Traditional Rowers and the PLA

Back on the 28th March I spotted the PLA launch and this rather elegant traditional rowing craft heading down river.

Any ideas what this was about?

The Boat Race is Back

 As we all know, the last two years have been weird in many ways. Life changed, plans were cancelled and a new normal became normal. 

So it was good to see the University Boat Race back on the Thames were it belongs. I missed the Woman's race (which Cambridge won) but got to see the Men's race (which alas Oxford won, above leading comfortably by Hammersmith Bridge). But I guess a draw is fair.

There were the usual crowds, TV crews and Clare Balding presenting for the BBC:

There were some changes. The sponsor is now some sort of crypto exchange, but I'm yet to be convinced that crypto has any benefits so I won't mention their name.

I also spotted this innovation: a drone launching boat speeding down the Thames:

Very cool!

The PLA were a lot more sedate:

You will spot that Hammersmith Bridge is free from spectators. This relates to the ongoing renovation work which remains stalled.

But that is another, long story....

Great River Race 2019 - The JP Blog Awards!

Today hundreds of rowing boats were seen on the Thames taking part in the 2019 Great River Race. Apparently there were up to 330 entries from all over the world rowing 21.6 miles from Millwall Riverside in Docklands up to Ham House, Richmond - see the official web site here.

Yet again JP supported by ol' Buff Staysail and Sassy Tweet were on Putney Bridge to watch the teams go by and award the JP BLOG AWARDS!!!

First up was BEST BOAT NAME, which was won by the one above - bravo! Great name!!

The next award was for BEST BOAT BUNTING, and this entrant was a clear winner:

There was another clear winner in the BEST FLAG award which literally put the others in the shade:

The most closely fought award was the one for the BEST COSTUME. This is always a tough to judge and Sassy agonised for ages (more abetted than aided by Buff) and in the end decided that the following ARE ALL WINNERS:

The one on the right here:

Buff wanted to choose the award for the HOTTEST ROWER but a committee meeting was held and it was decided to instead allow him to offer the award for the BEST T-SHIRT which accordingly went to this one:

Moving on quickly we have the awards for the BEST STEERING POSITION and BEST DRAGON DRUM:

Finally we have two other closely fought categories. Let me say, the judges argued strongly about this one but in the end Sassy had her way in the SOCIAL MEDIA AWARDS:

Runners up, to those live Tweeting or Instagraming the event:

But the winner went to the boat recording the whole show using an Insta360 - nice!

The final award is an all time classic, namely the BEST PIRATE BOAT award.

The runner up was this one:

Classic! Alas they were beaten by this winning entrant which HAD A CANNON IN THE BOW:

Great show!!

In fact, congratulations to all entrants for you are all winners: rowing all that way is a real achievement!

It was also a great spectacle so thanks to all those like the PLA & RNLI that help arrange and organise this. Plus the weather was for once just lovely.

The Putney Foreshore Festival 1/2: SUP Cup Presentation

I'd been at the Putney Foreshore Festival before, as posted here and here. It's part of the Totally Thames, that "annual celebration of the River Thames". In particular it seems to be sponsored by the Thames Tideway Tunnel, the team digging the famous Super Sewer.

Alas the weather was cruel, and in the morning it absolutely tipped down. All those fine words about come down and try out stand-up paddle boards were washed away and a tweet announced it would open in the afternoon.

When I went down it looked a bit forlorn, with empty marquees, as in Active360s in the photo above. But there was a decent crowd with that something's-about-to-happen air about them. So I ambled between the stalls of Thames 21 (the litter pick-up people, must do that again), RNLI, ZSL and of course the Thames Tidway Tunnel, the biggest marquee with a model of a boring machine in it.

Then something did happen, as these two started giving out these awards:

It turned out that though the weather had been grim some brave souls had raced 15.5 km on their paddleboards up to Putney. The winners were given those brown trophies (above) made from mud dug out of the Thames Tideway Tunnel construction.

The one on the left is Andrew Hodge, a TTT programme manager and triple Olympic Gold Medallist in rowing (according to Wikipedia, TBH didn't recognise him at the time) and the one on the right is the Thames Tideway Tunnel's top engineer Phil Stride

So they handed out the cylindrical things (which seemed a bit fragile. Andrew was definitely worried when I picked one up to have a look) and the Thames Tideway PR team recorded every moment:

I think there were four or five bods with cameras out there. A Sony A7Sii, a phone on gimbal, a Canon with what looked like a 70-200mm lens and someone out on a rib (more on that later).

Then the top engineer Phil Stride went off to catch-up with our local MP, Justine Greening who I totally failed to take a photo of (doh!).

It was a shame about the weather as everyone had clearly been working for some time on this (look at this long list of events). There were other events - a mass paddle board trip upriver (which I missed) and a rowing race along with the stand up paddle board race (which I also missed). The try to paddle or kayak were cancelled due to the weather and water conditions.

