Signing off..

Hi all,

Just a very brief wash-up to fill in on the final results and the end of the regatta. Apologies for not doing this earlier, on Saturday afternoon I was in no mood to write, Saturday evening and Sunday I was in no condition to write. We then lost our Wi-Fi access and Cindy and I have just landed in a town in South Wales where the B&B finally has a connection that works.

Just in case you are interested, the Tideway Scullers crew that were the favourites for the event eventually did win, after a tough race, beating London by I think about 3/4 of a length in very tough headwind conditions. So at least one Aussie did get up. In the final analysis, we were very competitive, despite our miscalculation on the Saturday morning.

So it was worth the trip and was nevertheless a fabulous experience for us all. We turned plenty of heads, most of whom had never heard of Power House Rowing Club. There are any number of people keen to come for a visit and a a disturbing minority who want an Australian cox, all for their very own!

One interesting stat that Bingles found was a tipping competition for all the events in the Regatta. Tideway got over 65% of the vote for the Britannia Challenge Cup, London recieved about 27%. So clearly the tippers knew their stuff, except for one small detail, one of the other semi-finallists (you can guess who) got only 1% of the vote. :)

Saturday afternoon was spent in the very posh Stewards Enclosure, where much Pimms was found. I won't say much more about that. Sunday we watched the finals and said our goodbyes to our small Henley support crew. Conor had a great day, his UCD boys (Conor is club treasurer), won the Prince Albert, the first Henley win for UCD in many moons. So at least we were associated with some winners!

By Monday morning, Shane had already departed for London, and Bingles, Nic and Conrad bundled up the oars onto the roof of the Golf, and headed off to Heathrow bright and early. Already it feels like a hundred years ago. Henley is still the Holy Grail for club rowers, it just remains untouched by PHRC. It will have to be down to another group in another year. And wouldn't I just love to see it.

Thanks so much on behalf of the crew to all our supporters. Your thoughts, comments and good will have been with us all the way, much of our disappointment on Saturday was due to a sense we had let you all down. On reflection though, we would not have even been here if not for all your support and that of the club. So, THANKYOU!

Cheers, Drew

Dream Over...

Hi all,

Sorry about the delay, was not really in the mood for blogging yesterday! So sorry we couldn't give you something to celebrate for your Saturday night - unfortunately we weren't quite good enough on the day.

Briefly, conditions were actually quite quick yesterday, our usual headwind was absent, and quick times were being set all morning. Foolishly, we neglected to take note of this and reset our gearing, which we had lightened the day before - a bit amateurish I'm afraid. Nevertheless, London pulled off a great start and had us by a length at the Barrier. Despite being in the same position on Friday with no panic or stress, this time we just never quite settled in, never really struck that efficient rhythm that worked so well the day before.

However, as you will have heard on the radio, we did pull back steadily through London, although it took us until Remenham (about 700 to go) to get back on terms. A nasty little battle ensued over the next 300m that, in retrospect, cost us far too much. I for one hope there is no video of the final 500m, because I'm fairly sure I wasn't looking my best. :) We managed to hang on through to the 1&1/8 mile, (300 to go), but London produced a final burst that was nothing short of astounding, left us virtually dead in the water.

We clearly needed to put them under pressure much earlier in the race to take that sting out of them, but were just as clearly unable to do so. Beaten by a better crew on the day. The London crew came to see us immediately after the race, they had been quite concerned, not knowing whether or not we had a finishing burst in us. They are thrilled to be through to the final, understandably, and will now face the Tideway Scullers crew that have been the overwhelming favourites all week.

Off to watch that race now, not sure who to barrack for, there is an Australian rowing in the Tideway crew, but London did beat us...

Will be back on in a better mood later.

Cheers, Drew

Saturday's race

Hi all,

Briefly, we are racing London A at 11.00am GMT, which should be 8pm EST for anyone who wants to try to listen/watch. Expecting the racing to be hard and tight, no easy races at this point of the regatta. Maybe we can pull out another one.

Cheers, Drew

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

Next round

Hi all,

It's late Thursday evening here, we've just arrived home following a light paddle of about 6km. Our next race is the second on the program tomorrow, bright and early at 8.35am GMT, or 5.35pm EST if you want to log onto the Henley website - you can get a direct stream from the regatta radio with race commentary and/or view the results page which is updated quickly. I don't know the exact website address, but google Henley Regatta, and you should be able to find it easily.

