Grafton Rowing Club News

“THE CLUB IS FOR EVERYONE OF ALL AGES YOUNG AND NOT SO YOUNG TO ENJOY A ROW, A PADDLE, MEET NEW FRIENDS AND ENJOY A DRINK OR TWO AND SOME PLEASANT COMPANY”

Well, it certainly has been a busy time, the last two months have really flown. We have hosted our "New International Friends" and sent them on their way to compete in the Sydney Olympics.
It was great to be a part of the whole shindig, preparing the shed for the New boats, making our guests feel comfortable and most importantly, making them feel Welcome to our little Rowing Town.
There was no unreasonable request that GRC couldn't make happen or give to the five countries that were here.
We ended up with 8 tinnies in the shed and most of the shed that usually holds 70 boats, was filled with brand new boats that were a part of the Regatta in Sydney, (apparently it was a big one?!) just kidding. Anyone that ended up in Sydney for the rowing events or even just to walk around Darling Harbour or Olympic Park was just WONDERFUL, GREAT, FANTASTIC AN[) THE OLYMPIC AUSSIE SPIRIT was AMAZING, as we all know we Aussies love our sport, and already knew how terrific our country is, now it is no longer a secret, word is out that Australia is the BEST OF ALL, well we did know that, eh

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A ROWER WHEN: YOU NEED TO HAVE A SMALL PUSHY PERSON AROUND TELLING YOU WHAT TO DO ALL THE TIME

GRC had prepared themselves for the Russian's and Irish teams, but found out a few days before the big arrival that another three teams were going to join us in Grafton, The Spanish, South Africans and Estonia were venturing our way, so ok, more boats have to be moved out of the shed, more tinnies and perhaps an interpreter will be needed, well not a problem for GRC, we re-grouped, rang around, and full credit to all those who helped with providing equipment and helping hands to make everything run smoothly.
A List of OurWonderful Sponsors are at the back of this newsletter, and very worthy of a mention,
Thanks Everyone

We ran around welcoming our guests, all 80 odd of them, for nearly 4 weeks, and all of a sudden, there were none!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You could see GRC members wandering hopelessly around the club house looking for someone to pop up and ask for a hand in Russian, or say G'Day in their Irish way, there was lots of spare room, where did all the beautiful boats go ?????????????

I was caught a beauty, After a week of saying G'Day to "Pat" the Irish coach, who I might add always smiled nicely and said Hi back, and probably wondered who the hell I was talking to, I find out his name is "Ray", naturally they didn't correct me, as they all thought it was "foonie" thanks guys. The Irish also wore their Irish hats for one of their training sessions, looked like they meant business, check out the Olympic GRC Photo Album you should have worn them in the comp guys

Juri, our Estonian single sculler and former world champion was a great guy, and profoundly deaf:, he can however lip read in 4 languages. It was terrific to have him here - he was quiet but he always smiled and said Hi.

South Africa, what a great team, and according to Christian, their coach Grafton was very much like home, from the weather to the great river, the mighty Clarence
I asked Christian why Grafton is so high on the list of "great places to stay and train" and he said, they knew the other teams that were here, and get on very well together, and they are not any kind of STARS in their own country, and go unknown for 3 and half years before Olympic time, also when they travel to a non-english speaking country, it can make them a little uneasy, however at an English speaking area, and in particular Grafton they feel at ease, like Stars, happy to give an autograph and photo session, in between the very serious training, he says that this will make the rowers relax and row a lot better, thanks to the friendliness of the GRC and the town. When they travel around the world, they usually stay on a campus.

Russia, our Russian friends and a large team, although many couldn't speak English, always smiled and nodded Hi to everyone during their hard training and were very patient as we did try to interact, speak and enjoy companies.

Spain, were a little more reserved as they didn't speak a lot of English, but always smiled, but mainly kept to themselves

And the Irish, what a great bunch of guys, always said Hi, happy to give autographs, and "camera-shy" Tony, always happy to hop into a photo or two They even went to the Grafton High School and chatted to the pupils, mind you it was an eye opener for them as it was "Year 12 Slave Day" actually the Irish guys wondered had the High School got dressed special for their arrival?, Tony made an "Inspiring" speech, and again happily jumped in for photo's and autograph's, it was a welcome break from rigorous training

Here are some of the Irish comments on their website, of their stay in Grafton before heading to the big-smoke of Sydney
Neal: Arrived in Grafton and made the Front page of the local newspaper, no chance of that happening at home. We've been made really welcome, everyone is so helpful, we've been the "proper tourist" how to carry the camera, get the best postcards, had a swim in Yamba, we are stars, Eugene, had a well deserved swim in Yamba, and being the tourist, but training, ahh, "our stretching is like the Irish version of the all black haca, but has Ray saying Hold for 30 seconds, ...... the idea was to intimidate the Russians and South Africans, while at the same time preventing injuries

Nev: Training has been hard, yesterday was Rope day, Ray had acquired a shipping rope to provide resistance, Eugene has his own "mini-me-rope" that has Lengthened his arms 3 inches

Geariod: Here we are in sleepy Grafton, a long way from the Olympic assault, we are training on the biggest volume of water in the Southern Hemisphere, Tony, We feel welcome here in Grafton, have to hand it to Dermot, for discovering and deciding on Grafton as our pre-games training. This is Winter??!!!!!