But strangely the weather actually proved their point better than any number of fancy marquees. For when the heavens opens it dumps so much water that the sewage system just can't cope, so rainwater and sewage overflow into the Thames. It is just such a pollution event the Tideway Tunnel is designed to stop: the largest private run and financed infrastructure in Europe.

There was one boat that seemed a little shy, lurking below Putney Railway Bridge, just visible from Putney Embankment:

This is the Bubbler (as blogged here) and it pumps oxygen into the river to compensate for that lost by the flood of sewage which otherwise would kill of the wildlife.

They say that prevention is be better than cure, and this is why the Thames Tideway Tunnel is a Good Thing.

When the Great River Race and Marmalade Day collide

You might be aware of The Great River Race - I've blogged it a few times before, including last year when it clashed with Classic Yachts at St Katharine Dock and a friend's baby's birthday party.

This year it again clashed with the Classic Yachts at St Katharine Dock but also with Marmalade Day!

What is Marmalade Day, you might be asking? Is it something to do with Paddington (the bear)? Well, this event, which is firmly in my calendar, is the first Saturday of each month when there is a stand in the historic St. Mary's Church, Putney, that sells home made marmalade which is great. The keen eyed will have spotted that this isn't the first Saturday of September and it must be admitted that this arrangement is a bit ad-hoc.

Anyhow, this double-booking was easily handled as the church is right by Putney Bridge so by watching the race from that spot could see the hundreds of boats go by and stock up with my breakfast toast favourite.

It was also where there was someone from Radio Jackie ("The sound of SW London!") was shouting out encouraging words, plus friends and family were standing on what Radio Jackie insisted on calling "the world famous Putney Bridge" waving on rowers, so it was a good place to watch:

Of course some were taking it seriously and going for the finish line:

Go Team 326!!!

But others were a bit more laid back, and some had got the message about costume:

That wasn't the only Go Pro on display:

Go Team Go Pro!

A great sight, well done to all involved:

This is a great sight too:

Go Team Marmalade!!

The Tudor Pull: Gloriana, Stela and a photo-bombing heron

Over the weekend there was something called the Tudor Pull which is a one of those historic maritime pageants which us Brits seem to revel in (and I've posted about before).

It's an annual ceremonial for Thames Watermen's Cutters organised by the Traditional Thames Rowing Association, involving the Royal rowing barge Gloriana (above) and others (below) in which "the Stela will be given in to the custody of the HM Queen’s Barge Master to be transported under oars to HM Tower of London."

Stela according to this web site is "an ancient piece of medieval water pipe made from a hollowed-out tree trunk which symbolises the Thames". I so (to quote Sassi) want to have a look at that hallowed object sometime.

Anyhow, there was break on the voyage of Stela from Hampton Court to the Tower at Richmond timed just nicely for a spot of lunch and then everyone set off again.

In this case the photo managed also to snap a heron doing a flyby:

The Boat Race 2018 - a video

Rather than taking stills, this Boat Race decided to shoot only video and put the result on YouTube, as can be seen above.

Must admit can see why the BBC has 30 plus camera and a mesh style radio communication network to pass video up and down the Thames: the rowing eights are going so fast you only get to see a snapshot of the race.

However in this case it was all over by Hammersmith Bridge so got to see the most important thing.... Cambridge ahead!

Cambridge wins everything!

The Boat Race (and spring) is coming

Spring seems slow in coming this year but one sign of it is already here, namely the Oxford - Cambridge University Boat Race.

Traditionally held in early spring it is scheduled for tomorrow and this afternoon there was a trial run complete with cherry pickers, a helicopter and two rowing eights.

Winter is going.

London Boat Show: Rowing the Indian Ocean

At the London Boat show saw another of those cross-ocean rowing team expeditions things. I know its all for a good cause (*) and terribly hard work but really can't get that enthusiastic - sorry guys!

I just can't see why you'd row when you could sail. Maybe I've seen too many SV Delos videos but they seem to be having a lot of fun while this just seems like making life hard for yourself.

Also, wasn't that the route that the debris from that the Malaysia flight 370 aircraft crash followed, washing up at Mauritius too?

Anyhow, there's a web site about there voyage here.



(*) raising money for to support those with Parkinson's Disease which really is horrid so worth funding

Wingardium Leviosa vs. Expecto Patronum

It might be a long time until the Oxford vs Cambridge University Boat Race but the crews and busy preparing out on the Thames.

Today the Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club crews have their Trial Eights match-up and they have name the two crews Wingardium Leviosa and Expecto Patronum.

Given that Cambridge University does indeed look like something out of Harry Potter this is very appropriate.

As to which is which (above & below photos) I must admit I have no clue.

However it is possible that I have been hit by a confundus charm.


Updated: victory for Expecto Patronum!

TBH, I'm not surprised as the Patronus charm was clearly more useful to Harry Potter than the levitation one