race and the swells were with us throughout the race.
The start was delayed for almost quarter of an hour to accommodate a boat that had arrived in Arklow late. Sue, Saz, Edw and Rob had been chosen to start as their designated cox, Tina, had the most experience. Our course was SSW as we had to row S of the cardinal buoy at the southern end of the Arklow bank. Some crews started off fast and we seemed to be near the back of the fleet by the time the flotilla opened up. However our tactics were to row steadily at the start so as to preserve our energy for the long row ahead.
The first crew change took place about 75 minutes after the start. Because of the sea state it was difficult to do the transfer from our support fishing boat, Celtic Prince. The port side of the rib and the starboard side of Celtic Prince rolled in opposite directions making it difficult to keep them together. This technique had been what we used in the calm waters during our practice but it had to be abandoned for future transfers. The transfer of our crews to Beyond Mahalah was done by nosing the rib to the stern of the yacht, securing the two craft and then assisting the exhausted rowers in or out of the rib. That technique was used on subsequent transfers to CP. However on this occasion, Bill, Mark and Elaine managed to get on the rib which then collected Nicola, the cox of our second crew, from BM. The transfer to Fleetwing went smoothly; Saz (the stroke) joined us on the rib first, then Tina swapped from cox of the first crew to stroke of the second. Then it was one out of Fleetwing and one in until the changeover was complete.
Rowing conditions were far from ideal with the sea state as a wave might suddenly drop leaving the oar in the air or conversely might lift making it difficult to get the oar out of the water at the end of the stroke and take it back for the next stroke. Rowing is about rhythm and such conditions make it difficult to get into one.
The third crew of Shakes, Steve Pass, Maxine and Saz (cox) joined Nicola (stroke) during the second changeover. This routine continued throughout the race although Mark, Elaine, Rob, Sue and Shakes took over as cox sometimes to give the regular coxes a longer than 45 minute break.
There were moments of bliss when we had relaxed and the sea state has become less troublesome. The evening sky was beautiful and Fleetwing seemed to race through the swells to the efforts of our perfectly rhythmical rowing. Unfortunately, though, some of us suffered with sea sickness, dampening their appreciation. As the sun began to set it became clear that we were amongst the leaders of the boats that started at 1400 hours. In fact we thought we were lying second but it was likely that we were third. As we were rowing we could see a flotilla showing their red, green and white lights spread out on the horizon behind us. Very uplifting!
Later in the darkness the lights of the men’s crews’ boats appeared as they caught us up and overtook us.
Different people were affected in different ways but I (Bill) found myself getting very cold as soon as I stopped rowing and so exhausted that it was too much of an effort to do the simplest things. Mind you even the simplest things are not easy in the dark on the slippery wet deck of a boat bobbing about on a choppy sea, looking for belongings that could be in one of several bags that were scattered, seeming randomly about. After the second rest I had managed to organise myself a slatted bench about 18” wide on the open deck to sleep on. To keep warm (or at least to try) I climbed, several times in my damp rowing gear, into a sleeping bag liner which was inside my sleeping bag and inside a polythene survival bag. Waking me up for my next turn rowing became harder and harder and on the last occasion Geoff was quite worried because he thought I’d died.
On BM some of the rowers didn’t feel free enough of sea sickness to venture into the cabin and so had little sleep.
We had one major drama, which involved the rib crew of Simon and Geoff, who aside from this error were magnificent. The helmsman of CP went astern to cast them off. Unbeknown to any of them during his absence from the helm the boat had changed course. The rib set off for BM in completely the wrong direction, surprised at how far away it was and only then discovering they had come without their satnav. Eventually they asked for the assistance of another support boat, Lucky Tart, who radioed BM for their position. Meanwhile the third crew had to row an extra half an hour without knowing when they were going to be relieved. The whole incident lasted about 45 minutes with frantic radio messages flying between the 3 boats. Poor Simon and Geoff were then named as Satnav and GPS or worse, the Chuckle brothers.
Some of us had worried that the 6 hours we were going to have to row would be too challenging and that we would let the rest of the crew down – I certainly was very concerned about this. Its not possible to row with 100% concentration all the time. Sometimes, briefly, one feels exhausted and not able to row with full power. A mood change, sometimes induced by encouragement from the cox or from one of the support boats, sometimes just self generated, quickly reverses this negative feeling and one feels capable of really powering the boat along. Only for the last 10 minutes or so of the last two sessions did I feel personally unable to pull to my full capacity. I think that feeling was experienced by many of us and our speed through the water did drop towards the end of the race.
When dawn came Wales could be just about distinguished through the murky conditions. We could see we were catching up a boat, which turned out to be the winning ladies crew, Arklow ladies. We made a determined effort to catch them and they kept swapping crew to use their strongest rowers. We could probably have beaten them if we’d put our strongest 4 men for the final sprint but we didn’t think that would have looked good and we’d already decided that team 3 would row across the finish line so each team had rowed, as nearly as feasible for the same amount of time.
Overall we finished 8th, 2nd in our class. However a mixed crew that was allowed to start with the men did the crossing in a shorter time than us, demoting us to third out of a field of 9 mixed crews. Not bad for a team including two pensioners, possibly the oldest man, Bill at 66, and the oldest woman, Maxine, 60. We all felt really pleased to have made it. Everyone in the crew had pulled their weight, with no-one, however bad they were feeling, failing to do their best and take their turn. No cross words had been exchanged. The effort we had all put in training to get fit and organising the changeovers meant apart from the one drama everything went to plan, even though conditions were much more challenging than anything we had experienced during our practice.
So we rowed the 86.2 nautical miles in 18 hours 49 minutes at an average speed of 4.6 knots, taking approximately 33, 870 strokes and burning about 7,600 calories each (equivalent to 76 weight watchers points!).
See Mark’s pictures

