Walton and Weybridge regatta

Thursday evening saw the boat being de-rigged and loaded onto the trailer. This complex operation is executed usually with great skill and efficiency  and this was no exception. Within hours of arrival at the boat club we were packed onto the trailer and ready for it to be towed.

Bow dashed nimbly around with a power tool undoing nuts, various crew members followed with rigger jiggers and we were sung to by a robin that had set up home in the boat house. Sadly for Stroke the presence of the robin put many members of the crew off,  especially when it got friendly with Six. Despite  this distraction the boat’s riggers were successfully removed, and after a brief tug of war the boat split in two.

Stroke (with the help of Seven and Bow) then spent half an hour climbing on trailers very like small children climbing trees. Swinging around like monkeys a few boats were moved around (something to do with balance – physics has a use) and the ladies were allowed to fetch blades; Cox making the astute observation that the blades were taller than her.

On Saturday at the appointed hour we rolled up to a very busy boat club to find the trailer had already departed and we had not forgotten anything of vital importance. Cars were organised (a girls’ car plus Seven, and a boys’ car plus Two) and Five then shot down the motorway to Walton  which proved remarkedly easy to find. On route it was discovered that there was a 99% chance of rain which would undoubtedly make us feel more at home.

To our delight on arrival the trailer was in position, other crews from Henley were about and there was a general sense of purpose. We then proceeded with the usual delights of joining the boat together and attaching riggers (power tool proved very handy again from Bow) which didn’t take nearly as long as usual. Stroke did his first change of the day.

Once the boat was ready we carefully left it in everyone’s way and wandered off to find the all important cup of tea, followed by a quick stroll up to the start. We located the pub where we would take our winning pots for their first beer, and we admired a wedge of swans which appeared to be penned in away from racing. Apparently this was a safety precaution – the Walton swans have quite a reputation!

Getting the boat to the landing stage proved a bit of a challenge.Stroke first had to do another wardrobe change. Eights are not designed to bend in the middle (definite gap in the market there) and so it took a few attempts to get it around a sharp bend. The umpire frowned somewhat at a pair of shoes but Six and Five charmed him into the realisation that actually they were all perfect for racing.

Going up to the start proved fairly uneventful – we avoided colliding with other crews and barges and Cox even managed to miss the bridge. After a quick practice of our racing starts (we are so good at these now) we headed up to the start to find the stake boats. The stream was rather strong and so we had a practice race of backing down with Walton (which we won) and then were called forward to attach ourselves to the small person in the middle of the river.

At the call of ‘GO’ we powered off, slightly unsteadily but with definite enthusiasm. A few seconds later another ‘GO’ was heard and Walton were off. The opposition beat us off the start, and half way through the race we were nearly a length down. This did not put us off and half way we had a massive push which brought us back to within a third of a length. Towards the finish we wound it up and we were level. Past the finish line the bell went once and the race was over. But who won? Neither cox was sure, although we did look as though we had come off better. Then the sound of the announcer came through.Walton had won by a foot, and had we been taking a stroke at the right time it would have been us. A brilliant race despite the outcome!

Once the boat was de-rigged and back onto its trailer and Stroke had done another costume change we found a spot for the picnic. Cake, Stilton shortbread and Raspberries were consumed and we all felt better. On our way back to the trailer we found out our time of 2.42 – without doubt our best time for that distance. And it didn’t rain once, so much for that 99%!

 

Weybridge regatta and bird watching

Four eventful outings in glorious sunshine in an effort to get ourselves into shape for the next weekend’s regatta. Four outings in which huge amounts of energy was expended, making us all feel like we have an excellent chance in performing suitably well in the first regatta for the eight of season.

Cox made the ultimate sacrifice for the outings, not taking the camera despite the fact that there would have been an enormous amount to record. Mayflies were out in force, swifts were flying all over the place, making the swallows look somewhat clumsy. And to add to the excitement there had been numerous hatchings of various birds which gave us all something to look at.

The regatta enclosure was sporting the world renown blue and white stripes on the front of boat tents, and some helpful persons had put booms into the river in an attempt to bring racing spirit to the masses, something we were only too happy to embrace.

Sadly for us with the arrival of the warmer weather and the prospect of the regatta just  weeks away it means that lots of visitors descend on Henley. This means that instead of having to share the river with Upper Thames, Phyllis Court and Leander, we instead have to share it with a load of other crews who don’t always follow the navigation which the environmental agency have put down for our guidance. It certainly can be difficult to spot big blue signs of keep right, and even more difficult to follow them.

In getting into the spirit of racing we took on various boats as competition for side by side racing. Upper Thames sadly had already paired up so didn’t offer us a race, indeed, being such nice people we executed two beautiful handbrake turns to give them a clear run. A quad (same number of blades so should have been able to keep up) and a single were deemed worthy prey. Both of which were annihilated by us, although the single was much quicker off the start. It was generally agreed that our racing starts were excellent after a bit of practice and that we had a nicely balanced boat which would carry us to victory, despite Cox having a seat which they didn’t fit into.

On wildlife watch (narrowly avoiding collision as we were so engrossed at watching a cormorant in a tree) the crew put in a good viewing. Two broods of cygnets were observed, several broods of Canadian goslings, a small nest of very ugly looking coots, mallard ducklings, and the Egyptian goslings sighted a few weeks ago are still alive and getting bigger. A grey wagtail found amusement on the booms conveniently left lying around on the river, and the common tern was noted to be very aerodynamic although should really work on its noise.

Fingers crossed for next weekend, hopefully a nice day with a good race.