Success at Silver Spires

by Ann Bryant

  But now it was only seven o’clock in the morning and I had to wait till nine o’clock before we’d be setting off to Pollington Water. I wished I hadn’t woken up so early. There was nothing to do except feel nervous while I was waiting.

  “What time is it?” Izzy was sitting bolt upright, looking really anxious.

  “It’s okay, Iz, I just happened to wake up early. Go back to sleep.”

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep now. I’m too nervous. Let’s get up and go to breakfast, shall we?”

  “Pollington Water, here we come!” said Mrs. Ansell, the housemistress of Willowhaven, turning on the minibus ignition.

  We students were all chatting and laughing and being what Mrs. Ansell called “Far too high for your own good!”

  “We’re just excited!” one of the Year Eights pointed out.

  “Yes, well save it for when you get there!” was Mrs. Ansell’s dry reply. “Final check – has everyone got spare clothing?”

  We all called out, “Yes, Mrs. Ansell!”

  Then off we went. The journey went quite quickly as we all chatted away noisily, but when we got our first view of Pollington Water, the noise suddenly stopped for a few seconds, then turned into gasps and oohs and aahs, because Pollington Water was so beautiful. For a start the lake was absolutely massive, with an island in the middle. In the distance we could see sailing boats, like tiny white flags dancing in the wind, and balls of different colours, which must have been buoys, bobbing over the surface. It was a lovely day, with blue sky and bright sun making the water look like rippled blue-grey velvet. And all around the lake were big stretches of green grass and trees and shrubs with a few people walking their dogs or just strolling with their families.

  “I wish I’d brought my camera,” breathed Izzy.

  I really loved the atmosphere and was surprised to find myself itching to get out onto the water. But the feeling didn’t last long. As we pulled into the car park, and drew closer to the water, my old nervousness started pouring back, clogging up my whole body. Izzy and I were the only quiet ones. Everyone else was jumping up and down with excitement as they got off the minibus, talking loudly about how cool it was going to be. And Holly even rushed to the nearest stretch of grass and did a cartwheel. “I love it here!” she said. “I feel as though it’s where I belong!”

  Her friend, Mikki, laughed happily. “You’re mad, Holly!”

  But I thought it was brilliant that she felt so enthusiastic. I wished I could be like her. Why did I always have to worry and feel so nervous every time I came across anything new in my life?

  Ryan, Celia and Penny met us at the boathouse and introduced us to two other coaches, George and Ben.

  “You’ll be working in groups of three and each group will have one of us coaches,” said Ryan. Then he told us to have a wander round the boathouse and look at the Virus singles, doubles and quads. “I think you’re going to be surprised, girls, when you see how robust the boats are. We might use the doubles or quads later in the course, but you all need to get used to the singles first. They’re much easier, because you don’t have to worry about keeping your strokes in time with anyone else when you’re sculling.”

  My heart sank and I glanced across at Izzy. She looked as disappointed as I felt. We’d both still been hoping we could scull together, but we’d just have to wait for that chance.

  Holly scarcely glanced inside the door. “I’ve been in the boathouse at my brother’s rowing club loads of times,” she said.

  Everyone else took their cue from Holly, appearing totally confident and excited and just having a quick look, apart from a group of Year Eights who seemed as anxious as me and Izzy. The three of them went right inside the boathouse, looking at the single sculls and whispering to each other about how they thought they’d probably be all right, as the bottoms of the boats were definitely nice and flat. I heard one of them say very quietly, “Don’t worry, Beth, there’s no way you’re going to fall in.”

  “Look, Sasha, they’ve all got names,” said Izzy.

  I’d noticed that too, and was wondering who all those names belonged to and whether they were even real people. “Sandy Phillipson,” I read out loud. “Carla Conrad.”

  Eventually Izzy and I realized we were the only two people left in the boathouse, still looking at all the names of the boats. “Gary Ferris, and this one’s just got one name,” said Izzy. “Look. Annalisa.”

  “Okay, let’s get to work!”

