Semi-Final and out...

Hi All,

Well, we've had a pretty crazy Sunday.  We prepared to race at 2pm, did our warm-up, hit the water, pushed off, rowed about 10 strokes then got pulled up by the stewards.  London had hit a drunken canoeist and lost part of their bow.  Apparently, he then tried to board them.  Unsurprisingly, they weren't particularly happy.  They were unable to repair their boat, so requested time to re-rig another.  Hence the race was delayed til 7pm. 

We headed back to the farm, ate, slept and did it all over again, hitting the water for real this time at 6:30pm.  Warm-up went well, and we settled onto the blocks in good order.  For once our start was fantastic, only problem was we were up against a genuinely quick crew this time and they led us by half a length at the top of the island and nearly a length by the Barrier.  Aware of our strengths, London then very sensibly pushed away from the Barrier to hold nearly 2 lengths by Fawley (almost halfway).  From there they were able to absorb our mid-race surge and dominate the final 500m.  They did this, running out winners by 2 lengths in a time of 6:56. 

It would be nice to have an excuse, but we don't, London were simply a better crew.  We had a good row, pretty clean, start was cracking, we hit good rhythm through the middle, rate stayed 35+ for the whole distance as per plan, we wound up as much as we could over the last 400, but they were able to ride every punch we threw.  So, all credit to them. 

We've just got home after de-rigging, packing oars and a couple of pints and dinner in town.  The guys are naturally disappointed, but realistic, we met a good crew on a good day.  Will post more later - by weight of request, Hatsy will be back!  That's it for me for now.

Cheers, Drew