Late on Saturday a series of 2000m races started with the Merimbula ladies taking to the water first. In an underpowered boat with just 16 paddlers instead of the usual 20, the women worked their way around the 2000m course which includes four turns on a looped course.

There is a staggered start for the boats giving an opportunity to pull up closer to those ahead and overtake. As a result the turns can get very congested and hitting the turns at the right angle, with good power is an art which sweep Sue Wakefield showed she had licked.

The rules dictate that if a boat has just caught up with another within a specified distance of the turn they have the right of way but sweeps must avoid a collision.

In the later mixed 2000m race, the Merimbula boat got hit and the tail was pushed around making the bow swing further out of line to hit another boat. The original boat that hit Merimbula’s boat was given a time penalty. Mixed race sweep, Charles Helmore said there’s plenty going on in a 2000m race.

“It can be quite exciting from the sweeps perspective but also from the paddlers point of view when boats get so close the paddles start clashing,” Helmore said.

On Sunday Merimbula teams were in the thick of the action again with both the mixed and women’s teams picking up silver medals in the 200m races. Racing in the masters (age 40 plus) category, the mixed team paddled very strongly and were only pipped at the post by .017 second. The men also combined with four Jindabyne paddlers for the men’s race.

Merimbula sweeps and drummers were in demand at the regatta with five sweeps and two drummers stepping up to fill in for corporate and community teams.