Raising a Pimm’s to a great regatta!
Hi All, sorry for the delay in posts, my computer died towards the end of our trip. Plus, I was too busy out living it! I’ll write another post or two after this to share other great information about Henley and our experiences. For now, I thought I’d chat about the Dark Side of Henley. I’m of course talking about the after parties! Continue reading
Entrance to the Stewards’ Enclosure
Yesterday was our first day hanging out around the Stewards’ Enclosure. There is no other event in rowing that compares to the scene in the Stewards’ Enclosure. For starters, there is a dress code that all must abide by. As such, this is where you see a great many rowing blazers, fancy dresses, and great hats. Hundreds of people come to the Stewards’ Enclosure not just for the social scene but to watch rowing! Rowing is truly a different sport in Great Britain. I took some pics and video to give you a taste: Continue reading
As most of you know at this point, we did not win our first race, and as such do not move on in the regatta. What’s unique about this regatta is that it’s do or die racing: win you move on, lose you’re done. Upper Thames R.C. beat us fair and square.
After a solid fall, a long winter indoors, erg piece after erg piece, miles upon miles of rowing, and an insatiable appetite, tomorrow all of our training and preparation will finally be utilized. We race Upper Thames Rowing Club‘s ‘B’ boat at 3:45 PM (10:45 AM EST). We’ve heard all sorts of reports about that club, that they’re fast as well as that they’re beatable. The only thing that matters tomorrow is that we race them with everything we have, so that our bow crosses the finish line before theirs does. We don’t care whether it’s one of their fastest or slowest boats, we’re giving them our best. Continue reading
Two sleeps till Henley. Just two sleeps. #kidatChristmas
— Matthew Pinsent (@matthewcpinsent) June 30, 2014
Quiet day today. As we’re two days out from racing, we’re taking it easy and resting our legs as much as possible. We started the day doing some racing intervals with the Mendota Boat Club four to practice side by side racing. As I’ve mentioned, it’s a narrow course, so getting an idea of how much space we have between the booms on one side and the other crew on the other was helpful. Continue reading
Evan and I near the Tower Bridge
Yesterday we made a trip to London to see a tiny bit of what the city has to offer. Truly, you could spend weeks in that great city and not see all of it! The city reminded me a lot of Washington, D.C. in the style and the way it’s laid out. In comparison to Henley, it feels dramatically more modern. I took a lot of videos and pictures to make into this video of our day: Continue reading
Today featured two big events: The Reading Town Regatta and the Henley Royal Regatta draw, each event with big significance.
The day started by driving about 20 minutes south west to the town of Reading for our first actual race of the year. While we’ve been doing plenty of training all year, we hadn’t had a chance to line up and race crews from other areas to test our speed. There were only three boats entered, so it was a straight final. We lined up against Pangbourne College and Mendota Rowing Club (which is essentially the University of Wisconsin’s summer rowing club). We had done a practice with the Mendota guys on the Charles River the weekend before we left, as they had been training out of the Union Boat Club, so we knew they’d be quick. Here’s a pre and post race recap: Continue reading
A selfie from inside the Marsh Lock, the first of three locks we rowed through
Today we had the unique experience of seeing the British countryside from the River Thames, rowing from Henley to Reading, in preparation for the Reading Town Regatta tomorrow afternoon. This was an amazing experience, as we were able to see some grand estates, beautiful scenery, and a pretty solid row all at the same time. To get to Henley from Reading, we had to go through three locks, which were narrower than our boat with our oars extended. I brought my phone along to get some video of our trip: Continue reading
A view down Cornmarket St in Oxford
Day 2 began with an addition to our clan, as Will Marshall’s girlfriend Alissa joined us early this morning. She arrived at Heathrow Airport around 6:30a, so Evan and Will picked her up and brought her back to our house in Henley. After a quick breakfast, the four oarsmen went off for a row while Alissa took her first tour of the town. After a proper night sleep, our rowing improved remarkably, which we were happy about. We haven’t taken enough pictures around the course just yet, but we’ll get more as the trip progresses.
Today was also our first opportunity to tour around England. Today we went to visit Oxford, home of the University of Oxford, which is the oldest english-speaking university. We decided the best thing to do was take the walking tour around the town and campus. I took a video to recap our trip: Continue reading
The view down the race course from the finish line.
Day 1 of our Henley trip is in the books. Our long day started at around 7:30 pm on Tuesday when we all met at Logan Airport for flight across the pond. Red eye flights may not be the most enjoyable, but it’s great not wasting a day sitting in an airplane. We shared the flight with our friends from Union Boat Club, another rowing club on the Charles River, which is celebrating its 100 year anniversary of its first race at Henley. You can follow their blog here.
Riverside Boat Club races at the Henley Royal Regatta 