Waterside A

I really don't know where to begin with this because we really were rubbish. As I said in the last post our aims for this were;

1. Portage efficiently and have really good push aways. - No, not really
2. Not get in anyone's way. In the main, yes
3. Enjoy it.- Absolutely not.

I guess I should deal with point 3 first. It's pretty hard to enjoy a race of this kind when you capsize 4 times. Yes, that's right, 4 times. Apparently not a record  but I would think pretty damn close. There's no point micro-analysing each one and why they happened, but suffice to say that it highlighted our lack of confidence and stability when the water is not smooth. Let's face it, if you're capsizing 4 times on a canal then you are most definitely not in the right boat and there's no point in pretending otherwise. The real low point came when we capsized 20 metres from the finish line in front of absolutely EVERYONE. Apparently people in the canalside restaurant were standing up and having a good look at the muppets drowning a few metres from them while they ate their rocket and pesto starters.
It's also pretty hard to enjoy a race when someone drops a boat on your head. Yes, I know that you are 'racing' but I'm not quite sure that gives you the right to take my head off with your rudder while we are still trying to get into the boat. Fair enough, it might have slipped, but have the frickin' manners to say sorry.
Our portaging was 'workmanlike'. My steering up to the bank left a lot to be desired and Ad struggled getting out the boat, although we gradually sussed out the fact that we either found a spot where Adam could use a tie post to help him get some leverage or try to find a lower bank, usually much closer to the lock.
We started out too fast, which was completely my fault and I was running through the portages too quickly, which meant all the stuff we had practised went straight out the window in a peak of Adrenalin. On the longer pounds we were more relaxed and would gradually pull in a few crews only for them to stretch out again as they would portage faster than us. Unfortunately our regular capsize practise meant that we never really got settled like we had been in training on the Wey.
As we forlornly got the boat onto the car Adam said "We're not going to do the DW." That's the first time in all the crap that we've gone through in the last 6 months that Adam has been anything less than positive and I've got to say at the time I was agreeing with him. 4 capsizes in 13 miles; it doesn't take a genius in maths to extrapolate that out to work out that you'd be looking at 40 capsizes for the DW.  :-0 OK, I know it doesn't quite work like that but at that moment, as we stood shivering in the Newbury car park, the chances of us finishing the DW seemed extremely remote; if we're honest, they still do.
We walked back to the Waterside building to get changed and as we got our free snack bag Adam realised that his wedding ring had come off in the last capsize. :-( We trudged back to the car and passed two sixth form paddlers looking stupidly fresh, laughing about 'the two guys who went in at the finish...'
Our day was complete.