Following last weekend's launch of the new surf boat "Stephen Slattery", we raced it for the first time in the Navy Series Surf Carnival at Fremantle on the weekend.
The City crew with Navy representatives and "Stephen Slattery"
Photograph by Seng Mah - www.thesnapshooter.net
Competing against 22 rivals in the Reserve Boats (one crew from as far away as Esperance), the "Stephen Slattery" won three heats and the semi-final before lining up against the top six contenders in the final. The temperature had soared to 38 degrees and the crews had been on the beach for five hours. The race was hotly contested until the last 50 strokes from the beach, when the result was City of Perth by almost two boat lengths.
The "Stephen Slattery" remains undefeated after its first outing!
We would like to thank the Slattery family for their generosity to the club and helping the Boaties.
We have been working hard since the end of last season to market and promote the boat section to all club members and gym users. To date the response has been very positive and currently we have a competitive crew representing the club and four novice crews training, a massive improvement from the last couple of seasons.
The involvement of new rowers in the club is fantastic - Bruce Lilburne, Peter Waey and Mal Lowther have been instrumental in getting these novice crews together and we hope they will represent the club for many years. Although not currently competing the aim is to have them all in competition by January 2010.
Anyone interested in getting into a boat crew should contact Shane Bowler.
