Henley Royal Regatta begins today. I was going to post a link of a list with the crews that have qualified but unfortunately I am getting a 'file error'. Go to the regatta's web site and try yourselves, it might have been fixed by the time you have a go. Click here.
A friend of mine, Bill, sent me an e-mail regarding yesterday’s entry. Bill also visited the WoodenBoat Show at Mystic Seaport Museum and he mentions how much he enjoyed the show again this year. Bill writes “As usual, I got sidetracked talking with all sorts of vendors, including Steve Ferlauto and now I’m toying with the idea of building a practice wherry to add to my fleet of small boats.” Bill continues “Steve Ferlauto had a practice wherry on display that looked to me like a much more attractive alternative to the Aldens for beginners as well as a boat that would enjoy being out in open water. He said that it was a prototype […]. I’m thinking that the Seaport must have some practice wherries in its collection that have been measured and documented. Do you know?”
Although The WoodenBoat Show, for the fourth year running at Mystic Seaport Museum, maybe was not really as big as the three previous years, it was a great show. I was working there for the two first out of the three days and as I was terribly busy, I did not manage to take a good look at what the vendors had to offer. Well today, on my day off, I went back to take some photographs that I would like to share with you.
I met Steve Ferlauto, whom I talked to at last year’s show. Steve is running the River School Boats and this year he had his latest built boat on display, a mix of old and new – old as it is built out of wood, and new that it has ‘wingriggers’ (see above). He is eager to know how this recreational shell is going to be received. Will the wooden ‘traditionalists‘ whine about the wingriggers, and will the carbon fiber scullers complain about the wood?
Steve also had a beautiful old single on display by boatbuilder Vincent Radley & Sons (see above) who built boats on the river Lea in east London starting during the 19th century. It has probably been restored on a couple of occasions, with a sliding seat, ‘new’ clogs, etc. – a beautiful craftsman work, indeed.
Another exhibitor’s watercraft also caught my eye, Andrew Meigs’s Dancing Dragon, which was launched earlier this month! Andrew, who is an old oarsman, became tired always facing backwards, he said, so he came up with this propeller-driven, scull-less, faceforward ‘cycle-boat’. Being conservative when it comes to my sculling and rowing, I truly thought this was a fun-looking boat, which I would not mind at all to go for an outing in!
#1 National Rowing Hall of Fame & rowing exhibit ‘Let Her Run’ – a thrilling place.
#5 Rowboat Rentals – get out on the Mystic River.
"For Henley.
In a press release published some days ago, the Stewards of the Henley Royal Regatta, which begins on 30 June, announced that this year’s regatta not only has many entries for the different Cups, but also high quality entries. The press release states that “The total entry of 505 crews (468 in 2009) includes 116 overseas crews (93 in 2009) from 20 different nations. Great Britain, New Zealand and Canada have entered the majority of their crews preparing for the World Championships in New Zealand later this year and there are strong entries from the U.S.A., France, Holland, Germany and Italy.”
Yesterday, the whole of Sweden celebrated together with the Royal Family when Crown Princess Victoria married Daniel Westling, who now became Prince Daniel. My main interest in this festivity was the couple’s transport by the Royal Barge Vasaorden from the Stockholm Cathedral to the Castle. Vasaorden, which has nine pairs of oars, was built in 1923 and is a replica of an older Royal Barge that was destroyed in a fire in 1921. Vasaorden, which is built almost entirely of Swedish oak, is very heavy to row and difficult to steer. This was shown the other week when sailors from the Swedish Navy were out training in her. The officer in charge of the steering made a slight mistake in maneuvering the craft and she ran into another boat. No one was hurt but she needed a little paint work before she could be used yesterday.
Earlier today, Hélène Rémond of France left a comment about the rowing movie La Régate. She writes "I have just learnt a DVD will be available in September. And for readers living in Switzerland... La Régate will be shown in the cinemas on July 7th." 
A week from today, Friday 25 June, the 19th annual WoodenBoat Show will begin at Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. It will be the third year in a row this three-day show is being held at the Mystic Seaport, and it is a must-go-to-event if you are interested in new or old wooden boats. It is as it says on the museum’s web site: “In addition to beautiful boats in the water, visitors can enjoy browsing through tents and extensive land exhibits which include boat builders, sail makers, marine adhesive and coatings companies, boat schools and associations, maritime art and antiques, tools, wooden boat hardware, nautical gear, books and innovative items.”
A 1967 photograph of the four founding fathers - Wilf Stark (bow), Jacko Stevens (2), Frank Ashenden (3) and Reggie Reeves (Str) - of what is today the Auriol Kensington RC's veteran row from Hammersmith to Henley.*
Henley Royal Regatta has many traditions. There are the ‘official’ ones that are a result of 171 years of existence and then there are the ‘unofficial’ ones that are the result of the same people attending the same event for much of their lifetime. For the last forty eight years, Auriol Rowing Club (and, latterly, Auriol Kensington Rowing Club) have rowed one or two Veteran (Masters) crews from Hammersmith to Henley, timed to arrive just before the start of the Regatta. These days the distance of fifty six miles is covered in three days by two eights. It is only possible because of the support received from the rest of the rowing community.
