As always, we never seem to get Poplar quite right. Our start was nothing short of abysmal as the nerves of racing not only 'off-cam' but in a side-by-side regatta got the better of the crew. However, we recovered relatively quickly and from about 200m to 1500m down the course we produced some solid but scrappy rowing in the tailwind. For this whole period we maintained a distance of approx 1/4 length down on Tit Hall knowing that if we could get it together we could row through them by the finish.

This was not to be. Our rather sparse race-plan called for a final 'reset and wind' for the line at the 1750m mark (however, I - being forgetful - neglected to tell Kate that the walls of the dock had distance markings. Therefore both cox and crew were unaware of just how far we were from the finish). This call - when it came - seemed to arrive as a bit of a shock to some and the relative composure which had seen us slowly regaining ground (lost off the start) on Tit Hall fell apart as 3 promptly caught a crab. We recovered surprisingly quickly, but it was too little too late. We crossed the line 2 seconds off Tit Hall.

However, we did do what we set out to do at the end of last week i.e. avenge the loss we suffered to Magdalene in the Head-of-the-Cam. We beat them by 1 second. A modest silver lining. 

Given the relative inexperience of the crew i.e. 5 out of 9 had never raced off-Cam before, the nerves we felt were understandable. We learnt many technical points thanks to Poplar's ever challenging weather conditions and feel that if we had been calmer we would have produced a significantly faster time. I feel confident that back on the Cam we will continue to improve.

This was a great day-out, we all had loads lot of fun and it was a pleasure to watch the girls come through to do so well against Maggie and Magdalene in the final of W IM3.

Ed

C: K. Richards S: C. Adams 7: N. Gates 6: E. John 5: M. Richly 4: H. Dietert 3: A. Morgan 2: H. Robinson B: T. Hendicott Coach: R. Jeffrey