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Coastal craft more like surf boats at World Champs
Definitely time to forget flat-water rowing in Genoa
Brook Robertson’s seen most things in rowing, but the sea state off San Nazaro beach in Genoa was a first.
The coach of the New Zealand Rowing crews was slightly anxious but ultimately stoked with how day one unfolded at the Coastal World Championships in Italy.
New Zealand is being represented by three different entities at the regatta, New Zealand Rowing (NZR), Hawkes Bay RC and Tasman Coastal RC.
For Brook, it was the performance of junior women Tegan Negus, Tegan O’Dwyer, Lily Curnow, Naomi Robertson and their very experienced cox Kristen Froude that set the day up for the NZR crews.
“Kristen, who's in our elite team and in the sprint team, jumped in there and wanted to give it a crack and be a part of it as well for the girls, and they did really well,” says Brook.
“I was seriously impressed by them, and they've never probably rowed in that stuff out there either, and they were up against grown woman as well, and they put on a really good race.”
They were in heat two of the Women’s Quad over a choppy course, and up against crews that included Olympic single sculls champion Karolien Florijn rowing for the Netherlands.
“They've brought quite a lot of their elites here that have come straight from the Olympics,” says Brook.
The Olympic quad from Ukraine was also in their race, although were disqualified.
NZR finished fourth in 21min 19.78sec to qualify for the A Final.
L-R: Naomi Robertson, Lily Curnow, Tegan O'Dwyer, Tegan Negus and cox Kristen Froude were outstanding in their heat of the Women's Quad, finishing fourth against much more experienced opposition to qualify for the A Final.
Hawkes Bay put an Olympics supergroup together for the same event, with medallists Lucy Spoors, Brooke Francis and Emma Twigg combining with Bibi Colgan and cox Jonna de Vries for the 4km endurance fest.
They easily won heat one in 20.10.56.
L-R: Brooke Francis, Bibi Colgan, Emma Twigg, Lucy Spoors, cox Jonna de Vries and a big stack of lifejackets on their way to a big win in their heat of the Women's Quad.
NZR’s Finn Hamill and Matt Dunham were equally dominant in their heat of the Men’s Double.
“They were on fire out there today,” says Brook. “It was so rough that a lot of the buoys were moving up the top marker and Matt and Finn had to navigate that before the umpires actually realised what was happening, so they also rowed an extra couple of hundred metres as well. They were seriously impressive out there.”
Finn and Matt won in 18.43.29, nearly 30 seconds up on the USA.
“Matt’s probably the most aggressive and one of the best racers I've ever met so it was awesome to see them really lay it down there,” says Brook.
L-R: Matt Dunham and Finn Hamill smashed their heat of the Men's Double, even after having to row extra distance after buoys at the top mark moved in the choppy conditions.
NZR’s Joe Sullivan and Will Herd were DQ’ed from their heat. With up to 18 crews in some heats there’s plenty of umpiring calls being made about boats not holding their line.
Olympic lightweight athlete Jackie Kiddle had a top day in the Women’s Solo, finishing second in her heat, with Tegan O’Dwyer also through to the A Final after finishing fifth in her race.
Jackie Kiddle navigates the swell and surf of San Nazaro Beach to finish second in her heat of the Women's Solo at the Coastal Worlds in Genoa. It's only been a couple of weeks since she was rowing the Olympics in Paris.
It was another example of the more experienced athletes helping out the newbies.
“Tegan was pretty nervous this morning looking at those waves,” says Brook. “But Jackie was there going, ‘Okay, well this is how I started, this is how I approached the turn, this is what I would have done differently, just giving her all that info to give her a bit of confidence before her race.’”
Tasman’s Martin Wouters made it through to the A Final of the Men’s Solo, finishing sixth in his heat.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
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- Home
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- High Performance Athletes
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- Coastal craft more...
Coastal craft more like surf boats at World Champs
Definitely time to forget flat-water rowing in Genoa
Brook Robertson’s seen most things in rowing, but the sea state off San Nazaro beach in Genoa was a first.
The coach of the New Zealand Rowing crews was slightly anxious but ultimately stoked with how day one unfolded at the Coastal World Championships in Italy.
New Zealand is being represented by three different entities at the regatta, New Zealand Rowing (NZR), Hawkes Bay RC and Tasman Coastal RC.
For Brook, it was the performance of junior women Tegan Negus, Tegan O’Dwyer, Lily Curnow, Naomi Robertson and their very experienced cox Kristen Froude that set the day up for the NZR crews.
“Kristen, who's in our elite team and in the sprint team, jumped in there and wanted to give it a crack and be a part of it as well for the girls, and they did really well,” says Brook.
“I was seriously impressed by them, and they've never probably rowed in that stuff out there either, and they were up against grown woman as well, and they put on a really good race.”
They were in heat two of the Women’s Quad over a choppy course, and up against crews that included Olympic single sculls champion Karolien Florijn rowing for the Netherlands.
“They've brought quite a lot of their elites here that have come straight from the Olympics,” says Brook.
The Olympic quad from Ukraine was also in their race, although were disqualified.
NZR finished fourth in 21min 19.78sec to qualify for the A Final.
L-R: Naomi Robertson, Lily Curnow, Tegan O'Dwyer, Tegan Negus and cox Kristen Froude were outstanding in their heat of the Women's Quad, finishing fourth against much more experienced opposition to qualify for the A Final.
Hawkes Bay put an Olympics supergroup together for the same event, with medallists Lucy Spoors, Brooke Francis and Emma Twigg combining with Bibi Colgan and cox Jonna de Vries for the 4km endurance fest.
They easily won heat one in 20.10.56.
L-R: Brooke Francis, Bibi Colgan, Emma Twigg, Lucy Spoors, cox Jonna de Vries and a big stack of lifejackets on their way to a big win in their heat of the Women's Quad.
NZR’s Finn Hamill and Matt Dunham were equally dominant in their heat of the Men’s Double.
“They were on fire out there today,” says Brook. “It was so rough that a lot of the buoys were moving up the top marker and Matt and Finn had to navigate that before the umpires actually realised what was happening, so they also rowed an extra couple of hundred metres as well. They were seriously impressive out there.”
Finn and Matt won in 18.43.29, nearly 30 seconds up on the USA.
“Matt’s probably the most aggressive and one of the best racers I've ever met so it was awesome to see them really lay it down there,” says Brook.
L-R: Matt Dunham and Finn Hamill smashed their heat of the Men's Double, even after having to row extra distance after buoys at the top mark moved in the choppy conditions.
NZR’s Joe Sullivan and Will Herd were DQ’ed from their heat. With up to 18 crews in some heats there’s plenty of umpiring calls being made about boats not holding their line.
Olympic lightweight athlete Jackie Kiddle had a top day in the Women’s Solo, finishing second in her heat, with Tegan O’Dwyer also through to the A Final after finishing fifth in her race.
Jackie Kiddle navigates the swell and surf of San Nazaro Beach to finish second in her heat of the Women's Solo at the Coastal Worlds in Genoa. It's only been a couple of weeks since she was rowing the Olympics in Paris.
It was another example of the more experienced athletes helping out the newbies.
“Tegan was pretty nervous this morning looking at those waves,” says Brook. “But Jackie was there going, ‘Okay, well this is how I started, this is how I approached the turn, this is what I would have done differently, just giving her all that info to give her a bit of confidence before her race.’”
Tasman’s Martin Wouters made it through to the A Final of the Men’s Solo, finishing sixth in his heat.
Andy Hay
Andy Hay is a freelance producer, writer and rowing coach. He was cox of the world champion New Zealand eight of 1982 and '83. He is NZ Olympian #446.