The club has entered this event due to be held the first weekend in May and training started in earnest on 6th March.

CLOTHING

Apart from your socializing gear, you will need quite a lot of rowing kit, bearing in mind that you will be doing upwards of 6 rows, maybe more depending on the conditions.
There won’t be enough room on board “Beyond Mehalah” (our yacht support boat, hereafter referred to as BM) for lots of people and lots of kit. So what we did last time was to put all our rowing kit in large individual polythene bags with our names on them and an extra bag also named for putting used wet kit in. These will then be stowed on “Celtic Prince” hereafter referred to as CP until we get to Arklow, keep one set of rowing kit with you ready to change into before the race.
The same goes for socializing clothes (Thursday and Friday, and Sunday night in Aber), keep one change of togs with you and the rest to be stowed away on CP.
When we start the race the only bags on board BM will be your rowing kit. Glad rags will be in the hold of CP.
SUGGESTED KIT & STUFF
Rowing shorts, boots, hat and gloves.
1 pair of trainers (you won’t want to stay in your rowing boots for 2 hours on BM.)
3 tracksuit bottoms (for night rowing).
6 sets of base layer garments.
4 intermediate wicking/thermal tops.
1 waterproof top (preferably breathable)
Spare underwear
2 pairs of wooly socks.
Fleece.
Towel
Washing kit.
Sleeping bag
Sleeping mat for CP crews
Sun glasses (you will be rowing facing west!) and Sun cream (one can only hope!)
SUDOCREM or Vaseline.
Wet-wipes. NO TOILET PAPER down the “heads” on either boat so it has to go overboard. Think on that one!
Micropore tape and old fashioned fabric Elastoplast roll would be useful for patching up hands etc.
MOTION NAUSEA CONTROL. Try Stugeron or Kwells and test them out beforehand. Take advice from your doctor as some medications are PRESCRIPTION only. Pros&Cons Once you have taken a tablet and it makes you drowsy then there is nothing you can do about it. A patch on the other hand can be removed if you start to suffer side affects. Check out the bottom of this bulletin for other options.
A pair of waterproof pants would be good, especially at night if it’s raining.
Also, some Gaviscon liquid is essential as sitting down rocking backwards and forwards for hours & messing with your body clock can cause bad indigestion and heartburn. This will really muck up your performance, especially if you’ve been at the bottle, so on this point we, as a team have decided that Friday is a DRY NIGHT. Any body caught drinking Friday WILL BE KEEL HAULED!!
You will need some cash for your reveling and shopping. There are ample ATM’s in Arklow so don’t worry too much about that! Also remember that we will be staying in Aberystwth Sunday night, (all going well).
Mobile phones: You will probably need to arrange with your network provider to make calls from Ireland. On the row back you won’t get a signal until we are about 15 miles out from Wales.
In between rows it is best to change into your next set of rowing kit with a tracksuit over the top so when you get the 3.50am call you will only have to put your boots on.
FOOD and NIBBLES
Maxine has volunteered to co-ordinate some sort of stew/hotpot which will be on the two hotplates the whole time.
However, you would be advised to bring some HIGH ENERGY bars, flapjacks, chocolate and sweets (jelly babies and wine gums are recommended as they are high in sugar and carbohydrates and are easily absorbed into your blood stream. Also energy/sports drinks. We will arrange to have some family size bottles of water on both boats but bring your own rowing bottle. Best bring your own mug, bowl and spoon.

