2004 Season

 Deal

It was a sunny calm millpond that greeted Herne Bay when they arrived early at Deal for the 10.30 start.
In the week leading up to the Regatta certain changes to crews had been made - not in panic but as a considered mid-season adjustment. In the Senior 4 A crew Paul Monroe joined last week's addition, Stuart Webb together with with Ryan Hoskins and Darren Ingram. The Senior Four B crew comprised Guy Addington, Alistair Mckean and the Iddenden brothers from the Junior four.
The Junior 4 A crew changed their order Trevor Iddenden now at stroke, brother Lewis at bow and Ashley Epps and Andy Cooper in the middle. The Junior 4 B crew (the oldies) remain unchanged but have lost their Cox William to the younger Junior crew, but have an able replacement in Toby Caira. The women entered 2 races Helen, Liz, Natalie and Hannah with Madeleine coxing in the Junior 4 race and replacing Helen for the Novice 4 race. 
Racing was delayed while the marker buoys for the turns were sorted out, eventually the first race for Herne Bay was the Junior Fours Final. Our crews were both contesting top spots into the turn, the B crew came out 2nd and were challenging for the lead when the race was called off - apparently the turns weren't straight. In the re-row the young crew ended up 3rd & the oldies were 5th. By this time the Regatta had been severely delayed due to misplaced turns and the course had been shortened (there would normally have been 2 turns but now there was only one)
The Junior women's crew got a better start than last week and finished 3rd. In the Novice race, however, they were hampered by problems with the boat and finished behind the other women's Novice crew.
In the Junior pairs race Andy and Ashley came 2nd with the other crews in 4th 5th & 7th
In the veteran Four Mark, Trevor and Harry ('fresh' from the pairs race immediately before) joined Stuart and were relatively pleased with their 4th place. Reward for the fact they'd actually had a training row during the week. 
The senior 4 race was full of incident, and was re-rowed 3 times, the first 2 races were called off soon after the turn with Herne Bay well placed. Unfortunately in the final race they were disqualified for impeding another crew.
In the Junior Senior race the oldies finished 4th but when the 2nd and 3rd crews were disqualified this turned to a second place and the crew's first trophy of the season.
Ryan and Guy both failed to qualify for the junior sculls final. In the senior pairs race Ryan & Darren again got 2nd place behind Bexhill, but were challenging them strongly at the finish.

Bexhill

Another sunny day but more of a breeze hinted that conditions would be a little more challenging than at Deal yesterday. After some early worries it also appeared that the turns were more firmly attached than at Deal so we'd have to row the full race distance today. 
In the Junior 4s race the youngsters came 3rd & the oldies 5th
Both Senior 4s were outside the top three. 
The veteran four came 5th. 
Ryan and Darren's senior pair were again 2nd behind Bexhill 
In the junior pairs race, in challenging conditions, the Herne Bay crews eventually came 3rd 5th 6th 7th. Trevor and Harry had been leading for much of the first thousand metres before finishing 6th and after the turn right up to the final 100 metres both Mark/Andy and Ashley/Andy had been challenging in 2nd place before dropping back to 5th and 3rd respectively.

Eastbourne

A later start than normal - 1.00pm, but boat loading at Herne Bay was still at the (earlyish) time of 7.30am. On arrival at Eastbourne the beach was hot and sunny and a brisk onshore breeze promised non-flat racing conditions. 
First crews to race were the Senior Fours. The First crew, unchanged from last week, of Ryan Hosking, Paul Monroe, Stuart Webb, Darren Ingram coxed by Luke Caira qualified comfortably. The second crew were nearly our younger Junior crew (with no Junior Senior Race today this was the only opportunity for extra race practice) but with Alistair McKean in for Andy Cooper, they also qualified earning extra race practice later in the final. However both crews failed to make an impact in the final.
Both Ryan and Guy Addington failed to get through the Junior Sculls heat to the Final 
Next Herne Bay crew was the Ladies Junior Four. This week's combination of Helen Bannister, Hannah Rourke, Natalie Ingram and Helen Bell coxed by Luke were raring to go but within minutes of going afloat had to return to shore with a broken foot stretcher. With only 3 minutes to change boats and Helen B with an injured wrist they scratched from the race. Later in the Novice race the same crew, with a replacement for Helen B finished well halfway through a field comprised of men's and ladies crews. 
In the hotly contested Junior Fours race the elder crew of Harry Roberts, Andy Harris, Mark Davies and Trevor Brown coxed by Luke Caira found some form in the first 1000 and were holding second place up until the last 500 when they were pressured by the more youthful Herne Bay crew of Lewis Iddenden, Andy Cooper, Ashley Epps and Trevor Iddenden coxed by Michael Epps. So an excellent 2nd and 3rd for Herne Bay with only Bexhill in the way of greater glory. 
In the Junior Pairs the 8 Junior oarsmen split into their usual pairs - so there were 4 Herne Bay crews in the field of 12. The start was very congested on the inside and Mark and Andy H in lane 2 immediately tangled with another pair which put them out of serious contention. They did pull back some places including the Iddenden brothers who are still finding their feet in their first season of pairs racing. Ashley and Andy managed to weave their way out of the places while, by keeping out of trouble, Harry and Trevor had the best finish position coming 3rd proving that age and experience can triumph over youth. 
The veteran (minimum age 40) Four keep improving with each race. Harry Roberts, Mark Davies, Stuart Webb and Trevor Brown coxed by Michael Epps had an excellent start to put them in an early lead and after rowing a good race finished third. 
In the last race of the day for Herne Bay our supporters finally had something to cheer. Ryan Hosking and Darren Ingram had done their homework before the Senior Pairs race to find the best water. Drawn in Lane 3 they made sure that they stuck as close to the shore as possible on the way back (giving the spectators some anxious moments) and in a hard fought race they emerged victorious pushing Bexhill into 2nd place for the first time this season. 

