52nd Annual Report - Season 2001-02 - Long Reef Surf Life Saving ...

LONG REEF SLSC INC.
BOA T CAPTAIN'S REPORT
The season kicked off with a high degree of enthusiasm largely thanks to Stephen Cox (Coxy)
who was keen to follow on from hi s spectacular 4th round exit in the 200 1 national
championships, and see if he could add any more spectacular boalie scars to his coll ection
(how many sweeps can say thei r wife has a scar above her eyebrow which required 5 stiches
care of a Longy surfboat).
52nd ANNUAL REPORT & BAL4.NCE SHEET
Naturally the old boys maintained thei r desire for boatie immortality and it was great to see
Mal MacCormick, Dave Sams, Bruce Gaal and Peter Kin sey on the water again ("Age shall
never weary us").
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It was a pleasure to seen a new band of boaties enj oying time on the end of an oar. Simon
Kinsey found his calling stroking the open men's I$t reserve crew along wi th the famil iar
faces of Brad Anderson (Kenn y-returned from the Refo's of yesteryear), Larry and Titta. Kath
Cox grabbed herself a powerful engine room in Andrew Robson (Robbo) and Doug Lucas
while Hamish McMichael followed in Nude's footsteps at the pointy end of the boat.
Some noteworthy exceptions from the boatie contingent for the season were
~ Nudist - some excuse about opening Sydney's newest and most remarkable Pub
as the licence of the Art House
~ Cath Dougall - a relaxed season rowing masters with another friendl y club.
~ JB - taking time out to spend with Eileen and their son Nicholas
~ Dougall - taking up boatie photography
~ Adam - European touring duties
Hopefully these are all just minor di sturbances and these individuals will be back for
200212003. However there is a solid rumour that Eileen will fill in for JB if he does not cl aim
a seat early!.
Competition commenced with some rather dubious electrical repairs followed by equally
dubious navigation (thanks Larry) so uth of the big coat hanger. Finally the latest Kinsey
boatie was on the start line at Wanda, Guns Up, Racing ... well actuall y lying with ones head
in the boltom of the boat with legs fl ailing in the air. .. a lesson well learnt and followed up
with a fine row to place third, progressing to win the next round and secure a place in the semi
final.
While it is often said that a Longy boat shouldn' t cross any bridge (apart from one spanning
Narrabeen lagoon!) to altend a carnival the Longy Boys showed a few more highly
credentialed crews the finer points of rowing.
There was little else to report prior to Christmas apart from one boatie, who shall remain
nameless, proving that any form of cross training can seriously damage you prospects for the
season ( it was probably time for lhal second knee reconstruction anyway! ). The other
noteworthy event was Hamish being captured south of the bridge by a lovely young lady and
handing over his seat 10 Robbo's brother, Paul (welcome another Longy Boati e! ).
An early highlight of the true competition season was the Manly carnival which turned on
some of the most spectacular boat rowing seen for many years. One oarsman, on hearing that
the swell was up, knocked back the offer of a weekends skiing in the French Alps to make it
back in time for the carnival!.
He was not disappointed as two to three metre swells pounding imo the sandbar about 150
metres from shore providing a formidable challenge, Coxy calmly took Titta's crew out for a
warm-up which lasted a little longer than planned as each of the crew members spem a lazy
20 minutes swimming back to shore in a rip with an oar! . As the tide dropped things became
more challenging on the back break and despite many powerful attempts, Hughie. the God of
surf, sent most crews home a little the worse for wear. Longy was no exception ..
The Manly call1i vai does however require a special mention for the Longy lRB crews who
provided almost all the water safet y in the boatie area for the event - a magnificent display of
world class rescue and recovery services. I would challenge any other club or "professional"
lifeguard service to come even close to thi s performance.
The Longy Chick' s crew regained some international navour for the season with Karen
Brackstone stealing Jill's stroke seat, Jill in 2nd stroke along wi th Dan and Raechel Kinsey.
The next bi g event was the Branch Championships at Bil go la. The format was a break with
tradition and he ld as a boalie on ly event which was rather disa ppointing as it is ni ce 10 be able
to pass comment at the less noble pursuits and the Chicks always seem 10 enjoy the ski
paddlers (but only above the waist!).
A new 120's crew was Formed for lhe day with JB. Kenny, myself and Tittll. a flying start had
all the other crews wonderi ng exactly why they had bothered to get out of bed but Hughie