It's difficult to explain how, after some 33 years, I felt when we all got back into a boat together. I have to say I'd forgotten a lot of the terminology and thought what the hell is backstops when we first started. I didn't have to worry too much because I was in a crew and just followed suit - there then followed feathering the blade and easy all which rang a few bells. I was definitely sure of what a crab was and I was determined not to catch one, although the first stroke was nearly a disaster as I forgot to get the new funny shaped blade out of the water! (my excuse was it was too light and too big). It was rumoured that some partners and wives, unsure of what a crab was, had thought it would have been quite tasty if one had in fact been caught and it was a shame one wasn't.

I was aware that we were in an eight rather than a four, a pair or a scull, and I was reminded of the piece of sound advice given to me by a member of staff at MCJS before I started rowing (and was completely ignorant of it) that when finishing an outing you must be careful to not to give your cox a soaking when getting out of the boat. As a 12 year old this completely confused me until I arrived at MCS and realised just exactly what was meant by this remark - and it certainly wasn't what I had originally thought it meant!

Having mastered how to put my oar into the rigs, differentiating between the bow and stroke side, remembering what puddles and chaining were, mastering touch her bow and realising it didn't apply to me at 3, we then proceeded to row up to the Brook (forgot that) and down to the weir with suitable stops in between for those of us like me, who were the unfit and the physically vulnerable. Predictably, as reported in the Captain's Log in 1974 even after 33 years, 3 was still digging. The mile timings scared the wits out of me, but in hindsight I'm hoping everyone felt the same.

Serious stuff now though - what we achieved on the day has been written elsewhere; it's the grounding of what was achieved since finishing our rowing that I believe set the tone.

I have always thought that sporting and academic participation together, will produce the best results and the most rounded individuals. Although rugby was and still is my main passion, rowing produced a sense of teamwork not experienced in other sports, which one could carry through to one's own working life. To be successful in rowing, individualism does not feature - it's operating as a team or crew that produces results and this is in terms of timing, teamwork and fitness. Without wishing to dwell on the apparent success of the members of the crew academically and professionally, I am sure that all our experiences as members of the crew helped towards what we have achieved. No, rowing was not the reason we have achieved what we have, but it certainly provided one of the building blocks.

In short, today's obsession of government, schools, parents and pupils on results and league tables, stifles the other things, like sport, that make a rounded individual. Perhaps the worm will turn one day and we will realise that it needs to be a fairer combination of the two or even (God forbid!) a bias in favour of less academic achievements that will produce better individuals. And this all comes from someone who was fast-tracked through his O-levels only then to be told that he shouldn't go to university because he wasn't academically suited! - so I went to a Polytechnic (now a University) and ended up qualifying in my profession at least 12-18 months earlier than those that did go and got a degree!