Folkestone

A fair sized Herne Bay contingent together with their supporters arrived to a bright sunny day with light breeze and flat sea, giving no hint that racing would not be completed. Before the end, however we managed to come away with 2 second places and some 3rds and 4ths in the races that were held.
The veterans, boosted by their encouraging 3rd at Southsea, (and having had their first ever training outing during the week) were 1st to test the water. Despite the local knowledge of a borrowed cox and a comfortable 1st thousand they faded to finish 4th behind 2 Folkestone crews & Bexhill.
In the heats of Junior sculls Ryan qualified in Heat 1 but the captain was unsuccessful in Heat 2. Immediately after his sculls heat Ryan joined Darren for the Senior pairs final in which they finished 2nd behind the Mitchells of Bexhill.
The Herne Bay Women's Junior 4 were left on the start (chaotic starts were the order of the day) but fought back to 3rd place. Then came the junior pairs final, a race well supported by Herne Bay with 4 crews. After a muddled start & slow turn Herne Bay C, (Mark & Andy) came 2nd after Dover for their first trophy of the season. Further down the field were the Ids 9th Harry/Trev 7th and Andy/Ashley 6th.
Conditions were worsening by the time of the Junior 4s race which was unfortunate as the youngsters had been training on the river all week. There was another terrible start, but after the turn the 2 Herne Bay crews were fighting each other (and the side-on waves) for 3rd place with the youngsters eventually ending up better off and the 'oldies' left in 4th..
Racing was abandoned soon after so there were no Women's Novice 4, Senior 4 or Junior sculls finals for our various crews. All over by halfway through the afternoon and following prize giving for a couple of consolation 2nd place trophies it was back to Herne Bay for the horse racing evening.

Waltrop

HERNE BAY AMATEUR ROWING CLUB has had a busy couple of weekends with the annual presentation evening at the club house at spa esplanade being swiftly followed by a visit from over 30 of our friends from Waltrop rowing club the following weekend. 
After arriving on Friday evening, Saturday was spent enjoying the local sights and - for some - getting in some rowing practice in dead calm conditions.
Saturday evening saw another big event at the Boathouse with live music and a happy treasurer with most of the Smirnoff Ice being consumed.
On Sunday the main event was not the football match (won 4-2 by Herne Bay - see Harry for a full match report and explanation of back Passing) but the naming of our latest boat after Waltrop's late Johnny Heil. Emotional speeches were given by Herne Bay chairman Roger Plowman and Johnny's daughter Denia before the boat was taken out in challenging conditions by Herne Bay's top pair - Ryan and Darren. Unfortunately the conditions were too rough for the planned rowing race between Herne Bay and Waltrop so everyone returned to the bar.
That evening saw the second presentation evening in as many weeks with Herne Bay being awarded the football trophy and a ship's bell for the bar from RV Waltrop as a symbol of the friendship between the clubs rounding off a busy and enjoyable weekend.

Dover

The last regatta of the season proved highly successful for Herne Bay.
Firstly the ladies junior four Helen Bell, Hannah Rourke, Helen Bannister, Natalie Ingram with Madeline Hopkinson as the Cox came second to Dover.
Junior four of Trevor Iddenden, Ashley Epps, Andy Cooper, Lewis Iddenden with the Cox of William Campbell also came second in their race this crew then split up into pairs for the junior pairs with pair Andy Cooper and Ashley Epps finishing second and pair Trevor and Lewis Iddenden finishing third just behind Bexhill
The senior four race also produced a fine result for the bay club with the A crew Darren Ingram, Ryan Hoskins, Alistar Mckean, Guy Addington with a cox of William Campbell finishing second and the young junior crew who also entered for more practise just behind in third place

With all these second places the club needed a win from somewhere and it came from one of the clubs most consistent performers. Ryan Hoskins continued his newly formed sculling career with a fine win in the junior sculls also his young prodigy andy Cooper finished third. Another second place came in the senior pairs for Darren Ingram and Ryan Hoskins. Herne Bay's day finished on another high note when they were awarded with the junior aggregate.
With the season over on the coast Herne Bay now go to the championships at Bideford in Devon next weekend where although they have no crews in championship events they are entered in a variety of open events.

Bideford Championships

Herne Bay finished their rowing season with a trip to Bideford in Devon for the South Coast Rowing Championships with 5 crews in 5 open events.

First to go afloat were the junior four T.IDDENDEN/A.EPPS/A.COOPER/L.IDDENDEN COX W.CAMPBELL in their heat which they won convincingly.

Next out were the senior fours with two crews entered.
The B crew A.MCKEAN/G.ADDINGTON/C.DODSWELL/A.VICKERS COX M.HOPKINSON won their heat but could only manage 5th place in the final.
The A crew D.INGRAMS/S.WEBB/P.MUNROE/R.HOSKINS COX W.CAMPBELL did not qualify from their heat due to having taken on too much water in conditions that were worsening by the minute. So much so that the Regatta was halted for one hour.

On the restart Herne Bay's next race was the junior fours final and the hard work that this four have put in throughout the season finally paid off when they won their race coming in 3 to 4 lengths in front of Itchen Imperial. See picture above of the winning crew.

The ladies four H.BELL/E.HEATH/J.CROPPER/H.BANNISTER COX M.EPPS were next out but were hit with problems on the way down to the start and failed to make the start. This caused problems for the junior senior four T.BROWN/T.CAIRA/A.HARRIS.H.ROBERTS COX P.MCRORRY who then had to borrow a boat and cox to make sure they made the start for the last race of the day, which they did, and came a fine second place behind RYDE.

Dinner and Dance