Boat repairs are progressing steadily at the undercroft (behind the Promenade Cafe) and the Society is hoping for an April start to training.🚣‍♂️

Ian, one of our regular volunteers, has been working on new seats for the red boat, which, hopfully, will be the first skiff back out on the river.🤞

This year sees a new sponsor for this boat, so the Committee will be organising a formal naming ceremony early in the season - more details about this in the next few weeks.😀

The cold but bright, calm weather conditions on Saturday (21st Jan) gave volunteers a perfect chance to get the last two Regatta skiffs ashore.

This now means all four skiffs are safely stored, in the boatyard, for their winter maintenance. A program of repairs will be drawn up and work will take place gradually over the next 8 weeks or so.

Thankfully, we had plenty of helpers to get the boats ashore, which always makes it alot easier. Thanks go to .. Steve C, Ian, Mike, Sharon, Debbie, Tim, Ken, Steve A, Richard and Gurp out on the river, with Chris holding the fort in the yard 🙏🙏.

A special mention to the guys from Gravesend Rowing Club for using their motorboat for a few 'ferrying/towing' trips from land to mooring and vice versa👏👏.

We shall keep you posted with the maintenance program over the next few weeks and any help down the boatyard is always appreciated😀

Storm Franklin back in February, caused severe delays to the 2022 Regatta season. Thankfully, due to the help of volunteers, maintenance and repairs were swiftly done and we managed to get 3 out of the 4 boats ready for the postponed Regatta weekend in August. The Committee also worked hard to rally rowers (old and new) and the weekend was a complete success!

Maintenance has now started on the skiffs ready for next season, so we can hit the ground running with a full race programme for 2023. A new rudder for the blue boat (sponsored by the Jolly Drayman) is nearly complete, with new flooring also being prepared. Even the old faithful tender 'Lydia' is getting a few fibreglass repairs and a fresh coat of paint! Well done everyone !

..... With the clocks having gone back, the evenings are now too dark for mid-week training. The emphasis has already switched to preparing the boats ready for next season's rowing but first the boatyard itself needed some 'tender loving care'.

The call was put out for some volunteers and despite the rain, Saturday 5th November saw a good few people getting involved with a general tidy-up and some gardening too.

Boat maintenance has started and during the week Ian, a regular down the boatyard, had finished the new floorboards for the blue boat. Plenty of other jobs on the skiffs are planned over the next few months.

There will be another 'working party morning' next Saturday 12th November, for a final clear-up in the boatyard and undercroft, in readiness for bringing a skiff ashore. This will leave a further skiff to be bought ashore before the end of November.

A BIG THANK YOU to all the volunteers who turned up on the 5th - maybe see you again on the 12th? Another 'call for hands' will go out during this coming week, plus another towards the end of the month to ensure all the skiffs are ashore and in the yard ready for repairs etc.

Boatyard Tidy

..... Just a couple of volunteers joined 'boat maintenance' stalwart Dennis👍, this Saturday (12th Nov) but their help was much appreciated😀.

Further gardening and tidying was undertaken and the resulting rubbish is now ready for removal😀

BIG thanks to our hardy gardeners, Deb and Steve, and Dennis for their time Saturday👏👏👏

Watch👀 this space....for an update on 'whats next' and when we need help to get the skiffs in from the river...