After a 10 hr drive on Friday 30th November ( and one flying into Melbourne at 11pm) we all arrived safely at Torquay SLSC. We were fortunate enough to organise accomodation in the clubs bunk house. A lot of Torquay members travel from Melbourne to do patrols and compete, so they have a 50 bed bunk house to accomodate them. Our thanks goes out to Torquay SLSC for making us feel more than welcome.

Saturday saw the boys up against the 8 best U23 crews in Australia who were competing to be selected to represent Australia Surf Rowers League against New Zealand early next year. The boys knew that they were going to be up against it, but after some inspirational words from "The King", they were set on making the day a learning process on how hard they can push themselves. The call from Ed was to get off the beach cleanly, stay with them as long as you can, and finish off strongly. The boys did not disappoint. They had 4 rows, and were within a couple of boat lengths at the cans of the eventual winners on all 4 occasions. After the days racing, the boys came to the conclusion that they may have been competing previously below their ability. A very honest realisation by all. With that being the case, they promised themselves that they would take the days racing into the Sunday Carnival against their own age.

Sunday came around, and the boys were ready to compete against all the local U19 crews competing to represent Victoria at the ASRL Australian Championships. While setting up on Sunday morning, we had a chance meeting with Past HSPSLSC Club President Peter Lawrence (1993-96) and his lovely wife Pam, who just happened to be in Lorne for a couple of days. It was wonderful to catch up with them and they were keen to know how all their old friends at "The Park" were going.

The days competition would be 3 heats with 4 crews contesting. Out of the 4 crews 2 of the crews had competed the previous weekend at the World titles at Glenelg with one, Torquay being the current World Champions. Our boys, without really saying it, had decided that they were going to show Torquay what they missed out on with Our crew not attending the worlds. Heat one saw a close encounter with less than half a boat between 1st and 3rd on the line with us 3rd. Heat 2 saw a coat of paint between 1st and second, with us 2nd. The third heat saw the boys pick up a nice runner just inside the gate can, that they stayed with until it formed a wave, and went on to win by 2 to 3 boat lengths. The smile on their faces told us that they got more than what they thought they would from the weekends competition and a new attitude has begun. We left Lorne just after Midday on Sunday, and we were safely home at 11pm. A fantastic weekend, with a fantastic group of young fellas.

The excitement doesn't stop there. This Friday we take delivery of our brand new Clymer Surf Boat. It has been a long time coming, but I'm sure it will be worth the wait. 23 rd December 2018 sees the Christening of both the new Surf Boat  and a new IRB. Watch the website or Facebook page for further details in the near future. It would be great to see a big crowd there to celebrate the 2 great members that these craft will be named after.

Our thanks again goes to all our major sponsors Westfund Health Insurance & Peabody Energy.

U/19 Mens Boat Crew @ Lorne

Boaties Team Management

Luke Walsh & Chris Reilly meet up with Former Club President Peter Lawrence and wife Pam Lawrence (holidaying in Lorne)