Last Sunday was a busy one for the Noss Ladies crew from Dartmouth.

The four took part in the heats for Dartmouth Regatta's local rowing races before then going on to Teignmouth to row in the penultimate race of the seine boat series at Shaldon regatta.

The crew of Tracy Sharam, Alison Bland, Halina Brown and Cindy John, coxed by Chino Collins, raced as The Royal Castle Hotel in the ladies LVA heat and as Cafe Alf Resco 'A' in the heat of the ladies open whaler race.

They rowed well in both, winning each and qualifying for the finals on Friday.

The ladies also rowed individually in several other races during the day, all qualifying for the finals of their respective races.

They then made a quick dash over to Teignmouth to take part in the eighth seine boat race, which was part of Shaldon Regatta.

The conditions out at sea were calm and dry.

The course, which was shorter than usual, started level with the Yacht Club on the sea front. It went out at a 45-degree angle to the first mark and then headed back in towards the Teign.

It continued round the point at the river's entrance, along the length of the back beach to turn two marks off the fishing quays, and then back towards the mouth of the river, finally making a 270-degree turn to finish off the beach at Shaldon.

With the season nearing its conclusion, the start line was pushed by many of the crews and at one point the Noss Ladies crew was the only one behind the line.

The girls made their usual strong start, but with such a short distance to the first turn they were still in with the pack and had to row around the outside of several boats at the mark.

They made good progress on the second leg of the race and were fighting with a couple of crews for second place.

The crew coming third in the championship tried to overtake but came too close and collided with the Dartmouth boat, injuring the stroke rower.

Noss Ladies recovered and with added incentive pushed on to take second place as the race entered the river.

Sadly they had lost too much time in the collision to be able to launch a challenge for first; however they continued to row strongly and held on to take second place.

This leaves them a single point behind in the overall championship with just one race left.

That takes place next Saturday, the day after the finals of the local rowing in Dartmouth Regatta.