Issue 149
All the boats in action
AU Sport in Brief - Issue 149
20th November 2006
Men's B Crew get victory
The Rowing team entered their first event this season which was the Cardiff Small Boats Head on Sunday 5 November. This is a 3km race starting at the Millennium Stadium and finishing in Cardiff Bay.
The club entered 5 boats - these were 2 men's coxed fours, 2 women's coxed fours and a single scull.
The men's A and B coxed fours and the single scull raced in the first division of the day. All of the boats did really well with the Men's B team winning their novice four category (not bad, considering they almost hit a bridge!) with a time of 12.01. The men's A crew were not far behind them with a time of 12.06. The single scull finished in a good time of 13.37 minutes but was not in the top 3.
Women's coxed fours raced in the afternoon. The women's B crew rowed well to come 2nd in their novice four category with a time of 14.08. Sadly the women's A boat had gear failure halfway down the course, so just two of the women were able to row the rest of the way to the finish. They hobbled across the finish with their faulty boat in a time of 20.15!
The next race of the season is the BUSA Southern head and is on the 25 November.
Mens Tennis
The Mens 1st Tennis Team have had a disappointing stat to the season. With three losses against Southampton (8-2), Bath(10-0), and UWIC (9-1).
However on Wedneday 8 November they finally broke their losing streak with a 7-3 victory against arch rivals Cardiff University.
After winning one of the doubles but losing the second going into the singles the score was tied between the teams. But Andreas Sakellanopoulaus had a comfortable 6-2 6-1 win for Swansea at number three to give the team the edge they craved. This was followed by much closer wins for Simon Hanson (6-2 2- 6 10-4) and Ben Newborn (7-5 7-6).
Special mention also goes to Rob Haas who played brilliantly in his debut for the first team but unfortunately lost in the closing match of the day. Captain Ben says "I'm really happy with our first victory of the year, and to beat Cardiff as well."The team now stands at joint 4th in the Western Conference Mens 1A league going into a match against Bristol this Wednesday.
Catch the the tennis team in action against Southampton on the 22 November.
Sailors in Action
Friday night saw a team of 10 sailors from Swansea, along with those from Universities across the UK descend on Weymouth for the BUSA Student Nationals. After getting used to their surroundings the night before, the 8.30 start on Saturday was not greatly appreciated but nonetheless all were out and about, rigging boats and attending briefings for the first race at 11.30. Day 1 was disappointingly devoid of wind which meant a slow drift for all classes round the shortened courses, trying our hardest to reach the few patches of marginally stronger breeze to gain an advantage over the other boats. Dave Evans and Josh Wilce in their 49er came second in the handicap fleet and Dyfrig Mon also achieved a second in the Laser fleet. As race one lasted a couple of hours, the rest of the day's racing was called off and the teams returned to shore, and our shared accommodation with Cardiff Uni team which was stocked with the standard essentials.
The next morning saw a few sore heads drag themselves to the water for a second day's sailing. Sunday, although slow to start , turned out to provide some decent racing as the breeze picked up to a decent level and became a little more consistent. Race 2 in the Laser 2s was again light wind racing but our 3 boats achieved some mid-fleet results to be pleased with: 15th for Nick Cochand and Flipper King; and 32nd for Will Fisher and Claire Hook. Race 3 was more disastrous as one of our boats was forced to retire with a collection of minor breakages, keeping them behind the fleet. The fourth and final race of the weekend saw an internal battle among our own team with Nick and Flipper beating Gareth Thomas and Peter Knight by half a boat length on the line, though Gareth and Pete came in ahead overall in a respectable 18th place.
Dave and Josh came in highly on the water and finished in 8th overall after calculating the handicap, a 10 second gap losing them a place to the other 49er in the fleet. And following some competitive racing in the laser fleet, Sean Evans achieved a 3rd overall, with Dyfrig just missing top 3, coming in fourth.
A fantastic weekend was had by all, with some awesome socials, great sailing and a good deal of learning, especially in the Laser 2s.
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