Quite a few of us were involved in the aborted 2004 row (Edw, Tina, Shakey, Manon, Ceinwen, Dave Ll) and for further advice on the actual row we did in 2002, consult with Pete, Sarah or Simon.

Prevention Is Better Than Cure
Various precautionary medicines and devices are available these days to fight sea sickness. Some work well for some people and not so well for others. If it’s your first trip it might be a bit of a “hit and miss” situation, but one of these should do the trick:
1. Diet – to start off with, eat “safe” foods for about a day before boarding (nothing acidic, spicy or fatty, also try to avoid anything with MILK in it) … and don’t over indulge (food/alcohol). Eating a light “safe” meal before you board will also help reduce the risk and/or effects of seasickness. Ginger is a great choice!.
2. The motion sickness patch is probably the most popular these days – to be placed behind your ear 4 hours before boarding and changed if necessary after 72 hours. This is quite an effective way to prevent seasickness but causes things like a dry mouth and blurry vision. Better to be thirsty than sick, though! The active ingredient, scopolamine, is absorbed through the skin.
3. Over the counter medication (usually causes some drowsiness) – to be taken 1-2 hours before boarding. The most recommended are pills with the active ingredient meclizine (less-drowsy Dramamine, Bonine, Antivert), then pills with the active ingredient Dimenhydrinate (Dramamine regular). Marezine (cyclizine) and Stugeron (cinnarizine) seem to be less sleep inducing than all of the above. Other popular antihistamines (Benadryl – diphenhydramine based) also work for some people. (Money saving tip: ask your pharmacist for the generic version of the medication you wish to take.)
4. Homeopathic medicines – Trip Ease should be taken 2 hours before boarding but also works if you’re already feeling seasick (contains 6 natural active ingredients and has no drowsiness or other side effects); or Sea Sik Oral Spray to be sprayed under your tongue 3 times a day or more if needed (contains 7 natural active ingredients and has no drowsiness or other side effects). On The Move capsules (contains ginger root, licorice root and cayenne) also help alleviate motion sickness and can also be used to combat headaches.
5. Acupressure bracelets – a drug-free product causing no side effects – the motion sickness band is worn one on each wrist for the duration of your trip. Some contain small magnets, others just a stud, which should be aligned with a pressure point (P6) on your wrist and pressure applied periodically. This won’t work very well if you “miss” the pressure point.
6. Motion Eaze natural oil – to be applied behind the ear and is absorbed through the skin. Also effective if feeling nauseas already. No side effects.
7. The electronic, drug-free motion sickness ReliefBand® is worn on the wrist, a kind of motion sickness watch. It emits low-level electrical pulses to avoid and treat motion sickness by calming the stomach.

