The gig rowing season kicked off with the Three rivers endurance race at Saltash last Sunday.
The race gets more and more popular every year. Last year 39 boats attended, this year 51 took part.
The course is six miles long and passes through the Tamar, Tavy and Lynher rivers. Although it was bitterly cold, conditions on the water were favourable with little wind to chop up the water.
Dart ladies were in the second of four heats. The start was a little confused as the shout could not be heard through the radio.
The first leg to the first buoy was the most exciting, with Dart powering on against the tide to take eight boats and get the mark ahead of Lyme Regis, Bristol, Weymouth, Devoran, Flushing Mylor, Ilfracombe, Looe and Swanage.
Looe got a place back on the next mark, but Dart were determined to regain their position.
Strong rowing continued during the third leg under the Tamar Bridge, where Dart made up four lengths to retake Looe and to overtake Truro, a back marker from the first heat.
The ladies finished 18th in a time of 56.35 minutes. They were delighted, having smashed their time from the previous year by nine minutes.
The power of two new young members of the crew, Chloe and Ella, undoubtedly made the difference.
Next came the men's race. Dart were in the third of four heats and got off to an awesome start, where they were bow to bow with Lyme Regis and Teign for the first 1,000m. Everyone cleared the first mark cleanly, but the second mark saw two boats come together. Unable to separate, they drifted off up the river.
Dart rowed around and kept clear of trouble quickly gaining and taking third position in the group as they headed back towards the bridge.
It's amazing that after an hour's hard rowing, it always come down to the line.
With 500m to go and leaving messy water off the final mark, Lightning moved through the field, taking four lengths from Hayle in group two to pass them leaving a boat length clear as they crossed the line in a time of 54.56 minutes, beating their 2012 time by six minutes.