Pageant boat on eBay

One of my favourite boats in the Diamond Jubilee Pageant was Jack Charlton, a little clinker dinghy presented by the 1966 World Cup star Jack Charlton to a Tyneside charity. They later disposed of it to the current owner.
I really admired the small boats in the display - they rowed just as far as everyone else with fewer rowers and greater restrictions on speed. But Jack Charlton appealed particularly because of its unique rowing configuration - they could not use the middle rowing station for some reason (either a broken oar or a lost rowlock, I think), so they improvised by putting a couple of people with paddles in their place. They seemed to do alright. Slow, though.
Just a week later, Jack Charlton has been put on eBay. The condition is described as recently revarnished with 'a few minor scratches (arising from the Pageant)'. She is in Henley and you will need at least £800 to buy her.

A Very British Summer (cont.)

First there was a mighty rushing wind. Now we have a great flood.
This is getting worryingly Biblical....

Venetians on the Thames

After the Royal Row Barge Gloriana, which effortlessly dominated the river with her gilt-carven-bulkitude, the most impressive sight at the Diamond Jubilee Pageant was the pair of huge gondolas manned by Venetians, with accompanying sandolos brought by City Barge in Oxford, a club devoted to the less common forms of rowing.

We came up with them again on Wednesday in Abingdon lock - they were also going to participate in the Beale Park Thames Boat Show. The big gondolas were not there, unfortunately, but it was still a pretty sight to see four sandolos and a gondola in such a quintessential English scene. Several of the Italians were with the party.
The big sandolo (below) was built in Stratford-upon-Avon fairly recently, but the gondola was made in Venice in 1904 for an exhibition in London. Afterwards, she was bought by the romantic novelist Marie Corelli, who lived in Stratford. The sight of her and her companion being rowed on the Avon by her tame gondolier was a notable tourist attraction for years. Corelli (born Mary Mackay) was without doubt one of the worst novelists in history, right down there with Jeffrey Archer, with whom she shares many stylistic traits. Try Thelma - I defy you to get to Chapter Two.

A Very British Summer

What a busy week. First there was the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant (windy, wet and bitterly cold), then the Home Built Boat Rally raid down the Thames (windy, wet and bitterly cold at intervals) and finally the Beale Park Thames Boat Show (Friday's show cancelled because of ferocious wind, rain and cold). I had a great time.

The top picture shows Phil Oxborrow (Pathfinder canoe Tonawanda), Wayne Oliver (Sandpiper flattie Ever Hopeful) and Chris Adeney (strip-plank canoe) entering the lake at Beale after an invigorating trip down from Wallingford against a stiff headwind (is there any other kind of wind?). An hour or so later, the wind blew up hard and the rain came down in stair rods, blowing the Water Craft tent completely off the ground. The people inside it were alarmed but luckily unhurt.
Here is a picture of the repair crew at work, stiffening the bent tubes with bits of wood held on by zip ties. The editor of Water Craft, Pete Greenfield (left) is assisting by holding his hand in the way.
When I got home later that afternoon, the first thing I saw was the gazebo I had erected over the Bee to facilitate finishing and painting:


Blast.

Off to the Upper Thames

I'm off to the Thames again, this time to Eynsham where I will be joining the Home Built Boat Rally for a paddle down the river to Beale Park and the Thames Boat Show.
It became finally clear that the Bee was not going to be finished in time, what with the Pageant and all, so Snarleyow got a bit of a tidy up and is being pressed into service.
It is bloody raining already.

The secret of good coxing....

...is to keep the boat centre screen.

Vogalonga 2012

A group from Langstone Cutters took a pilot gig and a Teifi skiff to Venice for the Vogalonga, the only day in the year that motor boats are banned from the canals and human-power rules. You would think this would restore the calm of La Serenissima for a blessed moment, but the event now attracts more than 1,600 boats from all over Europe.
The mayhem can be judged from this...