After devoting his recent Naval career to new vessels for the fleet, former Controller of the Navy Rear Admiral Nigel Guild now has a boat he can call his own.

The Nigel Guild is the newest addition to the fleet of the RN and RM Amateur Rowing Association, the first of eight boats which brings the Senior Service on a par with competitors in the Army and RAF – especially in the Inter-Service Eights rowing events.

Admiral Guild has been the president of the association for some time, and his wife Felicity named the boat at the annual Plum Puddings regatta in Dartmouth, where Navy competitors fared well against civilian and Army opposition.

In particular, the Britannia Royal Naval College crew retained the Plum Puddings Blade for the third year in succession.

The Devon event rounded off a good year for the rowers, in which OM Adam Mayes and Mne Mark Walker toured the country with their double scull, winning at several regattas.

Three women raced for the Combined Services at the Henley Women’s Regatta, reaching the quarter finals in the process and only losing to the eventual winners.

Both male and female squads are now in training for the Spring heads of the river season. Details on the respective teams from S/Lt James Fickling via HMS Ark Royal and Lt Louise Thatcher in HMS Glasgow.

• The drive and determination which makes Olympic heroes out of small-boat racers can be seen at the National Maritime Museum at Falmouth in Cornwall.

Five Olympic boats, including Ben Ainslie’s and Shirley Robertson’s, gold winners at Sydney in 2000, go on show in the spectacular waterfront museum this month.

Alongside the craft a new exhibition, Will to Win, explains what it takes to become an Olympic winner, showing the personal attributes needed as well as the technological advances in developing racing boats.