MEMBERS of Deal Rowing Club are in optimistic mood as they prepare for their opening Coast Amateur Rowing Association regattas of the season this weekend, at Hastings on Saturday and Bexhill on Sunday.

After the acquisition of a new carbon-fibre coastal four boat and some good winter training the senior four are hoping to be back among the wins this year.

Jason Morgan, Kirk Bell, Justin Dodrill and James Morgan had some success at the Medway Fours head and are hoping to continue with their good form. Adele Taylor is returning to cox and her experience will be a valuable asset to the club.

Deal are the hot favourites to take the junior fours title. The crew of Luke Armstrong, James Hockless, Ben Smissen, Matt Emmerson and cox Sammy Moore have been working hard and picking up some good pre-season results.

The crew will divide into pairs and should battle it out among themselves for this title.

The senior ladies’ crew are returning to action and will be wanting to repeat the successes of a couple of seasons ago. Sam Card and Sharon Mullaney are out to win the pairs once more.

In the junior ladies, Deal have strong prospects with last season’s South Coast novice winners, Sarah Beavers, Alice Creed, Abigail Perkins and Emma Battersea aiming to take the title.

Although the junior-senior four are not aiming to win the championship, they should still push the opposition and will be wanting to stay in the top three all year.

With Danny Carr going into the Royal Marines in the coming weeks, it will be interesting to see how the crew develops.

Club captain James Morgan said: “Many of the crews have individual goals. If they are attained the club should have an excellent chance of winning the Club Championship and the CARA League. I think we will win the junior aggregate again, but we need the seniors to get back to winning ways."

“The club have had a influx of new rowers in recent weeks. We want to develop these novices to continue our dominance of the junior events.”