The ‘Henley Row’ is an event that seems to grow in importance for the participants. At the end of row dinner we remember those stalwart members of Auriol Rowing Club who first did it in 1962. In the words of one participant, “…we both thank them and curse them for this strange obsession.
Well, here is a treat for you if you live in England. On Saturday, 26 June, at 11:30, famous rowing writer and historian Chris Dodd is going to give a talk, ”Sporting Life in a Laptop”, at the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames. Dodd, who is the museum’s rowing historian, has covered six Olympic regattas and attended more than 30 World Championships, Henley Royal Regattas, and Boat Races. His notes books and laptop are stuffed with good stories about our sport’s stars of today and yesterday. Tickets are £6, to book call 01491 415605, or email edbookings@rrm.co.uk To go to HRR web site for more information, please click here.
Regarding my entry about the boycott of professional sculler Charles Courtney on 25 May, rowing historian Bill Lanouette of Washington DC has sent me an e-mail. Bill mentions that in a 1930 interview with the sportsman and sportswriter John Hadley Doyle, who was president of Potomac Boat Club (PBC) in 1903, it is revealed that Potomac members were so disgusted with Charles Courtney’s performance in the 1880 race against Ned Hanlan that they threw Courtney’s boats and stuff from the clubhouse. Bill writes that “the Washington Post had reported that Courtney left PBC for the race to rousing cheers and applause, and returned to silence. Still, the club hired him as coach a year later.”
On 1 June 2010, starting at Tower Bridge in London, two crews began to row a 2010 mile race around the British coastline. This amazing non-stop unassisted race, which is called Virgin GB Row, can be followed on the web. 
In the beginning there was one female crew, The Seagals, rowing in The Commando and a male crew, The Mistfits, in Orca. Yesterday, Orca pulled out of the race after three of the four men had decided to leave as the world record of 26 days and 21 hours could not be matched due to the hard winds and rough seas. They were by then far behind The Commando. The brave female crew, skipper Berlinda Kirk, Angela Madsen, Laura Thomasson, and Beverley Ashton, is continuing, showing that the important thing is not to win, but to participate! Well done, girls!
The winners of the Cadet Fours in a regatta at the Scandinavian Rowing Club in December 1930. From the left: N. Torgersen (stroke), I. Christophersen, B. Blich (owner of the photo album), S. Sjöstedt, and S. Speyer (cox).
On Christmas Eve in December 1924, S.S. Hanna Skogland crossed the equator on her way to South America. In a photograph King Neptune and members of his court have preformed the traditional crossing-the-line ceremony for the ‘pollywogs’, seamen and passenger who cross the equator for the first time. A little ‘x’ indicates where a boyish-looking Blich is standing (above).
There are no photographs from 1925, but from the following year there are photographs from Montevideo, picnics, and images from the river and delta of Paraná from November 1926, where the oarsmen are lying down in their skiff - “we are taking it easy”. In January 1927, a photograph is showing the outside of a house in Buenos Aires where Mr. Blich is now living. He has turned into a handsome looking fellow, a real gentleman, which we can see in the photograph on the right, taken in January 1928.
I do not know if this was B. Blich’s last race. Some of the photographs that follow in the album show him and some of his rowing friends going on a rowing tour to Uruguay in March 1932. If the winds allowed they would sail their Thames skiff and camp overnight on the beaches, using the oars as tent poles (see above).
They also visited the rowing club in Colonia, Uruguay (seen above). And then they rowed and sailed home to Tigre (see below).
"The Sporting Spirit: An Echo Of Henley."
Back in January, Tim Koch sent me an e-mail about a new boat race on the Thames, the Parliamentary Boat Race. However, as it is a race held in June I thought I would wait to post an entry about it. Well, we are in June now, but despite my search on the web, I am not able to find any information about this years’ race. But here is what Tim wrote in January:
"Our great sport is full of tradition. One of the 'newer traditions' is the Parliamentary Boat Race, an event revived in 2007. It has grown rapidly as a result of the work of the All Party Parliamentary Rowing Group, the organisation by Alan Foster of London Rowing Club and generous sponsorship from Siemens. It now consists of a Lords [in red] v Commons [in green] Race and three invitation events. The 2009 PBR, held on 23rd June, had a men's race with crews from London RC and Imperial College BC, a women's race with crews from Vesta RC and Auriol Kensington RC and a junior race with crews from London Youth Rowing. The course is from Vauxhall Bridge to the Lords Terrace at the Palace of Westminster (The Houses of Parliament)."
On 17 May, I had an entry about the first Gant Rowing Race which was going to be held on 22 May on Djurgårdsbrunnsviken in Stockholm. The race, which was actually six races, between Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket (SSHL) and Lundsbergs skola seems to have been a great success. Under sunny skies, SSHL won the men’s single and double, and the women’s single and double, while Lundsberg handled the bigger boats better, with two victories in the men’s coxed four and the women’s coxed four. 
