I used to Row as a bowman in a successful school boys Eight a squillion years ago.

(Not us, but it could have been!)

THE ultimate team sport - loved it.

We were Public (not Private) High School rowers from Balgowlah Boys High School in 1980; compared to them, we were scum... yet we whooped their asses! We used borrowed boats from Mosman Rowing Club (The Spit, Sydney).

Amazing luck, too: our coach was the ex-Australian Olympic rowing coach ('Doc'). Our best time at training over 2,000 meters (race length) was 10 seconds short of Olympic time... bloody good crew work for a motley assortment of 16-year-olds!

'Doc' loved that, as a bowman, I would tap-in [ie. dip in my oar blade] fractionally early... apparently, a very good skill for a bowman to have. Catch-22... I had no idea I was doing it! [laffs].

Then there's the never-to-be-forgotten sound of the bubbles flowing under the hull as we'd just glide...

We used to train on the upreaches of the gorgeous Middle Harbour (between The Spit and Roseville Bridge)... MILES of some gloriously smooth, unspoilt and spectacular (and little-known) water.