Dart hit Scillies like a benign tsunami. This mega-regatta, “Glastonbury of Gigs”, held over the May Bank Holiday, is one mighty pinnacle of a bipolar racing season, Newquay being the other. A revved-up Maroon Machine, trained to near perfection over four winter months, took two boats, eight competitive crews and a squad of 35 to the paradisiacal archipelago of Lyonesse.  The cream of international rowing, all 1500 joined them, crowding onto St Mary's, stripping the Co-op of Apple Turnovers.

Veterans racing kicked off on Friday in conditions of extreme placidity, the St Agnes Race “Sorting Hat” took place over a marble smooth sea under a perfect blue sky, albeit tempered by a slight nagging north easterly breeze. 

This race decides who will reach the semis and, thus, the final. The women's SV and V opened the Dart campaign with strong performances, “Lightning” coasting over the finish line amongst an elite cohort of Cornish teams, looking destined for a competitive row on make-or-break Saturday.

The men’s vets, too, in “Volante,” delivered a puissant, unflustered row.  Stakes were higher for the Open SV, having been annihilated and humiliated by local rivals Salcombe, Appledore and Brixham on their own turf only weeks before they were keen to see some boat speed, fortunately, they dipped for the line in third place, settling jangled nerves.  The semis later that day saw Dart well placed for Saturday.  Overnight, however, the slight nagging breeze had grown some teeth, and the gig rowing fleet was presented that morning with a gnarly, chopped-up race track for the deciding races.

In these conditions with green ocean rollers slopping over the bow technique as well as power would be at a premium. After much hurly burly the results were Open vets 17/38, Women V 28/45, Women SV 5/45 and their male counterparts 3/45.

With the “Old” people racing out of the way, it was time for the seniors to take the stage, and the scenery was becoming increasingly intense. The coxswain of Looe reported fish coming into the boat to add to the excitement of the rowing.  Boats, tenderly marshalled to the Islands and treated with kid gloves, were thrown into each other in pell mell confrontations, oars flying, pins snapping, paintwork besmirched.  Dart was in the thick of this, having both “ A” and “B” crews competing in both categories. Some competitors had already taken part in the Vets events, so tiredness became an issue.

Fortunately hauling their boats out of the turbulent ocean and on to the pristine sandy beaches of St. Marys at the end of “Super Saturday” no permanent damage had been done and the platform had been solidly laid for command performances in the finals.

Sunday brought more exhilarating conditions and two more races on a challenging bumpy track. All Dart crews managed rough conditions magnificently, men’s “A” were the pick with 38th place out of 131 boats, “B” were a creditable 51st. The women’s crews achieved 57th and 75th out of 128 of the finest teams on the planet. 

Dart made their way home with a feeling of having held their own amongst the best and looking forward to continuing new found rivalries over a crowded Summer of competition.