It was the usual early start. Arrive by 8:30 to get the boats out. This morning however we arrived to find no boats. Our captains GPS had decided to take the boats on a tour of interesting parts of London as Gordon tried to spot people with ‘alternate lifestyles’.

The day started off hot and sunny and it looked like the warnings of thunder and rain were all wrong and we were in for another day of blistering heat. The wind picked up and clouds started forming in the distance.

The first race of the day was the 100 metre races. But instead of replacing the 200m races like last year at Victoria docks it was in addition to the regular races. This year with a chance to practice the one hundreds at practice we were ready. Lining up 6 boats turned into a bit of a challenge and the other boats ended up with an advantage at the start. Fortunately though it didn’t affect the finish as we managed to claw back the lost ground to come in second to a strong Kingston team. With a second place finish it was off to the repecharge. A win would mean a place in the final. The race started well and at 50 metres we were in the lead but 100 metres turned out to be too long.

With a warm down followed immediately by a warm up we were off to the start line for the 200 metre races. We raced to the start line to make sure we were there 5 minutes before the start time. By this time though a crosswind had picked up making the starts even trickier for the starters. By the time the boats were finally lined up the wind had inevitably blown one of the teams the adjacent lane and everyone had to back up and try again. After two failed attempts to start the race we backed up for a third attempt. This time with all the boats lined up the starter called READY, ATTENTION as a jet started its engines. We watched each other to judge if someone heard the go. Finally Gordon yelled at us and we were out first and managed a second place finish. A third place finish in the race off put us in the minor final. No time to sit down a quick warm-down and warm-up and off to the start line and Malc’s motivational speech in the boat for a change and a third place finish in the minor final. With the women’s race there was finally enough time for some of us to sit down for a bite to eat before the start of the 500 metre races.

As the 500 metre races started the wind had died down but the weather had changed to rain. Emma searched unsuccessfully for a hat to keep her hair dry and maintain her tricky balance between dragonboating and fashion. The planes had stopped but Nigel Mansell started test-driving some Formula 3000 cars.

The first 500 metre race was a head to head race with our teammates in Eyot. A second place finish but good enough to avoid the repecharge. Eyot though was not as fortunate. With her dad busy in the Eyot boat Uncle Andy stepped in and held Briony’s hand and guided her up the ramp. The semi race put us in the minor final once again. But this time as we lined up for the minor final we were told that our spot was being taken by WAM. We had made the major final after all. We managed a hard fought sixth in the final which gave us sixth overall.

A good but hectic days racing.


Henley Eyot

A day on which the wind picked up steadily, with all four seasons experienced through the day.  Our pergolas were needed for both heat and for rain depending on the time of day!  The wind played havoc with the starts, with up to six boats struggling to line up.

We continued our tradition of being ready and waiting in good time at the starts, this time even being left to bob around for nearly 30 minutes before our first 500m heat.  At one point we debated returning to base as we thought our race had been cancelled!

The adjacent City Airport made an unusual backdrop to the day’s racing with the occasional roar of aircraft taking off and  two formula one cars snarling up and down through the afternoon being filmed for some good purpose.

The day started with the local team’s quirky 100m races, not our strength and combined with our usual need to use race 1 as a settling in race, we did not fare too well.  Our time was one of the slowest in the 100m field, so that was the end of the 100m challenge for us!

In our first 200m heat our pace improved but BA Hurricanes and Batchworth DBC ran away from us - we clung on to finish 5^th ahead of Powerhouse and  make it through to the Major Plate race.

In the major Plate we slowed by 2 seconds compared to our first 200m race, but The Brotherhood and Powerhouse slowed even more and we ran in ahead of them at 55.10s to finish 4^th behind Batchworth, Cool Runnings and Secklow 100 (who are now the team we aim to beat each time as we are so closely matched of late).

The 500m heats began with us ranged against our own Henley Dragons and Thames Taniwhas; really helpful stuff. We came in last but with a reasonable time of 2:27.72. so it was back onto the water for a 500m repechage.

In the repechage our pace slowed yet again to produce a time of 2:35.07, but enough to get us into the Plate semi- final where interestingly we got back into stride and our time improved to 2:31.28!

Our last race of the day was the Plate Major final where we flung ourselves back in with renewed determination, improving our time again to 2:28.10 but running in 6^th just behind Powerhouse but a full ten seconds behind the leading two boats The Brotherhood and Typhoon Tigers.

Unlike Nottingham and Exeter, not our day but a good experience and a really unusual venue.