Curlew welcomed its newest cohort of learn to rowers, what feels like a decade ago, in February. It’s fair to say that we’ve never had a Learn to Row quite like this one. Evidence suggests that they’d angered the gods. Quite badly. The first four weeks were blighted by a spate of storms and then pestilence in the form of a global pandemic. As the nation went into lockdown, the Committee decided to pause the course mid-March, in the
hope we could restart in four weeks…
Some six months later, and with only three reluctant dropouts due to moving away from London, we restarted. There were stages where I never thought we’d get there. But overall, despite not yet being free of oronavirus, we’ve found a way to run the course safely and we will shortly see 21 rowers graduate from the course! As they reach this momentous milestone, please enjoy some vignettes from some of our course participants.
Meet Johnny
Johnny – one of our rarer finds who seems to enjoy the torture machine that is the ergometer! Pictured here after being an early bird to complete the weekly workout.
Why did you sign up? I work right next to the club house at The Old Royal Naval College and Drink in The Yacht Pub. I’ve watched the rowers on the river for years whilst I run along the Thames Path and have ALWAYS wanted to be on the water instead of pounding the pavement!
Favourite bit? Being on the water Sunday mornings feels special. Whether
that’s in brilliant sunshine or cold and windy…feels restorative either way and I leave smiling.
What surprised you about rowing? How technically challenging rowing is in its entirety but how much I enjoy all the learning.
Advice to the next set of learners? You’ll never know until you Row! Get your bum in that seat and you’ll not regret it!
Anything else to say? Not a single person ‘knew’ each other when this course started…no pairs or groups of mates…every one of us signed up as individuals but now the class of 2020 are all mates
