Woodbridge Coastal Rowing Club
Exploring the river Deben and beyond
This year, the AGM was held at The Bull Hotel in Woodbridge, with over half of the club members attending.
We followed the business section with a lovely meal and social in the newly refurbished pub. We will definitely go back next year.
Thanks go to the outgoing and incoming Committees who seamlessly run the club by working hard behind the scenes to keep everyone happy and the boats well maintained.
On Sunday, both skiffs were out on the water. The crews included two people having a taster session alongside our regular members. It was good to see the Felixstowe Rowing Club on a long trip up to Woodbridge.
It was surprisingly warm for an October day, but no one was complaining!
Anyone from the shore would have seen both boats enjoying some banter at the bottom of Martlesham Creek. The Whisstock crew made do with a quick KitKat but the Whisper crew had quite a picnic. No need to guess which of the two boats made it home first!
Great fun!
We joined this last year and launched both Whisstock and Whisper again to show a presence again this year.
It’s a good exercise in boat handling and is also encouraging to prove that those enjoying our river don’t leave a lot of rubbish.
Once again, we covered the area from the DYC to the top of Martlesham Creek armed with litter pickers and plastic bags.
Kyson Point provided the star items of a golf ball and a yellow plastic duck with a few bits and bobs over the rest of our pitch.
All items, including the litter pickers, were returned to the Scout Hut at the Tide Mill.
An enjoyable morning!
The event organised by Adrian Hodge from CRAB, Coastal Rowing at Blakeney was originally scheduled and postponed during Covid. The event was held Monday to Friday and covered the rivers and broads between Hickling and Coltishall.
The base was Barton Turf Adventure Centre, where many camped or stayed nearby at various locations of their choice. Twelve skiffs attended from six clubs these included five St. Ayles skiffs from Blakeney, Kings Lynn and Woodbridge and Adrian’s rather fine Thames skiff, well over 100 years old.
The boats were left overnight at various pre-arranged locations, parish staithes, boatyards and yacht clubs. Adrian’s organisation of the whole event was meticulous, particularly in getting crews back and forth to the boats.
An itinerary for each day was produced, together with maps and suggested points to visit. Most of our rowing was thus in the company of just a few boats, with a few more meeting up at the obvious lunch spots. A mud weight was provided, as the Broads Authority does not like anchors, and this was useful at lunchtime in the broads.
We had two evening events, a barbeque at BTAC and a ceilidh in Neatishead Village Hall with an excellent band and food.
We finished the event rowing back to Wroxham Broad, where the Norfolk Broads Yacht Club have good facilities for getting the boats back on their trailers.
A lovely week, well organised and some lovely rivers and Broads.
On 10 September, the WCRC joined the Transition Woodbridge event to help remove litter from the river.
Whisper and Whisstock were both fully crewed and spent time at Kyson Beach and Martlesham Creek pulling all manner of things out of the river.
At the end of the outing, the rubbish retrieved was added to the heap outside the 5th Woodbridge Sea Scouts ready for collection by Norse on Monday.
A job well done
On our social trip to Waldringfield we all had lots of fun
After a last minute change to crews and transport
The skiff’s covers were finally undone!
As so often happens – the buckets were nearly taken for a ride
But Jo ran back with them to the dinghy park
So there was plenty of room inside
Whisstock was launched first with her magnificent crew
I’m biased as I was one of them
But Whispers crew were brilliant too!
Whisper went first to the pontoon, to ensure there wasn’t a fall
In fact all her crew were very nimble
And this was not needed at all.
It was not a race…supposedly all for fun
But when Whisper was drawing nearer to Whisstock
The Whisstock crew became rather glum!
With tide and wind against us, we rowed with all our might
But in fact it was not too long
Before The Maybush came in sight
Fiona met us on the beach …her solo bike ride had been fun
Tables found, drinks ordered …..
The socialising had begun!
It took some effort to drag one of the cox away
The other was keen to have the tide with us
For a least a little part of this day
Two travelled back by car and others swapped their seats
And Whisper and Whisstock returned home safely
Our great day out complete
But we can’t end without saying a great big ‘Thank You’
To Dave & Julian, our able cox and
Fiona & Caro our special organising two!
By Cathie Taylor, 3 September 2022
On the 2 May, we proudly launched our second St Ayle’s Skiff onto the river Deben.
Big thanks go to Brian East, who managed the building project and took the stroke seat for her first outing. Thanks also go to Julian Taylor who played a big role in her construction and other committee members who all played their part.
‘Whisper’ was joined by our first boat ‘Whisstock’ on the water for an afternoon of short trips followed by lots of tea and cake. Crews switched in and out for a quick blast through the cut and past Kyson Beach while there was enough tide.
Rather than using the traditional champagne, Brian was handed a bottle of ‘Proper Job’ to make the occasion (which he promptly finished off when his turn to row ended).
It was a lovely afternoon, and a format that we will repeat.
In October and November, Jacq ran our first coastal Learn to Row course and would like to welcome Saska, Carrie and Stephen to the club.
Having watched the training video’s, talked about safety and boat handing in a land session the new crew, with the help of Andy, David and Julian took to the water. The forecast over that weekend was awful but both days turned out to be lovely and calm with just a little mizzle on the last day.
Having practised taking off, landing, turning, swerving, rowing at different pressures and speeds, slaps, chops and emergency stops the new crew then did their ‘Man Overboard’ training and saved Bob (aka a large white buoy) from the depths of the Deben.
By the end of the weekend, the crew were rowing very well and all graduated with big smiles. If Saska, Carrie or Stephen sign up to row with you, please introduce yourself and help them to put their new skills into practice.
An interesting paddle for the crew as high tide prediction was 4.0m, but the actual tide was 4.85m. Nearly 3ft over predicted, on top of a 4.0m spring tide. This is possibly the highest viewpoint we will ever get from the river.
However, we would still be on the wrong side of Wilford bridge now if we had carried on, not much head room!.
Therefore the return to the sailing club was a good choice and thanks all for the row. Julian