The Crimson Knights rowing to Fishers Island. From bow to stern: William Solberg ’11; Tim Smith ’10 (Northeastern); Bert Harney ’10 (Cornell); Grant Barnekow ’10 (U Cal Berkeley); Patrick Grogan ’10 (Trinity Dublin); Josh Weinstein ’11; Kyle Good ’10 (Cornell); stroke Emery Schoenly ’10 (Yale); cox Bryan Wong ’10 (NYU). Photograph: Tony Tremaine, Salisbury captain ’66.
This past weekend Mystic Seaport Museum held the John Gardner Small Craft Workshop. From across the Mystic River I could see all kinds of different rowing boats, small sailboats, kayaks, and canoes on the water for this nice get-together. Unfortunately, I was not able to participate, and when I finally arrived to the museum, late Saturday afternoon, all the boating activities had ended. However, I still managed to take a couple of photographs.
The John Gardner Small Craft Workshop is always held the first weekend in June at Mystic Seaport Museum. Participants are encouraged to bring their watercraft, and share it with the other partakers in the workshop, which more or less means that you can be out on the water rowing, paddling, sailing all day long for two days, for the very low registration fee of $20/adult, or museum member $15/adult (fees for 2010).
The Small Craft Workshop is named after the famous American boat builder and writer John Gardner, who came to Mystic Seaport Museum to start a small watercraft programme in 1969. He stayed at the museum till he died in 1995, 90 years old. He published several books on boat design and his books are still in print, and boat plans of his crafts can be bought from the museum's Collection & Research Center.
The other day, Rachel Quarrell of British Rowing Service reported that Cambridge News had a piece about Cambridge University Combined Boat Clubs (CUCBC), which had received a letter from the Conservators of the River Cam complaining that CUCBS crews had been using “excessive speed” when they were training for the May Bumps! Read the article by clicking here.
After Eton, Bourne went up to New College in 1937, but the following year, he joined the Army. During the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940, Bobbie Bourne was captured by the Germans and he spent the rest of the War in a prison camp. When the War ended, he went back to study at Oxford, and, although “thin and wiry as ever”, as John Langfield writes in his obituary about Bourne, published in Regatta in March 1996, Bobbie Bourne made it into the Blue boat in 1946. The dark Blues won The Boat Race by 3 lengths in 19 min. 54 sec. The same year, he was in the Leander eight that took the Grand and on the same day he won the Stewards’. In 1947, his eight lost The Boat Race to Cambridge.
Bob Bourne’s father Gilbert Charles Bourne, was born in 1861. At the age of six, the family doctor declared him unfit for sports as he had a heart disease. However, at a new medical examination at Eton, young Bourne was given a ‘clean bill of health’. He immediately began to row competitively but, as The Time’s obituary put it, “as his style was unpleasing to the authorities, he was given only a humble position in Lower Boat choices.” It all changed in the spring of 1878, when Bourne unexpectedly was picked for Trail Eights, and he rowed bow of the Eton eight, and the crew reached the final of the Ladies' Plate at Henley that year. He was Captain of the Boats in 1880 and 1881.
G.C. Bourne, who became a famous professor and coach at Oxford, used his studies in zoology, marine biology, and mathematics to mix in with his coaching. He coached Oxford for several periods from 1885 to 1927 (12 of his Blue boats won The Boat Race). His love for theory, whether it was to coach, to build boats, or the best dimensions of oars – their length and the width of the blades – is clearly seen in his wonderful book A Text-Book of Oarsmanship with an Essay on Muscular Action in Rowing, which was published in 1925 (reprinted in 1987).
Bob Bourne, stroking the dark blues in 1910.
But let me start from the beginning. By now, I have written quite a lot about the 1912 Olympic Rowing Regatta in Stockholm, both here on my blog, but also elsewhere, see for example "Samuel F. Gordon and the 1912 Olympic Rowing" and "Olympiaden 1912" (the latter article is in Swedish). At the Stockholm Olympics, each country was allowed to enter two crews in each boat class. Great Britain sent its two best eights, from Leander Club and from New College BC, Oxford. The Leander crew consisted mostly of oarsmen from Magdalen College. New College web site claims that the two British crews were the favourites for the gold in the eights, disregarding that a good eight from Sydney RC actually two weeks earlier had taken the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley, beating New College on the way to the final, where the Aussies had over-powered the Leander eight.
The New College web site goes on, “King Gustav V of Sweden was so disheartened by this display of ungentlemanly conduct that, as a consolation, he presented his colours to New College. Ever since then, New College has raced in purple and gold, the colours of the royal house of Sweden.” [The colours of the House of Bernadotte, or the Royal House of the Kingdom of Sweden are blue, gold, white, and red - not purple. However, in a case of printing a legend or the truth, print the legend!] And then the New College web site comes to GDBM: “A further tradition has been the adoption of the toast: God Damn Bloody Magdalen!, the supposed words of the New College stroke Robert Bourne (seen in a SPY drawing on top) as they crossed the line. The abbreviation GDBM is still used commonly, being on the bottom of the NCBC letterhead to this very day.”