  We turned to see Ryan and Ben getting hold of one of the Virus singles. “Let’s get some of these down to the water, shall we?” They carried the boat on its side out of the boathouse and we followed them and joined the others.

  “You see how we’re carrying the boats?” said Ryan. He and Ben took a few more steps while we all watched silently, then Ben put his end down and went back into the boathouse, calling to Holly to come and help him with the next boat.

  Ryan pointed to Kerry. “Can you come and take Ben’s place please?” he said.

  Then the other three coaches each chose a girl to help them, and told the rest of us to collect the buoyancy aids. Celia explained that the buoyancy aids are like life jackets but they’re inflated all the time so you don’t have to do anything to them once you’re in the water. They looked to me as though they’d cover you up more than a life jacket would too, and Celia said it was true that in the cold or the rain, they keep you warmer and drier. Izzy and I each carried an extra one for two of the girls carrying sculls.

  “I’m scared,” said Izzy suddenly.

  “Me too,” I whispered back. “Everyone else seems so excited though, don’t they?”

  The coaches got the five boats into the water, then divided us into groups of three. I was with Izzy and a girl called Chloe, and Celia was our coach.

  First we had to learn about locking the blades in place by fastening up metal pieces called gates on either side of the boat. Celia demonstrated the gate on the landing-stage side first, then she got in the boat and did up the gate on the water side. She asked us each to have a go. Izzy was a bit scared about leaning over the water but everyone managed all right in the end.

  Next Celia got in the boat again and showed us how to adjust the foot stretcher where we had to rest our feet. “See how you can move it forwards if you’re a taller person or backwards if you’re smaller? That’s so you can get it into the comfiest position for your height, then stick the Velcro straps down. You’ll know you’re in the correct position when you sit with your legs straight and the two oar handles against your stomach are about a fist width apart, see?”

  Again, we watched carefully and then all had a turn. Surprisingly, I was chosen to go first again, and Celia praised me for getting it right straight away. I was expecting to feel wobbly in the boat, especially when Celia let go, but I surprised myself by feeling fine. “Hold the handles of the oars with your thumbs on the ends…that’s right, Sasha. Good!”

  Once we were used to getting in and out of the boat, Celia said she wanted us to feel how the boat rocked, and the others seemed happy for me to go first yet again, after Celia’s demonstration. I had to push the oar handles down onto what Celia called their “legs”, and hold them there, then I had to use my body to rock the boat from side to side so that the oars splashed the water. With the Velcro straps holding my trainers in position, it wasn’t as hard as I’d expected. I really enjoyed that bit, and I think the other groups were enjoying it too, because I could hear lots of laughter all around me.

  After Izzy and Chloe had had their turns, Celia said it was time to take a stroke. She tied one end of a rope to the back of my boat – whoops, I should be calling it the stern, not the back – and held on to the other end. “Now you might feel a bit like a dog on a lead,” she said, smiling at me, “but this means that I can help pull you out of the way of other boats to avoid too many crashes!” And just as she said the word “crashes” we heard a shriek from someone in Ben’s group who’d crashed into anothe
r boat. “See what I mean!” laughed Celia.

  It was good to know that she was guiding me and calling out instructions from the side, because I still felt nervous while I was learning how to sit and exactly how to position the oars.

  “That’s right,” said Celia, encouraging me, “now push your hands down so the oars are out of the water, straighten your arms keeping the oars out…” There was so much to remember but once I’d done six or seven strokes I really felt as though I’d got it. The only odd thing is that it feels like you’re going backwards as you’re sculling along, because the front, or bow of the boat, is behind you leading the way, while you are actually facing the back, or stern of the boat.

  “Yes, that’s great!” said Celia, watching me. “I’m going to take the rope off and let you paddle on alone, Sasha. By the way, I’ll always talk about paddling on when I want you to go forwards as you are now. And then we’ll learn how to back it down, which is when the scull is going backwards.”

  When Celia untied the rope from my boat it felt absolutely brilliant to be sculling on my own, and I realized, with a lovely lurch of happiness, that for once I wasn’t even nervous.