To The Rescue!
Should you have forgotten to swallow, stick, rub or sniff your chosen anti-sea sickness remedy or the seas are extremely rough and you suddenly start to sweat, turn pale, salivate and have a general feeling of discomfort, hopefully your brain will recall the file in which you stored the following information and you can still enjoy your cruise until you find your sea legs:
DO:
1. Look out the window (or better yet, go onto the deck and to the centre of the boat, facing forward) at a distant, stable object, like the horizon. The centre of the ship, close to the waterline, is the most stable part of the ship.
2. Use a fan or listen to some music… this will get your mind off things.
3. Eat some salty snacks with regular intervals to help dry up your stomach.
4. Relax if you can – lying down and closing your eyes might help.
5. Ginger is a natural remedy to general nausea and sea sickness. Drink ginger beer or tea, or eat fresh ginger, a cookie or suck on a ginger sweet (like Gin Gins) to help combat your green cheeks. Try Sailor’s Secret, a branded ginger capsule or Quesy Pops, popsicles containing essential oils from natural herbs and aromatherapy in ginger flavour but also others like lavender, peppermint, etc. Any ginger product is most effective if taken before boarding.
6. Some motion sickness medicine (e.g. Dramamine patches) may help to reduce the nausea at this stage. Maybe one of the most effective if you’re severely seasick and vomiting, is heavy duty Phenergan Suppositories.
7. Bitters, mint, citrus, apricot juice, carrot juice, unroasted pumpkin or squash seeds, parsley and peppermint tea are also said to help combat sea sickness but there doesn’t seem to be much proof out there.
DON’T:
1. Read once the sea sickness has kicked in, it will make you feel worse.
2. Drink big gulps of water. Tiny sips at intervals are better.
3. Face backwards.
LOGISTICS
Sunday 25th
10am Bendy to purchase new trailerboard from Caravan Centre and meet with Gerallt Owen at Porthmadog Football club to check out electrics on minibus.
11am Shakey and Bendy load RD onto trailer, after cutting off lock on outboard and fitting extra bow fender.
3pm Everyone to meet at Club-Briefing by Tina, Safety briefing by Mark-Both Rubber Duck and Fleetwing washed and ready to go. Load Fleetwing onto top of double trailer. All 8 oars loaded onto Bendy’s car and all other kit including Shakey’s spare outboard motor, fuel cans, ropes and fenders, stowed in boot ready for transporting RD across to Pwllheli for 6pm.
Wednesday 8pm
Tina phone organizers to check on their decision for Go/NoGo (Dai 07900 953226, Sonia 07719 659618 or home 01970 615308)
TELEPHONE TREE
Tina to call Hobley, Bendy(phone Rob, Terry & Dafydd), Nicola(phone Max, SteveP & Shakes), Saz(phone Geoff & Sue). That covers all 12 rowers, 2 RD handlers, CP and minibus driver(Terry).
Travel Arrangements – Bendy/Rob/Shakes
Wednesday 6pm. Meet at club to load and transport all stuff to CP Pwllheli(bags with personal rowing kit, water, Gas bottle, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, food, radios, life jackets, etc

Mini Bus and trailer – Bendy
Collect Mini Bus from Gerallt Owen 5pm Wednesday
Our ferry sails at 1350hrs on Thursday 29th April. We have to book in an hour before which will be 1250hrs. We need to get over to Caernarfon to load up their boat which will take about half an hour and be on the road to Holyhead by 1200hrs, so to arrive Caernarfon for 1130hrs we will need to leave Porthmadog 1030hrs at the very latest.

Thursday 9.30am Meet at Club to load up personal kit and hitch up trailer
On the road for 10.30am
Meet C’von at Plas Menai 11.30am
Booked on the 13.50 ferry from Holyhead.
Booked onto the ferry and mini bus are:
Tina, Edw, Shakes, Si, Elaine, Max, Hobley, Nicola, Terry Birch our driver and 2 of the Caernarfon crew.