We are racing against Poplar Blackwall & District RC. They are bigger and stronger than us without doubt, about 10kgs average weight more. Watching them race on Wednesday, they look strong, but heavy in the water. With a bit of luck, we'll be able to put them under enough pressure to force them out of their comfort zone. Conditions over here have been becoming progressively more windy, lots of chop and boat wash on the course which is generally not the sort of water we go looking for!

With a bit of luck, early morning may be a bit calmer and conditions may suit us a little better. Match racing is pretty dog-eat-dog, all crews want to get in front and control the race, much like we did yesterday. Unfortunately, this doesn't really suit our style, we tend to grind out a full distance and not worry too much about being behind early. Unfortunately, on such a tight course, once you get much more than a length down, you start to cop wash from them and comebacks are rare. However, the same rules as always apply, if you want to get out in front, you do pay a price - so we are still confident we can counteract most opposition race plans.

Cindy has just produced another fabulous meal, so I'm going to sign off and eat now! Thanks to all for your messages of support, you can all be assured that nothing will be spared in our charge for the semi-finals, I'll let you know what happens asap.

Cheers, Drew

Next round

Hi all,

It's late Thursday evening here, we've just arrived home following a light paddle of about 6km. Our next race is the second on the program tomorrow, bright and early at 8.35am GMT, or 5.35pm EST if you want to log onto the Henley website - you can get a direct stream from the regatta radio with race commentary and/or view the results page which is updated quickly. I don't know the exact website address, but google Henley Regatta, and you should be able to find it easily.

We are racing against Poplar Blackwall & District RC. They are bigger and stronger than us without doubt, about 10kgs average weight more. Watching them race on Wednesday, they look strong, but heavy in the water. With a bit of luck, we'll be able to put them under enough pressure to force them out of their comfort zone. Conditions over here have been becoming progressively more windy, lots of chop and boat wash on the course which is generally not the sort of water we go looking for!

With a bit of luck, early morning may be a bit calmer and conditions may suit us a little better. Match racing is pretty dog-eat-dog, all crews want to get in front and control the race, much like we did yesterday. Unfortunately, this doesn't really suit our style, we tend to grind out a full distance and not worry too much about being behind early. Unfortunately, on such a tight course, once you get much more than a length down, you start to cop wash from them and comebacks are rare. However, the same rules as always apply, if you want to get out in front, you do pay a price - so we are still confident we can counteract most opposition race plans.

Cindy has just produced another fabulous meal, so I'm going to sign off and eat now! Thanks to all for your messages of support, you can all be assured that nothing will be spared in our charge for the semi-finals, I'll let you know what happens asap.

Cheers, Drew

Next round

Hi all,

It's late Thursday evening here, we've just arrived home following a light paddle of about 6km. Our next race is the second on the program tomorrow, bright and early at 8.35am GMT, or 5.35pm EST if you want to log onto the Henley website - you can get a direct stream from the regatta radio with race commentary and/or view the results page which is updated quickly. I don't know the exact website address, but google Henley Regatta, and you should be able to find it easily.

We are racing against Poplar Blackwall & District RC. They are bigger and stronger than us without doubt, about 10kgs average weight more. Watching them race on Wednesday, they look strong, but heavy in the water. With a bit of luck, we'll be able to put them under enough pressure to force them out of their comfort zone. Conditions over here have been becoming progressively more windy, lots of chop and boat wash on the course which is generally not the sort of water we go looking for!

With a bit of luck, early morning may be a bit calmer and conditions may suit us a little better. Match racing is pretty dog-eat-dog, all crews want to get in front and control the race, much like we did yesterday. Unfortunately, this doesn't really suit our style, we tend to grind out a full distance and not worry too much about being behind early. Unfortunately, on such a tight course, once you get much more than a length down, you start to cop wash from them and comebacks are rare. However, the same rules as always apply, if you want to get out in front, you do pay a price - so we are still confident we can counteract most opposition race plans.

Cindy has just produced another fabulous meal, so I'm going to sign off and eat now! Thanks to all for your messages of support, you can all be assured that nothing will be spared in our charge for the semi-finals, I'll let you know what happens asap.

Cheers, Drew