  “Just turn your head occasionally to check your direction,” called Celia. “Try to keep… Oh! Well done, Sasha! I was going to say try to keep in a straight line, but you’re doing it automatically!”

  And I was. It just felt so natural and brilliant, with the wind in my face and my arms guiding the blades to make them slice smoothly through the water. Only one other boat had come as far away from the land as mine, and with a quick sideways glance I saw that it was Holly, and wondered if she felt the same as I did as she sculled along, all strong and free.

  “Nice work, Holly!” called Ryan.

  Then Celia gave me instructions for turning the scull round. “First check it’s safe to turn… Okay, now I’d like you to take strokes with your left hand, so organize the right hand first. Put the blade flat on the water and hold it into your turning so it’s out of the way… That’s right…and lean slightly into it. Now get ready to paddle with your left hand. Make sure it’s square….” It all felt so natural. “Good, those are nice long strokes, that’s why you’re turning quickly.” And when I realized I’d done it, my heart sang.

  After me, Izzy had her turn. Watching from the side I could see that lots of people were having problems with their stroke action and couldn’t really get going, but everyone was clearly enjoying themselves, all the same. Mrs. Ansell had been for a walk round the lake, but she’d come back and was watching us now. “Smile, Izzy. Let’s have a photo for the website!”

  “No, don’t take a photo of me!” Izzy called. “I’m hopeless. Do Sasha!”

  Holly was just getting out of her boat at that moment but she called out to Ryan, “Shall I quickly row out again so Mrs. Ansell can get an action shot, Ryan?”

  “No, no, no. Don’t worry about me!” laughed Mrs. Ansell. “I’m quite happy snapping away. There’s plenty of time.”

  Holly looked really cross, and it didn’t help that Izzy, who had been watching the conversation, suddenly lost her concentration and even though she was still on a rope her scull strayed just far enough to crash into Holly’s by mistake. Then all Holly’s anger was aimed at poor Izzy in the nastiest glare I’ve ever seen.

  As soon as Izzy got out of the boat a few minutes later, I told her to ignore Holly.

  “She’s really good at it, though, isn’t she?” said Izzy, sounding rather shaken. Then her voice dropped to a whisper. “But not as good as you, Sash. You’re the best!”

  I looked round to see why Izzy was whispering and realized that Holly was close by, leaning against a tree, looking bored. “There ought to be more boats out,” she was saying in a hiss to Mikki. “It’s boring watching other people learn.”

  I’m sure it was just a coincidence but, straight after she’d said that, Ryan suddenly shouted, “Right, George, let’s get more boats out. There are quite a few girls who can manage on their own now.”

  “I’m not going on my own,” Izzy said quietly to me. “I want to stay with Celia on the end of a rope. I feel safe like that.”

  Ten minutes later I was humming to myself as I started to scull towards the little island in the lake. I was leaving the laughter and chatter and splashes and crashes of the people near the side, and pulling out on my own, enjoying every stroke.

  “That’s great, Sasha!” called Celia, giving me a thumbs up. “You’re keeping a nice straight line. I’ll be along to join you in a second.” She was climbing into a little inflatable dinghy.

  I gave her a contented grin, but I wasn’t sure she’d be able to see it. I was getting further and further away from land.

  Celia rowed effortlessly towards me. At least it looked effortless. “You’ve got a great stroke action, Sasha,” she said, as she pulled alongside me. “Now, see those buoys over there?” I turned to look at the orange floating balls. “Remember, they mark your limit, so you’ll need to turn round when you get to them, just like you practised, then you can scull back. But if you feel like coming back at any time before that, that’s fine. It’s tiring work, when you first learn to scull!” She gave me a big smile. “I’ll be keeping you in my sights, don’t worry. Okay, off you go!”

  So then I was on my own again. And it actually felt easy. It was amazing because I was the only one who’d sculled this far, although there was another scull approaching rapidly. And as it came nearer, I saw it was Holly. She whipped her head round, noticed me, then turned back again immediately, and I don’t know if I imagined it, but she seemed to be rowing even more quickly after that, which made me think she was trying to catch me up.

