Tour from Medway to Maidstone on 28/10/12.

On 28^th October our recreational section organised a short tour for the 11.5 miles from Medway Towns RC at Rochester (on the tidal Medway) back to Maidstone via Allington Lock.  The Recreational Squad was joined by boats from other squads and 6 crews and 39 members took part. It started as a cold wintery Sunday with temperatures as low as 4 degrees but luckily despite forecast rain it stayed dry, other than from some members who got damp from washes from passing boats.

As the cars turned into the Medway slipway one member commented “it’s a bit rougher then we are used to at Maidstone!”  This was part of the reason for the row so we could allow members to have the opportunity to row on more lively tidal water than we are used to.   We had invited Medway Towns to join us but they were in the middle of a big recruitment drive and their members were very busy taking out new members so they were unable to join us.  They considered it to be a relatively calm day, with a following tide and a following wind.

The boats taking part were:-

• Recreational coxed quad (Captained by Alan Leeson).
• Recreational coxed quad (Captained by Tom Fuller).
• Masters B coxed quad (Coxed by Ella Knight).
• Masters Intermediate 3 coxless quad (steered by Ally Machin).
• Junior eight (MGS coxed/coached by Lois Birrell and stroked by Mark Tomkins).
• Masters D eight (coxed by Andrea Barker).
• Club Safety Boat (manned by Chris Long and Dani James).

The first boats got afloat about 9:30am with the last boating at Rochester about 10am

 Masters 8

 Recreationals

 MGS boys with Sean and Mark

The 6 crews all had different reasons for the row with the recreational boats out for a long leisurely row while taking some members for their first long row.  The junior eight were also out for their first long distance row, and the two Masters quads and the Masters eight using the row as tidal water training to get ready for the Veterans Heads in November.

Frozen Lois!

All the crews were well wrapped up against the cold day and plenty of water and snacks were also taken together with balers and other safety equipment.

Allington Lock is only opened 2 hours before and 2 hours after high tide so those using it have to plan this row with the tides.  We also had to allow for the fact that at low tide much of the up reaches around Aylesford don’t have enough water in them for any boats to row.  Luckily, we planned the tides just right and our boats came up fast at the top of an incoming tide with high tide at the lock at 12:15. 

About 11:45am our first crews reached Allington Lock, and the lock keepers opened up the full lock to enable all the boats to get into the lock together. By 12:30 all the crews were back at the club for tea and cakes.

Thanks go to Chris Long and John Clayton for organising the towing and Chris and Dani for manning the safety boat, and braving the cold.

Dani gets some heat in her.

The pictures show the Clubs boats at Allington lock.

It was generally agreed it had been good row and great fun and that the Club should organise more events and rows similar to this one.

 Logjam

We are grateful to both Medway Towns RC and the lock keepers for their help. 

John Clayton