It is for sale by tender as it is difficult to value a boat like this. It is in excellent condition as it has been stored indoors in a barn all this time. You can see for the pictures.

TENDER CLOSES at 12 noon on MONDAY 23rd April so BID NOW!

The max weight for a lightweight man in the single is 72.5kg so this is an optimum boat for a LW man but obviously ideal for most women too, especially with the flaired cockpit containing no shoulders to catch on the hips because the boat is fitted with a quick-release, aluminium wing rigger mounted above the stretcher. The carbon seat also has oval depressions in it instead of round holes, thus comfortably accommodating sitting bones that are wider apart in some individuals and closer together in others.

The design is extremely effective at keeping water out of the cockpit. Nothing ever comes over the aluminium wing rigger or over the breakwater in my experience and I have tested it in some horrible conditions. Klaus Filter has incorporated many innovations in this design; little things like tiny drain holes in the slides so the wheels of the seat do not roll in water when it rains; they all make a difference.

The boat has 6 years of the 7 year warranty left to run and is in exceptionally good condition, as, for most of the last year, I have been sculling in a quad or rowing in an eight. The boat is NOW SOLD.

I achieved my personal ambition of beating all my contemporaries from my own club, despite being the oldest and the lightest but I didn't win Masters F single sculls because the large, powerful and extremely talented George Perrin from Runcorn is now in my age group! He beat me by 24 sec. Dang! Well done George. Small consolation that I would have won the younger, Masters E, age group by 10 seconds!

However, I did pick up one of the newly designed and very attractively enamelled Northwich medals in the Grosvenor RC Masters D eight to add to my collection.

Despite a near crab being caught on the final bend, we managed to turn the tables on Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club, who beat us by 20 seconds at Runcorn, and we also held off a challenge from a strong Tees RC crew by a couple of seconds, taking the title with a combination of people in the boat who had not rowed together at all this year, possibly not ever, although we have been rowing together as a squad for a number of years and this group of people was technically very competent and obviously fit too.

So pats on the back all round and great relief for our coach, Ad Gideonse, who has been frustrated this year (his first with us) by the number of people in the squad who have become unavailable through injury and work commitments etc. One of these injured was Brian Chapman who took the nice twinkly photo above.

Crew:
Bow: Paul Larby
2: Ian Tweedie
3: Me (Steve Walker)
4: Colin Morris
5: Mike Allwood (club capt.)
6: Tim Howe
7: Jez Perkins
Str: Jeremy Lush
Cox: Alan Hardman

I'm now committing myself to racing in my single scull for the summer regatta season. :-)

Pictures are available here.

Thanks to Bob Cottell for this photo. Bob hates to miss his rowing at the weekends!

The race is unusual in one respect. Normally in processional races the fastest crews start first and so the crews become more spread out as the race progresses. But in the Icicle Race the slower crews start first and so there is, shall we say, a coming together of boats at the finish as you can see from the following picture taken by Pete Abbott, a Grosvenor RC master, at Sandy Lane. I'm rowing at 3 in one of the eights.

After the event Grosvenor Rowing Club held its annual Sherry Party and a boat naming ceremony. Meanwhile Royal Chester held another Icicle Race just for juniors!

Last year it really was an Icicle Race as you can see below.

I took this photo from the cox's seat on the way up to the start. The next day the river Dee froze over!

If you haven't yet seen my upside down advertisement in Rowing and Regatta magazine then here is a link to it. And, yes, it was printed upside down deliberately.

Note that the offer of 7.5% discount, with the bonus of a FREE pair of cradles to support the boat when out of the water ENDS AT CHRISTMAS so ORDER NOW for delivery early in the new year.

And then have a merry Christmas contemplating the present you have just ordered.

Dear Steve,

I have been away for 2 weeks so I have only just been out in my new TS515. I did take the precaution of wearing a life jacket on my first outing as our river is deep and cold this time of year but after a few strokes I came back in took of the life jacket and set off up the river. As I had not been in a boat for 18 years it was a shaky start but I was enjoying it so much I rowed at least a mile up river and back. Great boat and I am enjoying it.

Regards

R Palmer

We found ourselves lumped together with all of the other Masters classes from B through to E. Races like this are handicapped to take account of declining performance expectations with age. We were given a 35 sec handicap advantage over the youngest crew.

But guess what! We beat the lot of them anyway, even without taking advantage of the handicap times we were offered. There is life in the old dogs yet!

I was steering, with my right foot, at bow and was delighted to get around the first bend and through the inside arch of the first bridge without mishap. The course runs right through the city centre with sheer walls on each side so the water is very lumpy and uncomfortable to row on in a fine racing boat. But it's the same for everybody except the crew that starts first so you just have to get on with it.

We gradually caught up with Runcorn but they passed Warrington on the big straight and so we had to scull in the wash of two boats! Then we had to pass Warrington on the outside of the final bend and we nearly clashed with them but they moved over just in time. I had a nice line for the finish as we came under the final bridge, by Old Trafford, and we put in our final effort to try and get past Runcorn, who seemed to have brought their entire club to support them from the dockside at Salford Quays!

Just before the line we got tangled up with their blades and amongst a lot of shouting (but to everybody's credit - no swearing) we dragged each other over the finish line. I don't know how I drifted off course. Sometimes the wash from another crew can suck you in. It certainly wasn't deliberate. Anyway, no harm done.

In the results the crew who came second behind us was another from my own club, Grosvenor RC, a Masters C crew. Looking good for the future.

In the morning I will be racing in my single in Masters F category and in the afternoon I'll be in a newly formed Masters C quad, which is an absolute delight to scull in.

The next container load of TS515 training sculls is due at the end of August from Australia. Quite a number of these boats are already sold so if you want any for the autumn then best order now to avoid disappointment and I'll deal with your order upon my return.