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At the start
A motley collection of cars, boats and a few rowers gathered at the start. |
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The Haylee-mobile
Acquiring a healthy dose of West Coast mud. |
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Setting up
Des and Clea hard at work. |
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Putting to water
The Alfred Ladies IV+ in the foreground, while Bryne and Joy get ready to head off in the purple double in the background. |
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More setting up
The organised chaos that is boat prep. |
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That should do it
The boat gets Haylee's approval. |
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Girl power
Clea, Des, Haylee and Cheryl ready to rumble. |
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Plonking it in
The Alfred's Mixed VIII puts "Spirit of Henley" in the water. |
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Waiting for the rest of the crew
Some of us hold the boat while the rest of the Alfred's crew nip off for some pre-rowing activities. We await arrival of the blades. |
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Under way
The ladies set off. |
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Er...
Cover your blade, no. 2. |
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Alex Rust
The Elgin sculler shows how to do it by yourself. |
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Do the locomotion
Heading down the Berg River. |
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Starting to bubble
A couple of kilometres down, many to go. |
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Rondebosch
A most welcome junior crew from Rondebosch Boys High School. |
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'Bosch heading down the river
The lads show us how it is done. |
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Alfred Rowing Club's mixed VIII+
Under way at last. Richard, Baris, James, Lolly, Jost, Llewellyn, Simon and Vince being drilled by Colleen. |
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Aluta continua
The struggle continues for the Alfred's VIII. |
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Syncronicity
An amazing sight as the bow-side four are in rhythm. |
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Wake
Gary and the rescue boat powering down the river in search of rowers. |
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Why are we doing this?
Rowing takes effort. |
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We've got to go where?
Yup, it's that way - for another 15 kilometres. |
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Take a break
The crew pauses on the way for a chance to show good dental work. |
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We can carry on soon...
Getting ready to continue, except that Clea first swapped with Kirsty and coxed for a while. |
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Time to change
After Clea coxed for a bit she nows wants to go to bow. |
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Yeah, baby, yeah!
Clea gets it in the air for the benefit of mankind. |
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Moving forward
Kirsty holds the blades as Clea tramples over Des. |
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Stand up for the champions
Haylee stands between Des and Cheryl. |
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Haylee gets back
Haylee heads for the stroke position as Des is once again overrun. |
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After swapping seats
Haylee takes over as stroke. |
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OK, let's get this rate up.
Haylee, taking no prisoners. |
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Kilroy wasn't here
...but Hans Post was. Hans shows a nose for the river. |
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Increasing to ram speed
Note that the blades are now covered. |
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Pretty in pink
A lovely house spied along the river. |
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Keep it going
The crew hangs in there. |
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Two passing boats
Two boats who passed us along the way. They cut speed and minimised wake - which was greatly appreciated. |
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The gruesome twosome
Harry Elcock and Ian MacDonald put on a display as the Elgin Mens Double. |
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And they're off again
The girls take it up. |
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Looking good
...as always. |
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A couple of bends to go
Not long now... |
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Hang in there
Not quite riding into a sunset finish. |
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Surely not far
The girls close in on the finish. |
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In sight of the finish
The end of the race up ahead. |
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Ladies IV finish
The girls have made it in good shape. |
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Cheers
That was fun, let's do it again! |
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At the bank
After reaching the finish at Kruispad. |
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The end of the race
Boats come in to the inlet for taking out. |
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Derigging the double
Joy and Bryne derig the double while Lolly explains the finer points of pivots and levers. |
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Fresh blades
Growing by the side of the river |
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Nothing to it
Cheryl, Clea and Des taking it all in their stride. |
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And then we really took off
Joy, Ron and Alex (Elgin) share stories of the journey. |
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Still unwinding
Cheryl, Colleen, Haylee and Des continue the post-row recuperation. |
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Ladies to the fore
Clea, Des, Haylee and Cheryl puff out their chests with pride in their success. |
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The finish
This is where we ended up. |
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The rig
The trailer (borrowed from Bishops) gets ready to take the boats home. |
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Organiser & host
Guy du Sautoy, who organised the event, with our host Julian Melck. |
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De-bounce rowers here
The volleyball court, for those with too much energy after rowing 18 kilometres. |
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The braai
The post-row braai was held at Kersefontein farm (where we started). |
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Cottages
Kersefontein has magnificent rooms and cottages for hire. |
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Cape Dutch beauty
The elegant Cape Dutch style of farmhouse building. |
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Another day in paradise
Sunshine on the water... |
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The river
The Berg River at peace. |
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Green
Kersefontein looking lush. |
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Time for sundowners
The sun starts to set. |
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Volleyball
For those lunatics who haven't rowed far enough a de-bouncing session was arranged. |
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Post-race elegance
Bryne explains the way of the world to Haylee and Guy, while Baris waits for a more interesting conversational thread. |
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The usual suspects
Various members of the rowing community unwind at the end of the day, with our host Julian Melck. |
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That's the way you do it
Bryne Fisher-Jeffes explains to our Elgin rowing colleagues the correct way to grill a sausage. |
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Not quite
Gary and Clea smile while Lolly doesn't quite get it all out. |
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Sunset splendour
A magnificent sunset at the end of the day. |
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Hard core
The usual suspects get well acquainted with the braai. |
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Last rites
The sun dips low behind the trees and over the river. |
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The ending of the journey into night
Kersefontein closes the chapter on the Western Cape's "long row" - The Melck Run. |
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