 While an undergraduate, he joined Thames Rowing Club to have a London base to train with Bill East, the 1891 English professional sculling champion.Helped by coaching from East, he became a successful sculler, joined Leander Club and won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley in 1895 and 1896, as well as the Wingfield Sculls, for the Amateur Sculling Championship of the Thames and Great Britain, in 1896.The sculling boat in which he did so now hangs in the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames.