Rowing club to Casino Royale within an afternoon. Following on from the Rowathlon earlier in the day, Ginta had no time to rest as club members reconvened in the evening for a James Bond inspired social. Once again no stone was left unturned in the transformation of the club - from a rowing and training venue into something more fitting for a bond film.

Free champagne was on offer when people arrived, along with a wide selection of hand made canapés. There were tables for both poker and blackjack, complete with green baize, cards and chips. The games flowed better once someone who knew the rules arrived, and since no money was involved, if you lost all your chips you could always have them back! The best croupier had to be Toby, who kept accidentally showing the other players his cards, making winning a little easier. The decorations were completed with bond posters, scaletrix and casino lighting.

There was a heavily tuxedo inspired clothing selection by the men, with only two going for a non-tux idea. Unofficially Jesse had the best male costume with his white tails, top hat and facepaint but a special mention has to be made for Mike with his postman pat cat. The women's costumes gave a bit more variety, with unofficially the joint best dressed females being Anya for her catsuit and Emily for turning up in her bedroom attire.

Many thanks has to go to Ginta for organising the event, James for helping a great deal with the setting up, John Mc with the cooking and Jesse for the supply of decorations and games.

Southsea Rowing Club take on the triathletes. In what we hope to be an annual event, Southsea Rowing Club invited Portsmouth Triathlon Club to compete for the Southsea Row & Run Friendly Cup. There was a great turn out from both clubs with 13 from SRC and 11 from PTC

The format was a 2km row on the ergos at the club followed immediately by a 3km run along the seafront towards South Parade Pier and back. The time would be the total time taken from the start of the ergo to the finish of the run - transition included!

For the women (10 in total), Emily Harrison of SRC completed the ergo phase first but Clare Stafford of PTC (and a former rower) was closely behind, so close they started the run together. Clare overtook Emily on the run, but both were overtaken by the eventual female winner Cathy Allen of PTC.

Due to the number of men (14 in total), they were split into two waves. The first wave contained all the PTC men with some SRC members. Graham Baggaley finished the ergo first with a decent lead on the rest starting the run. Despite closing the gap on the run, it wasn't enough as Paul Carter from PTC members missed out overtaking Graham by seconds.

On the second wave of men Jesse Loynes finished the ergo first, closely followed by Sam Doody. Sam then pulled away on the run to finish first in that heat. This meant the men's competition was between two SRC members - Sam and Graham. Both had finished the ergo in identical times so it came down to the run. When the times were announced it turned out Sam had beaten Graham, with Paul in third.

Both individual winners received glass tankards, and a cup was engraved and presented to the winning club based on overall times - which Southsea won. This was followed by tea, cake and bacon butties with socialising between members from both clubs - a great event we hope to repeat!

Many thanks must go to Ginta for organising the event and making sure it went smoothly without a hitch. Thanks must also go to Ben for helping to liaise with the triathlon club, Rachel for doing the timing and John Mc for cooking the food."

A touch of sophistication at Southsea Rowing Club. Friday 18th March saw Southsea Rowing Club gain a little bit of sophistication with a Wine and Cheese evening. Our social secretary Ginta organised this fantastic event and nothing was left out - the shutter was closed to give the bar a cosier feel, the heaters had been on early to warm the place, the area was decorated and French music was on in the background. A great selection of cheeses, meats, breads, grapes, olives were available, and nicely laid out (you couldn't tell some of the props were tins of kidney beans!).

Four wines were chosen for tasting - two reds, a white and a rose, with participants receiving a free glass of each wine (small glass!). Instruction sheets were printed explaining the tasting process, describing each wine and recommending cheeses to accompany. Participants were taken through the tasting procedure with the first wine of the evening (white) when they arrived - look, smell, taste. Most people struggled to get the hints of cut grass and nettle (guesses included fruit, grape, peach, citrus), despite the poor taste buds all joined in the spirit of the evening. The red Rioja (also pronounced roger) was the runaway favourite.

The evening was well attended, and went down well with all - a great night that will have to be repeated. We must give many thanks to Ginta for organising the event, and we hope to see you all at the next social event - the family day on Sunday 10th April!