CP Crossing –Co-coordinator SteveP (01766 890201)
Saz, Geoff, Steve Pass, Bill, Sue, Rob
8am Thursday Saz driving Geoff & Steve Pass to meet at Club to be in Pwllheli for 9am boarding. Bill& Sue to arrange a pick up time of Rob and make their own way to Pwllheli.
Bring your own pack lunches and drinks.

Arklow Hotel Details – Nicola
Accommodation allocation
Double+single Nicola,Max & Sarah
Double+single Rob, Geoff & SteveP
Double+single Shakey, Terry & Mark
Double+single Elaine & Bendy
Twin Bill & Sue
Twin Tina & Edw
Supper Booking on Thursday night. Tina has got a list of places and telephone numbers.

Aberystwth Hotel/Apartment Details – Saz to book camp site
At the moment all hotels are booked up so Mark has offered the use of his 5 room canvas hotel.
We will need extra tents though, plus camping mats,(you will have your sleeping bags already), so Manon has kindly offered to transport any camping gear down to Aberystwth, BUT she might have problems getting there for anything earlier than Sunday morning. If the race is brought forward to Friday night then we will need somewhere to sleep Saturday night.

Two trailers to Aberystwth?
Still to be finalized, but the plans are for Terry to drive the Mini bus and double trailer down to Aberystwth with Dr Jon in his car on Saturday. Leave the mini bus and trailer and make their own way back to Port in Jon’s car. Hopefully we can then load RD onto bottom of double trailer for return.

Crew Changes

Rubber Duck comes alongside Celtic Prince, Fleetwing, or Beyond Mahalah. On touching, the helm (Si or Rob) shouts ‘CONTACT’.

Once cleated to CP or BM, or held to Fleetwing by change over crew from RIB, they shout ‘SECURE’ to inform the helm.

RIB handler then shouts ‘NEUTRAL’ (indicates that prop is no longer turning)

Once they are happy, not you, and things have stabilized, they shout ‘PROCEED’, and people start to move.

Man overboard

- Recovery:

• Crew to shout “MAN OVERBOARD!” (Very loudly) and point to them until they are in physical contact with some one or the boat. (so the helm can see rather than keep asking.) A head in rough water will soon be lost, esp at night.
• Keep your cool, keep eye contact, talk to the person, let them know you are coming.
• The helms of CP and BM will know (hopefully!) what to do, so follow their orders. eg CP will probably throw a line, whilst Rubber Duck will come alongside. Remember propellers kill

– If you fall in:

• Shout as you go over!
• Do not hang on to a speeding boat once overboard; failing legs will soon find the prop. If you feel yourself going, try to in fact push away.
• Raise one arm; Use whistle to attract attention; Keep clear of the propeller and make sure the crew have stopped the engine before they start pulling at you.
  

VHF

By international law, to use the radio, you should have a licence. However, if there is some one in the boat with a licence ‘training you’, that is ok.

Bearing in mind there may be a lot of traffic sharing our channel, and the coastguard will hear you when in range, to avoid confusion, (and arrest!) best be aware of some simple rules:

1)To start a conversation, it’s a bit like talking to some one in the dark, so you call their name out (twice, to make sure they heard you the first time, then say your name (twice) so they know who it is.

2)Wait for their reply, no point talking to no one. They will say your name (once from now on), followed by their name and ‘go ahead’.

3)You then repeat the pattern, their name, your name, followed by message. Keep in short, no waffle, no please, no thank you. This is to reduce chance of miss-hearing. If you don’t understand, just say ‘repeat last message’

4)Always finish with ‘over’ as in ‘over to you’. as no visual signals to say you’ve finished, as you’d get face to face.

Once finished, say ‘out’, as in ‘end of transmission’, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER say ‘over and out’, only ever said in the movies, if you say it in RNLI, you buy beer!

