Last-hour change can’t take wind out of FRM

By Matt Lihou

Julius Baer encounters spray in the choppy seas. (0602436)

GUERNSEY boats dominated the first day of the annual Guernsey Offshore Rowing Regatta.

Six out of seven categories saw local triumph, with only the women’s pairs producing a UK winner. However, the event certainly wasn’t without incident.

The originally-planned 16km course to Herm and back had to be postponed an hour before the scheduled start because of the strong winds that arrived on the morning of the race.

Instead, a much shorter course, around 2km, was introduced taking in Belle Greve Bay and a five-lap race took place. Despite the last-minute change in plan, Guernsey Rowing Club president Tim Prout was pleased with the day.

‘The numbers that enter are improving every year and we are also getting more people entering from outside of the island. It’s also great to see Guernsey boats having such a good weekend,’ he said.

The most competitive race of the day was undoubtedly the men’s fours.

As anticipated, three boats dominated proceedings, with FRM coming out on top by a clear distance. Next back in was Just Do It, from Jersey, closely followed by the Julius Baer boat.

Despite their dominance from the start of the race through to the finish, FRM’s Ian Atkinson was not expecting things to go so well.

‘Obviously we want to win every race we enter, but we were really expecting the Jersey boat to beat us.

‘It still feels a bit strange, to be honest,’ he said.

The crew of the boat which made up the top three, Julius Baer, was disappointed with the performance. They were overtaken by Just Do It on the third lap and coxswain Lloyd Le Page felt it could have gone much better.

‘It is very disappointing because we usually compete with the FRM boat, but today they really did hurt us,’ he said.

However, Le Page felt that time was on the side of his crew.

‘Although we hoped to do better than we did, this crew and boat is a work in progress,’ he said.

Dave Perrio, who competed in the same race as part of the Thames River crew, felt that conditions were not as bad as they looked from the shore.

‘The conditions obviously weren’t great, but they still weren’t too bad. It certainly would have been bad if the original race had gone ahead,’ he said.

Another of the races to see a Guernsey success was the men’s singles, which was won by Paul Montague. He was delighted with his win and said that the race was a step into the unknown.

‘No one has raced over five laps before, so it was a new experience for everyone. In my race, the guys that I beat were people I had never raced before, so I didn’t know what to expect, really.

‘I’m obviously really happy and it was really good fun racing out there,’ he said.

Montague was also full of praise for Prout and the decision to switch the races due to the weather.

‘With all the visiting boats over from the UK and France, we had to have some sort of a race. Full credit to Tim Prout and all the organisers for changing everything so efficiently,’ he said.

The CMC boat was another decisive winner, this time in the women’s fours, while the mixed pairs was won by Liz Bellot and Steve Pipe. The other Guernsey winner was DDM Absolute Performance in the men’s pairs, while Welsh boat Arriva was the only one to break the Guernsey monopoly, by being first across the line in the women’s pairs.

The runners-up in the mixed pairs were FRM, rowed by Sam de Kooker and Sarah Stonebridge, and they were happy with their performance.

‘The conditions didn’t really suit us, because we go better on the flat. However, coming second is a really pleasing effort, said de Kooker.

All in all, the event was a total success despite the conditions.

With 41 boats, an improvement on last year, and a very confined area it made for interesting racing. Clashes between boats was common throughout.