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Crew members Brad Coppin, Chris Nicholson, Ryan Dallas, Stewart Turnbull and Gavin Hunt (sweep) finished third, fourth and second in their three races, which gave them enough points to claim the bronze.

Only highly rated clubs Bondi and Terrigal finished ahead of them.

It wasn’t as though the Moruya crew had put in countless hours of training in the lead-up.

“Over the last month, we had been practising with three rowers, and each member of the crew had been doing individual training, but we weren’t training the house down,” Nicholson said.

Past experience provided most of the training for the Moruya rowers, as Nicholson hadn’t rowed for three years and Dallas hadn’t rowed for seven years.

Turnbull had only flown in from Singapore on Thursday.

“There was an opportunity for us to go and we took it, and we were lucky enough to win a medal,” Nicholson said.

The big waves caused a lot of consternation among the crews, but the Moruya boys were happy to see them.

“We love it (big surf),” Nicholson said.

“Our fitness level isn’t the best, so we were happy with the big sea.”

Bigger waves can be a great leveller among crews with varying levels of fitness.

The biggest waves were encountered in the second race.

“The guys up in the bow found it fun,” he said.

The Moruya crew enjoyed the atmosphere of the world’s largest multi-sport event.

“It was a really good carnival with lots of people there, as they had all the disciplines being contested.”

The bronze-winning crew isn’t likely to compete again any time soon.

“We’re not planning to do much at all, because to get a crew together for an event, they have to all want to do it,” he said.

Nicholson did suggest the team might re-form for the Australian Masters titles in three years’ time.

In the meantime, the boys are enjoying their unexpected success.

“We would just like to thank everyone who helped with our preparation,” he said.