Another fabulous day on the river Crouch for Burnham-on-Crouch Coastal Rowing Club and friends. August bank holiday Monday was Burnham’s turn to host their leg of the Nelson Cup Challenge. The Nelson Cup Challenge is organised by the South East Coastal Rowing Forum where there are a number of selected races throughout the summer which award points to their entrants based on a handicap system. The challenge is open to any fixed seat rowing boat with a minimum of 2 rowers and a coxswain. At the end of the summer season the Nelson Cup is awarded to the overall winner.

With favourable conditions 9 boats, consisting of a Cornish Longboat, 3 Celtic Longboats, 3 Harkers Yard Gigs, a Seax Gig and a Spirit Class Gig jostled for position for an 11am start on the RCYC line.

The 5 mile course started with a stretch down river to Cliff Reach. It was a clean start with coxes managing the start line masterfully against the tide and a significant amount of traffic from fellow yachtsman preparing for their day at the races.

Whilst the wind was coming from a predominantly westerly direction, it was light and when the sun was in full blaze, provided some welcome cool air to the hard working crews.

Once upon the Cliff Reach mark it was a stroke side turn and back with the tide to the finish line at the Corinthian.

Congratulations to Rozinante from Benfleet Yacht Club RC who took first place, followed by our own Wren Crew from Burnham in second and Mutiny rowed by the Four Oars Crew in third.

Many congratulations to all our competitors today, in addition to our podium placed crews we had Violette and Golden Gear from UCSC Brightlingsea, Ceilidh and Victory from Lower Thames RC and Willow and High Spirit from Burnham. With a solid 40-50 minutes of rowing we all deserved our pint in the bar afterwards.

Our thanks goes to the Corinthian Yacht Club for providing the perfect venue and Burnham Week Ltd for sponsoring the event. Thanks to all the volunteers that helped make the day a success. Thanks to Kay Tavinor, Viv Barrett and Pete for race box duties and James for the safety boat. Finally a big thank you to Harriet Norden for once again, pulling the whole thing together so wonderfully.

Location

Royal Corinthian Yacht Club