Rowing Reflections: Below Sea Level

Weather: Fine and warm . . . wind 060-120/10KTS,

Temp: About 26

River Condition: Moderate downstream flow

River Level: Falling from (0.150)m at 5:00pm to (0.268)m at 7:00pm (see note)

Rowers: Jim, John, Mick, Peter and Neil

Extras: Ron and Lee

Note – this level is measured against the Australian Height Datum (AHD) which is the theoretical sea level at 30 tide gauges around the coast of the Australian continent. Of course tides ebb and flow down and up from that ‘average’ measurement – but it means tonight we were rowing ‘below sea level’. See http://www.ga.gov.au/earth-monitoring/geodesy/geodetic-datums/australian-height-datum-ahd.html if you are really that interested.

There are some videos at the bottom of the page . . .

Very Low Water . . .

The water was so low that this eight parked at a 30 degree angle to the landing and each crew member ‘scrambled’ forward and exited the boat at the bow’s seat. Wouldn’t it be nice to be so young and agile again!

Abandon ship . . .

Oops . . .

No – this wasn’t one of us!! Someone ended up falling out of the boat just upstream from the sheds. We all would have preferred it to happen right in front so we could enjoy the spectacle!! There but the grace of some higher being (s) go us! Double click on the picture for a good look.

Not a good look!

The Main Event . . .

We took out a sweep four and used the 2000m mark as our turning point. It all went very well in rather warm and somewhat crowded conditions – but it was a beautiful evening for rowing and of course Jim has resumed his rightful position in the stroke’s seat!

We were lucky to have ‘boat dispatch officer’ Lee on hand to help get us away from the very shallow water and to help drag the boat across the mud at the end.

And we were also very pleased to be ‘gentlemen’ rowers once again – another crew wanted our boat so we just left it in the water! Where are these people on Mondays and Thursdays?