Queenborough Spit......

....not a Kentish real ale, but our destination last Sunday for our first foray onto the open sea!

Having scythed through the water at last Tuesday’s training session under the enthusiastic coxing of Simon and then Guy, we decided it was time to take on some real waves.

And so just after around 9.30am on Sunday morning we left Dulwich bound for the Isle of Sheppey.

We got there in just over an hour and rendezvoused with Bailey, Tony and the rest of the Ahoy team who had towed the cutters down the night before.

To date we’d only seaward as far as the Thames Barrier, so this jaunt around Sheerness was designed to give us the experience of “surfing” the big waves we’d find out in the Channel.

We were joined by local rowing expert Marco, who very kindly agreed to cox our sister team, Chaucer.

We headed out to the estuary with grey clouds overhead and the wind starting to whip the waves up nicely. A few spots of rain threatened but luckily the much feared storm held off.

Angus coxed us expertly, urging us to pull harder and longer as we crashed through 2-3 feet high waves. Waves started to hit the boat side-on, which helped the boat to surge through the water.

After an hour and a half rowing out to sea, with the mainland getting more and more distant and bad weather moving in, our safety boat told us to head for home. We got the bit between our teeth and flew through the water, our oars making a single splash – the sign of a team rowing in perfect unison.

We got back to Queenborough harbour and were disappointed to find that during our 2½ hours on the water we’d only covered about 7 miles, albeit rowing against the tide for much of that time. However the experience of being out in open water fighting against the swell and into a cold wind was invaluable; we have a real feeling for what we’re going to be up against on June 10th.

A hard session but a real confidence booster for the cross Channel row in 3 weeks time.

Tired but exhilarated by the experience we moored our boat and headed for the hospitality of the Old House at Home where, over a couple of pints, Marco gave us the benefit of his many years of rowing experience.

With only 9 more training sessions remaining before the big day our thoughts are really focussed on the challenge ahead of us and we’d really like to thank everyone who’s already sponsored us or pledged money, but please remember there’s still plenty of time to contribute at:

http://www.justgiving.com/ahoybuoys