Semi-finallists!

Well, as many of you already know, we've made it through to the next round. Once again going in as underdogs against a younger and heavier crew, we had close to a perfect row, getting up by about 1.5 lengthsa gain. Poplar were one of the four seeded crews in the event, so it's a nice one to put away. We hear that regatta radio failed us for the second time, choosing not to cover our race, probably because, like everyone else, they thought the result was locked in. :) Pretty sure that won't happen tomorrow.

We arrived at the course this morning to overcast, cool conditions, with a light headwind. The warm-up went well and by the time we pulled onto the start, the wind had picked up slightly, but still much improved conditions from Wednesday. We had Cindy, Amy, her partner Kevin, and Dave Scoullar in the umpires boat to give us plenty of moral support - but not vocal, no cheering, gesturing, waving or other non-decorous behaviour allowed on the umpires launch!

We had the Bucks station today, towards the centre of the river, generally considered to be the slower lane, it has slightly more stream and a little more exposure to the wind. The one advantage is that it is sheltered from the prevailing wind for the first 300m by the Temple Island. Despite this, Poplar won the start and quickly pulled out to a one length lead by about 400m in. Our supporters on the launch were getting quite anxious at this point, but in the boat, it was very much as expected. We never thought that we'd match such a strong crew off the start.

At the quarter mile, Nicole called that we were now holding Poplar to about one length and they'd stopped going away from us. More importantly, they were still rating 40 and we had settled to our race rhythm of 34-35. By the Barrier, 600m in, Nic called that she had their 3 seat. 10 strokes later it was the 2 man, then she skipped bowseat entirely and had her opposing number alongside. From here we hit a fantastic rythm, with Shane completely in control and Conrad in particular having a great row. By the Fawley mark, we had a half-length lead and were going away.

By the mile marker, we had clear water and it was again just a matter of not stuffing up. We stayed clean and controlled, with no panic at all. Poplar's last effort gained them about half a length over the last 500m, but it was too little, too late, the race was ours. The time of 7.29 was a bit slicker than Wed, but we did have better conditions so it remains difficult to compare.

In the following quarter final, an hour later, London RC 'A' defeated Agecroft in a titanic battle, only gaining the lead in the last 200m. Agecroft then collapsed to a 1.5 length defeat. London will therefore be our opponents tomorrow. Weighing in at an average 13st 11p, they will again outweigh us and be much younger (we came in at a lightweight 13st 4). They are also a seeded crew, so we imagine we'll be underdogs again. The Poplar boys said after the race that they fancied their chances against London, so we are taking some encouragement from that, although we are expecting a very, very tough race. London's time today was 7.32.

We were treated to a glimpse of the harsh realities of Henley after our race - eliminated crews are met by the stewards as they come into the landing and have their bow number (which is allocated to each individual crew) taken off there and then. Bye bye. The English are ever so polite 99% of the time, but when it's time to go, you go.

There is plenty here that RV and RA could have a look at, believe it or not, they actually seem to care about rowers here. You can use the course whenever you like as long as you don't interfere with a race, during training times there are boat holders at the start pontoons who will both hold AND call your practice start. In the warm-up area you can do whatever you like, including starts and surges without some crusty old *%$#@^& yelling "Power House! I'll disqualify you if you take one more stroke above 20% pressure within 3km of this spot! There is a race starting in 1 hour!" AND, you can wear whatever hat you choose! Not only that, but there is no-one patrolling the launching pontoons, incredibly, when left to their own devices, rowers actually work it out for themselves! There are no arguments, punch-ups or crashes and no-one drowns.

The gargantuan boat tent is getting emptier, the stands are getting fuller and the crowds drunker. Conor says that we should be getting excited about making the weekend at Henley, apparently it doesn't happen to many, and rarely on the first try. Thankfully it has for us, because I suspect this is our one and only chance! Either way, we'll be making the most of it, now we're in the final four as the literal dark horse (the small, old dark horse at that!), we have nothing left to lose.

Great to read all the messages from those that tuned into the race, Jules Grant actually saw the finish on Webcam! Nice work Jules! Hopefully the radio will serve us better tomorrow. We won't know til late tonight (about 8.30GMT) when our race is. Apparently the committee get together tonight and decide what the best races will be (particularly with a chance of a local win) and put them in the middle of the afternoon, when the crowd is at it's biggest - Conor says there will be over 100,000 people there tomorrow. Eek!

Will let you know the times when we do.

Cheers, Drew