It has been great having them all here in Grafton, and nicest part of all was the great new friends we made, it was hard to say goodbye.

GRC is now really part of the ROWING WORLD Our hard work has paid off - we really are seen as the Professional Rowing Club, we knew we already were. These Rowers from their Countries already knew each other and train and compete against each other around the world, for them to enjoy Grafton so much after all the travel they do is a real privilege, and with all the excellence of these Rowers, it was great to see them all share equipment, the South African's using Irish oars, and Irish using GRC oars, and the Russian single sculler using GRC owned member oars and Russian using GRC owned single scull, Spain using GRC single scull, all went so well, SOCOG must come visit and see just how the professional's get it done

YOU KNOW YOU'RE REALLY A ROWER WHEN: YOU WEAR THE SAME THING EVERY MORNING FOR A WEEK AND DON'T THINK TWICE ABOUT IT

OLYMPIC PERVE FACTOR
A word from the Clarence river Olympics, and there was no English speaking barrier here, this has no limits, the "Perve" factor, yes, this is a sexist column, and I have checked with SOCOG, and it IS AN ESSENTIAL and integral part of the Olympics and acceptable by both male and females
Checking in with our visiting Olympic teams, some comments were passed between onlookers:

"Its made starting rowing all worthwhile", from one of our new female rowers, C000000000RRRRRRRRRRRRR !! !!! !! ! !!! I!! ! !(male and female) "the world is really made of Lycra", WOW, looks great, those legs go ALL THE WAY UP YLE~II~IMMYI
some dribbling from a couple of the local male rowers, "can that get any tighter", "cute tight a***s"

And after all the charades and hand movements and explaining just what us Aussies were saying, My English ain't any good no more

YOU KNOW YOU'RE REALLY A ROWER WHEN: EVERYTHING'S A RACE - YOU WALK QUICKLY JUST SO YOU CAN PASS PEOPLE

ADVENTURE TURNS TO MIS-ADVENTURE
This is a true encounter, "Believe it or Not"
Our two local GRC PR men took the Russian boats back to Penrith Regatta.
Michael (the worker) and Rob (the organiser) with their special PR methods
really nearly put Grafton on the map together with Alexei the Russian coach.

Left Grafton 12.30 on a sunny Sunday, the wind has picked up, no speed limits broken, 70k was top speed especially with the 11 metre trailer full of boats; slowly does it all the way to Newcastle to unload some boats.

Arrived Penrith 11 .4Opm Sunday night time to get some shut-eye before unloading at Penrith International Regatta centre Monday morning.

Monday morning, arrived Penrith Olympic site 7.3Oam Surprise Surprise, NO-ONE has accreditation, yes, the paperwork has been done, just no-one has typed their names into the computer for their day passes, (even one finger typing isn't so hard SOCOG) so the truck and trailer are parked in the road, so the buses have to maneuver their way around the truck/trailer as the GRC PR men exchange their colourful language (and Alexei found out just what BS stood for) with SOCOG, NSWRA, volunteer's even the Police at the gate were told what and where to go, and yep our Rob was in charge of the Bomb!!!!!!! so the trio are left at the gate, they have to unload all the Russian belongings at the gate while someone else takes the truck and trailer in and unloads, the truck and trailer arrives back at 10.3Oam, Alexei is not allowed either, so he has no idea where the boats are?!

Makes you wonder how the games got this far, only 4 days before the big event, we have since found out 3 other countries were treated the same. Our 2 Graftonians arrive back in town 11.3Opm Monday night after a tyre blow-out on the truck AND on top of all that, there was nowhere to park the truck to do some last minute shopping, bummer guys.

