Starting at the Front

Small boats can do very well in the Great River Race. They start right at the front, so they don't have to fight their way past a mob of slow, wandering, doing-it-for-the-helluvit boats, rowed by the halt and coxed by the blind.

This year was no exception, the overall winners being The Graham Buoys in Maggie, a Cosine Wherry based in Weybridge Sailing Club that has been rowed to victory in several GRRs in the past. She started at 23 in a fleet of 331.

Half Cut, a (Salter?) skiff, started at 16 and came in 6th.
And our own 15 Seconds, definitely a Salter skiff, rowed by Deborah Pentesco-Gilbert, Aileen McGovern and Shelley Cook and crewed by Jake Gilbert, won the Women Veteran's trophy again in a time of 3hr 12m. 

The main problem for the small boats is the notorious lumpiness in the Pool of London, which must be alarming and a bit sick-making...

(Picture of Maggie by Ian Wylie, pictures of 15 Seconds by Hilary Thursby)