Sunday morning I was out in a fine double with Jonathan, working on our stability.

Jonathan has a bit of a 'lean' to bow side which is quite painful for him to correct, as a result I tend to lean to stroke side to counter balance. This is not ideal, but better than the boat being constantly down on one side.

Two loops from 'The Moorings' to the bottom for just over 10,000m.

A cup of tea and a quick walk into town for some brunch and I am back out in my single.

It is a lovely day with relatively flat water, a start contrast to yesterday where the wind was quite brutal, so a shame not to make the most of the conditions.

A single loop up to 'The Moorings', down to the bottom and back in before going out with the leisure group.

The journey back up was a good session at 28spm and 3:15.8/500m against the wind and stream for just short of 1,000m before some cruisers came past way too fast on the other side of the river and ruined everything with their wake.

I recovered my composure, finished the loop and headed back in to the club.

I left my single on the landing stage as there was a resaonable chance I would be out in it again for the leisure session.

I was indeed going to be out in my single once again, so after a quick trip to the toilet, and a top up of my water bottle, I was back out again.

Back up to the moorings, down to the bottom and then another piece back up at around 24-26spm averaging 3:29.8/500m, against the wind and stream, all the way back up to the moorings again overtaking a large narrow boat between the sailing club and the church that was going the same way.

I had to wait at the moorings for a bunch of small boats to pass as the top lock had obviously recently opened to allow them through, before turning and heading back down for a second loop.

The last boat was a small vessel that had a sailing boat next to it and was also towing a second sailing boat, I decided to give them a decent head start as I would probably catch them before I reached the bottom once more.

Sure enough as I was about half way down I was catching the sailing boats, so started to move out to overtake them.

I realised that I had drifted a little too far to the other bank as part of this manoeuvre, compounded by the fact that I was rounding a bend in the river.

I started to rectify this and return to the centre of the river, still keeping an eye on the sailing boats and their 'tug'.

Just as I was back in the centre of the river I heard a warning shout, looked around and saw a narrow boat bearing down on me that I had not previously noticed.

(a narrow boat just for reference, not the actual one I hit, these are around 70'/21m long and weigh around 18 tons)

I desperately paddle with my right oar in an attempt to move to starboard, but only one or two strokes later my bow ball hits the front of the narrow boat, throws my boat sideways and the full force of the narrow boat hits the middle of my single, tipping me over and under the front of the vessel.

I desperately struggle with my shoes to pull my feet out, mindful that I am currently under the narrow boat and can't just lift my head up to breathe.

Having freed my feet, I then swim for what I hope is the side of the narrow boat. This swim takes forever and I quickly realise I am swimming down the length of this 70' (20m) and am now petrified of hitting the propeller should I come out the back.

I am also fast running out of oxygen, so need to surface before I start to drown!

Fortunately, I finally surface by the driver's compartment on the right hand side of the narrow boat and the driver has cut his engine and holds out his hand to catch me so I can recover my breath.

He then invites me to climb aboard via the ladder at the rear and offers me some water while I recover.

My single is still trapped at the front of his boat.

I sat on the side of his boat and assessed my injuries: my left elbow was bleeding and I had smacked my left ankle quite hard.

Two locals who have been going up and down the river in their inflatable motor boats (and also generating a fair amount of wash/wake) then offer to recover my boat from the front of the narrow boat.

Another club member, Roland, who had been at his mothers flat and heard me call, out helped them bring my single to the shore and also fetched a towel from his mum's for me.

By now the coach, Shannon, who had been concentrating on other crews elsewhere on the river, had been made aware of my situation and came over in the launch to recover me after first collecting my single from Roland.

I thanked the narrow boat driver for his help and took the name of his boat for my report to British Rowing.

His view was that it was entirely my fault for being on the wrong side of the river, a view that I partially agree with, however on following him further up river in the launch, we could see that he was driving upstream in the middle of the river and therefore in the wrong place himself, so not as blameless as he would like us to believe.

Part way back we decided that my single was generating way too much drag and was difficult to hold next to the launch, so we stopped, removed the oars and turned it the right way up, after which we could go at a better speed.

Back at the boat house I am told to sit down while the others from leisure help to extract my single, now full of water from the river.

The water is pouring out of a hole in the hull, they undo the hatches and turn it over to pour more water out, but also realise that it is flexing badly around the hole.

After it has been put on some trestles to drain.

I collect my SpeedCoachGPS and head into the boathouse for a shower, put on some clean dry clothing before and then am checked out by Shannon to assess my injuries.

Si gives me a can of 'full fat' coke from the bar, this is a standard procedure for any capsize events as the coke supposedly helps to kill off any of the bacteria that may have been ingested from the river water.

I am cleared for my drive home, informing them of my safe arrival.

Next task was to inform the safety officer and file a report with British Rowing for the collision incident.

I am unsure at this point whether or not the boat can be repaired, or if it is a write-off, I will let Tony, Shannon's grandfather, who used to build boats for Carl Douglas, have a look and assess the damage.

The boat is insured, so I will need to contact the insurance company to discuss further.