Black Swans rowing crew from WA set sights on Head of The Charles Regatta in Boston
The Black Swans Rowing Club is heading to Boston for the Head of the Charles Regatta. (ABC News: Tahlia Davis)
In short:
The Black Swans are former high-level rowers who started the WA group for fitness and connection.
Now they are in America to compete in the world's biggest rowing race — The Head of The Charles Regatta.
What's next:
The three-day event in Boston is being held this weekend from October 17-19.
On a perfectly still Perth morning, an eight-man rowing boat cuts through the glassy Swan River.
The crew is doing sets of two minutes on, one minute off, as they put the finishing touches on years of preparation.
The men, aged in their 40s and 50s, are the Black Swans — a group of former high-level rowers who reunited five years ago, and are now off to America to compete in the world's biggest and most famous rowing race.
The Black Swans' pictured at their last training session in Perth before they set off for the US. (ABC News: Tom Wildie)
"The intention was just to row and be fit and healthy and get on the water," stroke Stuart Reside said of the crew's formation.
"The racing is a real secondary aspect of the crew, I suppose, as we've stayed together and we've wanted to get better and better along the way."
Now, more than 20 years after Reside won bronze in the men's eight at the Athens Olympics, they are taking on the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.
Stuart Reside (front right) won bronze at the Athens Olympics in the men's eight. (Getty Images)
"We've done the Head of the Yarra in Melbourne a couple of times and we've raced in the state champs here several times so that's been good," he said.
"Then we thought we'd do this ... which is a really iconic international race."
While it seems natural that a group of former elite rowers would want to compete at the top level again, it wasn't their intention.
When Reside got a call from his friend Greg Carr about putting a crew together, he was initially reluctant.
The men's eight at the Athens Olympics in action on the way to winning bronze. (Getty Images)
After the success of Athens, he'd barely been in a boat, and thought his days of early starts and gruelling hours on the water were behind him.
"You look back at rowing with lots of fond memories and sort of through rose coloured glasses,"he said.
"You tend to forget the hard bits of it. So when I was asked to join in, I said 'Oh, I don't know if I've kind of got it in me.'"
But once he found out who was in the crew, he was convinced.
What a crew
Apart from Reside, three other members of the squad have won Olympic medals. Ron Snook claimed bronze in the men's quad at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott won silver in the coxless pair at the same Games and Glen Loftus won silver in the coxless four at Athens.
Rob Scott (left), won silver at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, pairing with David Weightman in the men's coxless pairs. (AAP PHOTO / ROD TAYLOR)
Unfortunately for Scott, a back injury will prevent him from taking part in the race.
There are also several former national and international rowers who make up the team, and a founding member of a platinum-selling band sits in the coxswain chair.
"The people that were involved that Greg mentioned to me, and the times that we shared before, and just the the common respect of those people, really was the main driver for me to get involved," Reside said.
"There was a lot of confidence that we were going to get together and the standard of rowing was going to be really good. It's a nice feeling when the boat runs well."
What started out as rowing for fun and connection has culminated in a trip to Boston, where they will be one of 2,000 crews racing, with tens of thousands of spectators watching on the banks.
The race takes place on the Charles River, which separates Boston from Cambridge, and passes the Harvard University Boat Club, which has featured in several films.
Taking part in the race will be reward for years of work, but Reside maintains they would have rowed together regardless of the goal.
"I think we all need diversity in our lives," he said.
"For me, it's about having lots of different strings to your bow. Rowing's one of those in my life."
"It offers a lot in terms of balance and experience and just clearing the head, clearing the pipes of the body, keeping the heart rate up."
Rowing and music intersect
While Reside and the crew do the work of pulling the oars, they rely heavily on the guidance of their coxswain, Bourby Webster.
Bourby Webster, founder of the Perth Symphony Orchestra and a founding member of BOND, is the crew's coxswain. (ABC News: Tom Wildie)
Rowing has been a constant in Webster's life, even as she's pursued other passions such as founding the Perth Symphony Orchestra or being a founding member of the UK-based electric string quartet BOND.
"Music has always been a huge part of my life and it's always been a challenge, because music is at night and rowing is in the morning," she said.
"But there are unbelievable parallels between them. With rowing, you're constantly aiming for a competition. In music you're constantly aiming for a concert, there is no extension of a deadline.
"It's about delivering. Working towards something, being able to deliver at that point in time, but also both music and rowing are synchronised."
The coxswain is like the conductor of a symphony, keeping the rowers in time, and steering the boat.
The crew will need to place a lot of trust in cox, Bourby Webster, who will be responsible for avoiding other boats on the river. (ABC News: Tom Wildie)
The Head of the Charles race sees boats set off every 15 seconds to take on the winding three-mile (or roughly five kilometre) river course.
Faster boats which start further down the order have to navigate choppy water and slower crews as they try to produce a competitive time.
"It's a hugely exciting race. It's a very dynamic race," Webster said.
"The whole crew is simmering. That's the only word I can feel. There's just an adrenaline in all of us."