BGS rowing lunch

The 2015 rowing season is over.  This year Chris rowed 6 seat in the first eight and Dan was cox of the Grade 9 3rd Quad.

The first eight is the elite crew of the school and it was a privilege for Chris and another boy Paddy to secure seat in that crew.  Seats were selected and reselected competitively several times through the season.  

Sadly the first eight only managed 5th place at the head of the river.  Initially a few negative feelings as they had put in so much hard work training.  At the lunch I felt sorry for Chris as the only member of this crew who did not take away something.  The grade 12 members of the crew received a mug and Paddy received an award for 'most improved'. 

The highlight of the first eight year was winning at the Churchie regatta.  This was very exciting and the first win of a BGS first eight in years.

Dan's crew also did not win but I hope that if Dan sticks with it that he will both learn a lot about leadership and also contribute greatly to the crew.  Through my own rowing, I have learned the value of a good cox.

The lunch was held at the convention centre.  As we walked from the car park, we saw this directional sign.  Seemed appropriate.

Seating - Boys were seated in crews and parents were seated separately in year levels.  Having an "Open" grade 11 boy and a grade 9 boy meant we had divided loyalties and elected to sit on a grade 11 parents table.

The lunch included the usual array of speakers and presentations for performance.

The meal was alternate drop Beef / Pork with 2 vegies.  I felt the Beef was underdone and Chris thought the beef was dry.  Chris likes his meet rare and I like medium well done so I suspect if we had swapped meals we would have given "BEC" a better mark for food.  The general consensus was that the Pork was the better meal.

School luminaries included:
Mr McCalif - Head Master
Mark Brusasco
Ron Cochraine
Joe Rodriguez.

Pic chris spag bog

BSHS Regatta @ Kawana

Basking in the reflected glory of others.

The BGS first eight with Chris in 6 seat crossed the line in 1st place today (2nd Race). The boys (young men ) inspired by their great coach have been putting in tons of effort training in the gym and on the water and this 1st was well deserved. Following that they then rode push bikes back to Brisbane.

The big race is on youtube.  First 8 at 8:24
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BksbfdE2C8Q

Here they are after the regatta about to ride to Brisbane.  Chris is in the middle.

Back to dawn and I met the BGS boats on Gympie Rd just after the tunnel.

It was just after dawn.  Shortly after this I stopped for a coffee.








My task was to set up a camera on the finish line and beam the signal back to the parents and the boys tents. We did this using old analogue video gear operating in a little bit of unlicensed spectrum at 10GHz. We did have a technological issue with continual dropouts during the day. Pretty sure it was with the wiring at the transmitter end. This week's job is to try and locate the problem and fix it.

This is the picture of the first 8 just after the race.

This is the microwave receiver and horn antenna at the Parents tent.

Under the table - A 40AH battery.

The boys tent.  The receiver is in a plastic bag to keep it waterproof.

Tallebudgera Camping

Saturday- The day started at 5:15am.  Chris, Dan, Megan & myself arose.  5:45 Chris, Dan & myself drove off. We dropped Chris at  Bond uni for rowing. I then took Dan to Varsity Lakes railway station.  Dan had a rehearsal to attend in Brisbane and a solo train trip was a good adventure for him. 

Round morning tea time we met the Horky's on the beach and later the Filardo's.

Saturday evening - Frank Horky and I drove South and purchased $147 fish & chips.  We had 11 Adults and 11 kids to feed.  NZ Hoky $6.5 / piece. We got 6 Battered. 6 Crumbed & 6 grilled.  Add to the fish $30 in chips. 

Here we are sitting around in Bob's gazebo.

"We" is 

Konings + friend sienna.

Woodward Campbell's. 

Thomson's.

Filardo's.

Horky's. 

Tallebudgera ck at the back of the caravan park 

Paul Koning (L)  Chris (R)

 + Georgina Horky 

Look dad. I dug a 'ole - Jemma

Friday 

The Mantheys drove down for the day.  They were stuck in traffic for 4 hrs as half of Brisbane tried to escape the 40deg heat and the G20 sillyness.  In the afternoon Paul drove Bob, Chris and myself to BCF to look at camping stuff.  We finished this of wirth a coffee.

The Abbey Medieval Festival

We are at the 24th Abbey Medieval festival.
Surrounded by the middle ages.  Steeped in workplace health and safety.  I enjoyed the knights storming the castle complete with safety goggles.
The day begins with checking the fuel level in the generators and the wiring of the PA systems.
A grand parade where local politicians make pronouncements. I enjoyed the MC's introduction where he explained that they had captured the politician. the poli sensibly have a very short speech and declared the day started.
All mannor of reenactment groups set up camp here.  They dress in period costume and sheep in old fashioned tents.  No rip stop nylon in 1500.  it looks like these people have a lot of fun and that they develop some close friendships.  Very communal.
Mind you I sense a problem wirh the medieval economy.  There are a lot of Lords and Ladies.  Knights in shiny armour. There are priests and clergy but as far as I can see no surfs, slaves, unemployed starving dogs bodies.  Perhaps our current political masters should investigate how to run such an economy.
Opening cerimony

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.Dan and Jemma in the foreground.  Derek in the tent running the PA system.

Back stage

Some kid had a bit of a fit and suddenly this Medieval lady produced a two way radio.  A thousand years before it was invented.  Mind you the speaker stacks in the back ground seem equally out of time.

Chris Rows in the Junior Head Of The River

2013 Brisbane GPS Rowing Junior Head of the River.
4:30am, Chris is collected from our place by another rowing family and taken to the boat shed where all the boys travel together on a bus to lake Kawana.
Personally I like the Kawana venue as there are pleanty of places to view the race.



View Larger Map

The weather is atrocious with wind and rain.
The juniors (Grade 9 and lower) row 1000m.

This is the first year that Chris has rowed and he seems to have really enjoyed it.  He rowed in "2".  The rowers are numbered from 1 at the front or bow of the boat.  through to 4 near the back of the boat.  Number 4 person is the "stroke".  Their job is to set the pace.  They have to be very consistent.  The rest of the crew just have to synchronise with the stroke.  Easier said than done.  Finally we have the cox.  At the most basic level, the cox steers the boat.  A good cox works with the stroke to keep the crew in time.

They had a good row comming in third place.