A scull full of experience

Iain Hyndman | 28th November 2009

Landlubbers Tanja Grunwald and Richard Safey needed every bit of advice from a world champion as they battled choppy conditions on the Whanganui River yesterday.

The pair got the chance to row with world champion single sculler Mahe Drysdale as winners of the Wanganui Chronicle Row With a Hero competition. While they both had experience on rowing machines, taking to the water in a quadruple scull rowing boat was a  different kettle of fish.

After a short briefing  at the Aramoho Rowing Club, Safey and Grunwald launched the boat with Drysdale and veteran Wanganui rower Murray Carey making up the numbers.

After a shaky start, the foursome soon began to glide down river as Drysdale kept up a constant stream of advice.

In the meantime, three other crews were also learning sculling skills with top-ranked Kiwi  woman rower Emma Twigg at the helm of one, Aussie ace Sally Kehoe another and Belgian Tim Maeyens leading a crew including winners of a Classic Hits Row with a Champion competition.

Once the crews had found their sea legs, a match race was organised between the Chronicle winners and the victors of the Classic Hits competition. Drysdale conceded the four-length win by the Classic Hits crew with Maeyens as stroke was not a good omen in the lead-up to tomorrow's Prospace Billy Webb Challenge.

Despite the loss, though, Safey and Grunwald  thoroughly enjoyed the outing. "When you learn something new, you don't usually race immediately, so that was a bit challenging," the German-born  firefighter Grunwald said. "It's completely different  from rowing on  machines, but some good tips from Mahe made it much easier," she said.

Safey, a bronze medal-winning Masters Games indoor rower, said he was all at sea initially, but warmed to his task as they  headed downstream.

"The choppy conditions weren't that much of a concern because we were listening to an expert the entire journey. It was a great experience, but I  prefer indoor rowing," Safey said.