Taylorian

Sport

Rowing

Outdoor Education

The Outdoor Education Department has had a busy year, including the return of the Yardarms Burns Night and a range of new trips. Our Monday and Wednesday Games sessions offer boys in the Divisions and above the chance to take up a range of activities. Pupils can take part in sailing, kayaking, rowing, or stand up paddleboarding on the lake, or alternatively, they can take up mountain biking, archery on the School’s outdoor range, or shooting in our indoor .22 range. Over the winter, when most afloat activities stop, boys can choose to climb at HarroWall. In the Summer Term, we ran Outdoor Education Days for all year groups except those taking public examinations. Raft-building helped develop pupils’ teamwork, while kayaking and paddleboarding proved popular. Bushcraft skills took them back to the Iron Age; they had to use flint and steel to start a fire and cook s’mores. The paintball stance encouraged communication in pairs, and the climbing tower provided pupils with the challenge of breaking their own speed climb times. We also offered some thrilling week-long trips across the year. Over the summer, boys climbed and abseiled down different crags around Snowdonia, while the white-water kayakers paddled the Afon Tryweryn. In October, we ventured to the Canary Islands for surfing and to the ‘Milky Way’ in Italy for skiing over Christmas and the February half term. The boys’ reports from the trips give an insight into their experiences. The Yardarms Committee, which raises funds to purchase equipment for Outdoor Education, hosted the Festival by the Lake and had a Burns Night revival. Mr J.E. Firestone, Head of Outdoor Education

coxes appreciate the beauty and other worldliness – it feels very Swallows and Amazons . In the Summer Term there are lines of ducklings and cygnets behind their parents. After each outing there are many anecdotes; Bonnie Garmus has it right in Lessons in Chemistry: ‘Stories about boats, blisters, oars, grips, ergs, feathers, workouts, catches, releases, recoveries, splits, seats, strokes, slides, starts, settles, sprints, and whether the water was really “flat” or not. From there, it usually progresses to what went wrong on the last row, what might go wrong on the next row, and whose fault it was and/or will be. At some point the rowers will hold out their hands and compare calluses… this could be followed by several minutes of head-bowing reverence as one of them recounts the perfect row where it all felt easy.’ Rowing at Taylors’ isn’t just about creating competent rowers, but also about creating close-knit crews, wonderful memories, and the opportunity to converse in rowing parlance at dinner parties for ever after! Ms D. M. Scott

Rowing Rowing has been a great success this year, despite some inclement weather. It is a great leveller: each session, be it Games or Rowing Club, involves a range of year groups, and it’s lovely to see the camaraderie, where advice is sometimes imparted by the younger pupils to those older than them! This year we have built on our foundations and increased our provision. We have two quads now – they are both on the lake most sessions, and the crews vie to row fastest, or to perform the most daring boat confidence activities. We are embarking on the purchase of a third single scull, with a different weight capacity, so we can accommodate more age groups in single sculls, the trickiest size of boat to master. Further, we now have vertical blade racking, thanks to the Yardarms’ fundraising, which extends the life of the blades (oars) hugely and makes it easy to keep equipment storage organised. We are out on the water three times a week all year round, with the herons, moorhens, coots, geese and swans. The rowers and

95

Taylorian 2023