Phrases used that are easily understood over a radio:

Affirmative=yes

Negative=no

over=your turn to speak

out=ta ta/end of conversation

roger=received and understood last message

go ahead=I’m ready to hear your message

So, conversation might go:

Simon:Celtic Prince, Celtic Prince, this is Rubber Duck, Rubber Duck, over.

Dafydd:Rubber Duck this is Celtic Prince, go ahead, over.

S:Celtic Prince, Rubber Duck, i am coming along side for crew change, over

D:Rubber Duck, Celtic Prince, Roger, proceed, out

Short and to the point of being rude is the key! Have a practice as you may feel very self-conscious at first.

Provisional crews have been selected.
These are:

Crews if Ladies Coxing

Position Boat 1 Boat 2 Boat 3
Bow (8) Max Sue Elaine
Green (6) Steve Pass Geoff Bill
Red (4) Shakes Edw Hobley
Stroke (1) Nicola Saz Tina
Cox (2) Saz Tina Nicola

Crews if Men Coxing

Position Boat 1 Boat 2 Boat 3
Bow (8) Sue Max Tina
Green (6) Geoff Steve P Bill
Red (4) Shakes Edw Hobley
Stroke (1) Elaine Nicola Saz
Cox (2) Edw Hobley Shakes

Support boat/rib/celtic change over Proposal

hour	hour	CELTIC PRINCE (CP)	number people in CP incl 2 RIB’s & 2 Crew	Fleetwing CREW	COX	BEYOND MEHALAH (BM)	number people in BH incl 2 Crew
1	13	Team 2-cox	7	Team 1 +	cox 2	Team 3	6
2	14		4	Team 2 +	cox 3	Team 1+ Team 3 – cox	9
3	15		8	Team 3 +	cox 1	Team 1-cox	5
4	16	Team 2-cox	7	Team 1 +	cox 2	Team 3	6
5	17		4	Team 2 +	cox 3	Team 1+ Team 3 – cox	9
6	18		8	Team 3 +	cox 1	Team 1-cox	5
7	19	Team 2-cox	7	Team 1 +	cox 2	Team 3	6
8	20		4	Team 2 +	cox 3	Team 1+ Team 3 – cox	9
9			8	Team 3 +	cox 1	Team 1-cox	5
10		Team 2-cox	7	Team 1 +	cox 2	Team 3	6
11			4	Team 2 +	cox 3	Team 1+ Team 3 – cox	9
12			8	Team 3 +	cox 1	Team 1-cox	5
			COX	1	2	3	4
		TEAM 1	2-TINA/ELAINE	SAZ	SUE	GEOFF	EDW
		TEAM 2	3-NICKI	TINA	ELAINE	BILL	MARK
		TEAM 3	1-SAZ	NICKI	MAX	PASS	SHAKEY
		RIB Crew	Si & Rob
		BM Crew	Peter & Mary
		CP Crew	Dafydd & Cath

By Simon
Elaine and I spent half an hour scraping ice off the slip and putting salt down so that we could launch safely. There was a narrow ice clear channel following the harbour wall around past the catamaran which we took then up to the bridge. Very exhilarating for all but some very cold feet for the ones that had to do the inevitable wading at launch and recovery!!

Once the dust had settled after Christmas it was Frosty Fish time. The 28^th of December was a very cold day but dry and we had a good turnout yet again. Eight boats in total were sent down the river on the short timed course to the “Pill Box” and back, off Borth y Gest. The winning boat, following a stewards enquiry into a couple of “ringers”, finished in a time of 14 minutes and 38 seconds. A big well done to Geoff, Robert, Sally and Will and a very special thank you to the coxes, Ceinwen and Dr John, who braved the cold to steer the boats and offer a little encouragement. A very warming stew was rustled up by Manon and Sarah which thawed us all out nicely !

Many new rowers were welcomed at this event and hopefully we might even see some of them again, including our commodore who put up a good fight.

The end of season Party was held at the Yacht Club on the 21st Nov.
We catered for ourselves cooking a Mexican meal.  Sarah organised the food and Pete the games.  After drinks in the bar