Alexei was very sad to see them go, it has been an absolute pleasure having our Russian friends here, we hope they come back soon

YOU KNOW YOU’RE REALLY A ROWER WHEN: YOU SIT DOWN ANYWHERE AND LOOK FOR TIE IN SHOES

THANK YOU
from Olivia Alford, and her mum and dad, Peter and Leree for the beautiful flowers GRC sent to them Olivia is doing great, mum is recovering well, and the proud Dad reckons he has done a great job, and is very pleased with himself

UPDATE
Rhonda is still in hospital, the news is all good since her transplant. She is up walkingand gaining strength a little every day.
Oh Rhonda, Thommo wants to know if you can cox when you do get home? We are all thinking of you, all the very best, and get home real soon (from GRC and Northern Rivers Assoc)

YOU KNOW YOU'RE REALLY A ROWER WHEN: YOU SIT IN A CHAIR AND START TO LEAN TOWARDS YOUR RIGGER

REMINDERS
The next Regatta is Murwillumbah, and two weeks after that is Lismore, so get your entries in, and see you on the water training hard

BOAT LOADING
Also now that the Regatta season has commenced, {please make sure you turn up to help load and unload boats and De-rig, if everyone does their bit, it will make Regatta's a whole lot more enjoyable for everyone.

RULES OF THE RIVER
Always have land close to you, just in case you do go for a dip. heading west, past the Crown, and head over to Susan Island for your homeward journey

SOCIAL TUESDAY'S
Come along and enjoy our social Tuesdays, there is strictly NO Training on this day. you jump in any boat, and have a great time paddling around before enjoying the Beer O'clock and BBQ, especially now the weather is sooooooo good

MONTHLY MEETING WED 18.10.00
BE THERE
This is the only way to keep up with all the happenings around your club, plus it could be your idea we are waiting for. Since the past 2 months have been so busy, its now-time to catch our breath and take stock of just what is needed to be done.
SEE YOU THERE

YOU KNOW YOU'RE REALLY A ROWER WHEN: THE PHRASE "COX BOX" DOESN'T MAKE YOU GIGGLE

WELCOMES
Learner's are still arriving on Sundays, great to see, especially since we have had such to busy time, We Welcome You All Aboard
Gwen Ashbrooke, Cassandra Macrae, Valda Doman, Adam Snow, Chantel Watkins
Its great to have you join our GRC HAPPY FAMILY

XMAS PARTY
18.11.00 on the River Explorer, Theme is Black and White, don't forget to note your diaries, This isn't far away now

DIP AWARD
What, no-one that has gone for a swim, well I guess we have been too busy watching the Olympics. Stay tuned, Watch this space

WEBSITE
Don't forget to check out our Website. There is always newsy bits photo's and results updated all the time
Address: http://graftonrowing.cjb.net

BIRTHDAYS FOR OCTOBER
Natalie Dawes, 17.10, Wil Edgar 1.10, Mitchell Hayes 28.10, Luke Mcbeath 19.10, Dane Powell 23.10 and Melinda Webb 7.10
hope you all have a great birthday and lots of pressies

YOU KNOW YOU'RE REALLY A ROWER WHEN: YOU GET UP, GET DRESSED AND GET OUT OF THE BEDROOM BEFORE YOUR EYES ARE FULLY OPEN

SCRAPBOOK
The Scrapbook has all newspaper items placed in them, check them out as YOU could be in there, If you have any items you want placed in the scrapbook, Rowing Orientated of course, just let me know

GRC PHOTO ALBUM
Also have a look at the GRC photo album, which can do with a lot more photos have a look at home and see what you can contribute, its always great to look back and have records of the clubs events, wins and results
Also I am currently working on the GRC Olympic Photo Album, if you too have some photos of Grafton's Olympian's let me know, and I will place them in there for you.

GRC SINGLETS
There are still a few GRC singlets available for all you newcomers that are ready to join us at the Regatta's, they are $25.00 each, grab one NOW

Favourite colour		Blue
Favourite Movie		Bambi
Favourite food		Brussel Sprouts
Favourite actor/actress		Barbara Streisand
Likes		Bourbon
Dislikes		Blue Bottles
Best holiday		Blue Moon
Hobbies		BS

YOU KNOW YOU'RE REALLY A ROWER WHEN: YOU PLAY SOFTBALL AT YOUR COMPANY PICNIC AND YOU GO AROUND GETTING OLD PEOPLE ON YOUR TEAM TO IMPROVE YOUR AGE HANDICAP

We wish all our Graftonians all the very best at the Asia Pacific Masters later in October. The River Rats will be representing GRC, together with Geoff Edgar. You will hear us all cheering you on from here. Remember, it's not of you win or lose - it's how you play the game - no dirty playing, guys, and have FUN FUN FUN!

YOU KNOW YOU'RE REALLY A ROWER WHEN: YOU CONSTANTLY CHECK THE TIGHTNESS OF NUTS IN HANDRAILS, CHAIRS, DOOR HANDLES, ETC

This newsletter is brought to you by Don “Double Spaced” Noble and Ann “I’ll Paint That” Collins. If you have anything to add to the next newsletter, please let Don (66426929) or Ann (66433347) know.