Aided by relatively fine weather for the time of year, early season progress on the tank and in restricted fours was encouraging: three respect- able if unremarkable crews emerged and splashed their varied snakelike courses over the Easter Term 'Head' races — none qualified as the World's Slowest VIII (1987) or the fastest, but in coming in about a third of the way down the list on the Tideway the A-crew were showing some promise. The beginning of the Summer Term saw individuals returned to 'Trials' for Avon County Schools' Regatta and while this move served to throw up more spray than prom- ise, and more chaos than cohesion, three crews were re-selected and, showing improved form, set their sights on the season's sprints with the usual round of mixed successes and failures.

The 'A' crew had more technical prowess and physical strength than most of-our recent J14 crews of recent years, but although winning at Shearwater, Reading Town and Llandaff, only realised their real potential in short bursts of training on home waters: in general, in and out of the boat, they were much too often an indisci- plined rabble appearing to lack self-generated spirit and the sustained concentration necessary to compete at the highest levels. Their sanc- tioned withdrawal from Birmingham and their defeat at the hands of a relatively incompetent crew at Kingston after night-long partying may prove salutary lessons, as indeed they must if the endeavours of the coming seasons are to be more than irrelevant pastimes. Duty before love, commitment before catholicism.