Stroking
THE Henley Royal Regatta attracts 100,000 people, only 20,000 of whom are said actually to watch the races. The balance are enjoying picnics in the car park (occasionally attended by the odd butler), drinking Pimm's in the Steward's Enclosure, displaying their finery, or all of the above.
In late June the Dartmouth lightweight crew traveled to Henley- on-Thames to compete for the Thames Cup against the likes of Princeton, Brown, Oxford, and Goldie Boat Club, which, for reasons too arcane to cover here, is Cambridge's second boat. Your correspondent caught up with them on Saturday, July 2.
My dear, did yon EVERsee a hat like Fiona's?
Because they had won the Eastern Sprints earlier, our crew was seeded, earning a bye on Wednesday, June 29. On Thursday they easily beat still another Cambridge boat, the Cambridge '99 Rowing Club. In fact, the result was officially recorded as "easily," which, in the gentlemanly lingo of oarsman-ship, means four lengths or better. The time was a relatively slow 6 minutes, 52 seconds.
More pate, sir? Thank you,Rogers.
On Friday the Big Green—actually the Lightweight Green—took on St. Andrews Boat Club and won by 1 1/4 lengths, having trimmed their time to 6.33. This earned them a spot in the quarter-finals.
On a warm but slightly overcast Saturday, they were rather mismatched against the aforementioned Goldie. The Green crew averaged 11 stone, 13 pounds, giving away 2 stone, 4 pounds, per man to the Cantabrigians. We also gave away significantly in terms of middle initials and hyphenated names:
Goldie's number two man was N.G.F.C. Smith, its number seven S.J. Dawson-Bowling
I say, isn't that old DickyCholmondley-Forbes in theQueens blazer?
The Thames Cup record over Henley's one-mile-and-550-yard course is 6.09. The Green needed to improve its time significantly. At 10:20 they were off. From our vantage point in the Enclosure, both boats were still out of sight when the time to the first official marker was announced as 1.49—just two seconds off the record pace. By the second marker the time was 3.02, three seconds behind the record—but, unfortunately, Goldie led, striking 38, Dartmouth 36.
Have another Pimm'swon't you, old boy?
Now they were in sight, Goldie by a canvas (the covered part of the bow, which is really plastic these days). The crowd sauntered toward the race course. "Come on, Goldie!" they exclaimed. "Pull!" urged the Green I cox, Brian Crounse '94. Inhabitants of the colorful canvas chaises eased to their feet for a glimpse of the finish. And Goldie won, by a length and a quarter in 6.18, nine seconds off the record. Dartmouth's coach, Dick Grossman, believes the crew's strategy faltered, but...
Good show, chaps!
In the semi-finals Goldie beat Princeton while the Brown freshman crew (averaging 13 stone, 6 pounds) knocked out Oxford. In the final Brown edged Goldie by 1 ½.
Really, then, weren't thestrawberries brilliant thisyear!
A Pimm's-sipping crowd admiredour Green lads inHenley-on-Thames.