  The gap between us was definitely narrowing, but I surprised myself by feeling suddenly competitive and sculling harder, determined to keep ahead of Holly, and wishing my arms were more powerful, so I could really whizz across the water. I put more energy into the action then, finding exactly the right angle and depth for my blades to push against the water and pull me along with a whoosh.

  Holly wasn’t gaining on me any more now, and I turned quickly to see how much further I had to go before I reached the buoys. Now they were nearer I could see that they weren’t actually shaped at all like balls. I suddenly wished I could go on and on, further and further, I was loving it so much. Every sound seemed just right to me at that moment – the bubbles rippling along the sides of the boat, birds singing somewhere high above me, and, best of all, the soft slap of the blades as they swished through the water. The island was only about fifty metres away, and each time I turned quickly to check I was going in the right direction, I glimpsed the green and brown of the trees and specks of white between them, which must have been the sailing boats we’d seen earlier on the other side of the island.

  Suddenly Celia seemed to be spurting along towards me and I realized she’d got a little motor in her boat. “Well done!” she called out to Holly as she passed her. “That’s a good confident stroke you’ve got there!”

  “I’ve done it before, that’s why,” said Holly.

  “Excellent.” Celia watched her for a few more seconds. “Right, I want you and Sasha to turn round in a minute.”

  I slowed down then, and Holly caught up, so the three of us were all in a line, side by side, and it seemed suddenly very quiet because Celia had switched off her motor.

  “I don’t usually have to come out so far to get people to turn back on their first session! It’s good to see such enthusiasm and natural ability from you two!”

  Holly didn’t say anything, she just turned neatly round. I wasn’t quite so quick, because I went the wrong way at first. The boats turn so easily that you have to be careful not to overdo it. But Celia seemed happy with me.

  “Nice work. Now if you two need me I’ll be helping Izzy and Chloe, but if you’re okay just to keep practising going backwards and forwards, that’s great.”

  I couldn’t have begun to tell her how okay I was, so I just nodded hard and s
miled like mad as she switched her motor back on and went zooming over to the others, leaving Holly and me alone – two silent scullers in a big stretch of rippling blue-grey water.

  Holly didn’t look at me at first, but then just for the tiniest moment she glanced across. When our eyes met I gave her a smile, but she lowered her gaze immediately. My perfectly happy time felt somehow a bit less perfect because of that, though I tried not to let it bother me and just kept sculling away, stroke after stroke, concentrating on getting the best possible action. Our silence felt too uncomfortable, though, when we were alone together so far away from the others. I was just wishing I could think of something to say when the perfect thing popped into my head. “Have you noticed we’re keeping exactly in time with each other, Holly?”

  She didn’t reply and neither did she smile, but a moment later I realized our strokes weren’t in sync any more and Holly was pulling ahead. Why had she changed her rhythm as soon as I’d mentioned it? It might have been a coincidence. But something told me she’d done it on purpose, and it felt like Holly was the one thing spoiling this lovely day.

  “Oh, Holly, you’re such a brilliant sculler!” It was Mikki’s voice, and it made me realize how close we were to land. Most of the girls’ sculls were still on ropes but a few others were on their own now. I caught sight of Izzy’s tense pale face, but then a moment later she relaxed into a laugh when a Year Eight, called Georgie, crashed into her.

  “Whoops! Sorry, Izzy! Haven’t quite got the hang of it yet!”

  I was glad that Izzy was managing to enjoy herself, even if sculling wasn’t turning out to be her thing. Then I turned round at exactly the same time as Holly and we set off back towards the island. I didn’t want to be near her now, though. It was too much of a strain. So I just sculled gently until she was well ahead.

  “Whoa! I’ve got it, Ben! Look!” I heard another Year Eight call. I think her name was Charlotte. It was true, she was sculling really smoothly out towards me. She flicked her head round and broke into a grin when she saw me. “It’s such good fun, isn’t it!”