No such luck for the two crews that went to the Offshore Championships at Poole. This was the club’s first experience ever of coastal rowing. The men were off first on Saturday and had to race over 4000 metres. The first 1000 metres involves rowing straight out to sea. The boat are launched before the start and the crews jump in on the gun. This means that you are standing in the sea up to your waist before the off. By the time the Nottingham crew had got in the boat all the opposition were 10 lengths ahead. At the first buoy the crew was starting to get used to the swell and start to close on the crew from Birmingham. By the last leg there was overlap but the crew hit the beach 1 length down and the sprint up to the finish line on the beach did not improve on their finish position meaning their missed the final by 1 length. On Sunday with a bigger swell the girls were to race their final over 6000 metres. Having watched the men the previous day their start was much slicker and they were in the mix until the first buoy, however lack of experience of sea rowing came into play and they finished sixth but had really enjoyed the experience.