Windy and Wild to Calm and Serene!
Image #1: U16 A8+ heading out for Sprint Race!
Knysna Results:
| Sprints Race: | Heads Race: |
| U15 4x+ 1st U15 1x 3rd & 1st U16 8+ 1st U16 1x 3rd & 2nd U16 2- 1st U19 2- 2nd |
U15 8+ 1st U16 8+ 1st U19 8+ 3rd |
Image #2: Bishops 1st 8+ heading out for heads Race!
U16 Report: Stuart Hudson – U16 Athlete
We arrived at Knysna Lodges not knowing what to expect but increasingly hyped for the races to come the next day. We hopped on the water and were absolutely pacing down the Knysna River doing a series of starts, pushes, tap downs, and of course steady state. We then went to the accommodation and were greeted by the kindest guests ever who were brave enough to push us all into the pool. The food was some of the best food we’ve ever had on any rowing adventure and was partly served by our very own chef Michael Daveron. The manager then played us a Johnny Clegg song which we all got hyped and danced to.
The first day of racing went extremely well, despite the wind’s drastic increase over the course of the day. Shoutout to the u15s and u16s for winning almost all of their races. On Sunday the boys absolutely boosted in the heads race so much so that they were met with a sense of derealization on the water and even the cox started to see yellow he was screaming so loud. Special mention to Sam Clarke for pushing so hard that he literally almost died. Even the Bishop’s coaches decided that they had to show everyone up in the heads race with an absolutely deadly crew with Coach Sven at the stroke, Coach Kane Smith and Mister Hale steaming down the river under the red bridge and sending it straight to the jetty.
Conclusively, this Knysna was an absolutely incredible way to start off the season, thank you to all of the coaches and parents and to the Western Cape Rowing Committee for not messing up at all this year. Furthermore, thank you to all of the boys for being consistently respectful, and kind to each other and for Winning!
Image #3: Belvidere picturesque
Knysna Regatta: Matthew Maurel – Junior Open
The opening regatta for the 2023/2024 rowing season is the Knysna Midway Regatta! On Friday 13th the Bishops rowing club set out for the long trek to Knysna. The Regatta is formatted over two days with a day of 1-kilometer sprints on Saturday and a Heads race on Sunday. Over the years the Knysna Regatta has earned a reputation for its tough windy conditions and awesome location. However, the regatta is seen to be of extreme value to all of the Western and Eastern Cape schools as it provides great practice for the school’s first Quad and first Eights for Boatrace.
This Year’s regatta was no exception to the regatta’s reputation with a large majority of Saturday’s Sprints to being called off due to un-rowable weather conditions. However, Sunday proved to be an excellent day of racing with beautiful and serene conditions. A special mention must be made to the junior rowers for their hard work and dedication at the regatta, this being echoed through their results.
The first regatta was a roaring success for the club and proved a great learning experience all round. With Misvertsand Sprints around the corner, the future looks strong for the club and it’s athletes.
A great start to what looks to be a promising season!
Image #4: Coaches Crew!
U15 Report: Declan Watling – Coach
This past weekend saw the opening of a new rowing season, and another successful regatta for the new u15 age group. The boys and coaches left early Friday morning and competed in several races including the Knysna Heads Race on Sunday morning.
As often happens in Knysna, several races were canceled due to poor weather on Saturday, which meant some boys unfortunately raced more than others. This, however, did not stop the boys accumulating some very impressive and definitive results including a few listed below:
- Ben Redfern achieved fastest time in the A sculls event by a margin of more than 20 seconds. Carter missed 2nd place by one second with Elsley close behind
- The B Quad (Buda, Waltman, Morgan, Bowers coxed by Daya) comfortably beat the Somerset A quad
- The A Quad (Dupont, Redfern, Carter, Elsley coxed by Lalken) narrowly took 1st place, with Grey less than a second slower in the next heat
- The A Oct won the heads race on Sunday morning with some of their best rowing this season – this was their first Heads race (which is usually longer than normal races and includes challenging corners) so it is very special to come away with the win
- The B Oct, which had not yet rowed together as a crew, rowed excellently in the Heads race, demonstrating the technique we have wanted from them in smaller boats during training. Their time was unfortunately not correctly recorded by officials, however we are confident as coaches that they should have placed 3rd instead of 4th as one of their opponents missed a compulsory corner, and we have no doubt they were catching up to Rondebosch A team. For a B Oct to rival A crews so early in the season is very impressive and all the athletes should be very proud and eager for their next opportunity.
Some other notable achievements include:
- David Brink competed in three challenging races in very short succession. Brink had to jump straight into another boat having just finished his first race with no break. His hard work over the weekend was much appreciated
- Both of the coxes (Dhruv Daya and Yazeed Lalken) were in great form all weekend. The Heads race is particularly challenging for coxes due to corners, current, and a longer race to manage. Both of them did excellently, taking good lines and obeying all instructions from their coaches and umpires. Knysna Heads is undoubtedly a proving ground for new coxes and they proved themselves nicely.
The boys now set their sights on the Misverstand regatta in two weekends’ time. These results provide an excellent base for us coaches to build on and set them up well for the rest of the season. This coming week will see the boys work on length and connection as we look to finalize teams. Thank you to the whole group for a great regatta and let’s keep the momentum going (and the medals flowing!).