Oxford / Cambridge boat race now in a Dyke

[Capt Popeye]

Just seen a news item where it appeared to state that the Oxford / Cambridge Boat Race will now be held in, a long straight stretch of water, so thats a Dyke surely ?

No current, no bends, no crowds, no wash, alledgedly its so that Crowds will not gather to watch the race so its a Covid prevention matter /reason

So would the race stil be allowed on the Thames even though the Hammersmith Bridge is apparently clsed to ALL ?

Has or IS covid a convenient smoke screen in this case ?

 

[LittleSister]

Has or IS covid a convenient smoke screen in this case ?

An inconvenient smoke screen, I would have thought.

But you are right: the Covid pandemic is probably some nefarious plan by the hidden powers to disrupt the Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race.

 

[bedouin]

It does seem crazy doesn't it but apparently not even the boat race is allowed under Hammersmith Bridge - how on earth they can get away with closing the river like that for so many months (years ?) is beyond me.

In fact it is a better location than the lottery that is the tidal Thames - just from the pictures it seems a bit narrow.

 

[Tomahawk]

I read up the first set of covid regs. They allow for the closure of a port by application to the SoS for Transport in the grounds of national security or consideration of illegal migration.. Cannot see the upper Thames as a likely area for depositing illega migrqnts.

 

[Robih]

I know the stretch of river well, we started our boating on a little 20’ Viking riverboat there. It’s not really a dyke though it is straight from Ely up to Littleport and is not the most enticing waterway to cruise along. It is the main course of the Rover Ouse from Bedford to The Wash though there is a drainage channel (as designed by Vermydun sp?) the famous Dutch engineer who drained the Fens which runs from Earith to Denver Sluice which regulates the water level in the Ouse as it passes though Ely and onward to Denver Sluice. The tributaries off the main river there are pleasant enough cruising. I Would define a dyke as being a drainage channel, normally a cul-de-sac of water, that is purely for land drainage with current only arising from field drainage. The Ouse where the race is to be held most definitely has a current as it is a significant waterway given that it is the culmination of many rivers, principally the Gt Ouse and the Cam. Having said that it’s nothing like The Thames of course. When we first started boating it felt as though it was The Amazon!

Here is a photo of us navigating northward, as will the rowing boats, from Ely to Littleport. From the helm of our Nimbus 3003:

 

[LittleSister]

I know the stretch of river well, we started our boating on a little 20’ Viking riverboat there. . . When we first started boating it felt as though it was The Amazon!

And those fen dwellers, and their blow-pipes, haven't changed much since!

 

[ProDave]

I thought passage under Hammersmith Bridge was available to be booked in advance, so you would have thought they would have enough warning to make a booking?

 

[doug748]

Just seen a news item where it appeared to state that the Oxford / Cambridge Boat Race will now be held in, a long straight stretch of water.....

Suez canal last week would have been a good fix.

.

 

[st599]

I thought passage under Hammersmith Bridge was available to be booked in advance, so you would have thought they would have enough warning to make a booking?

It is, but you have to pass under at minimum revs to maintain steerage, minimum crew, no wash and you will be turned back if you set off the sensors on the bridge.

 

[Poignard]

Easily solved. Get the crews to do a portage around the bridge. This would add an interesting new dimension to the race.

 

[Capt Popeye]

Many thank fo all the postings, so far ; just seems to be to be a travesty that OUR Boat Race cannot use the Thames maybe be for our lifetimes ; understand from the clip that it was decided that groups and gatherings along the rought will be a Covid risk , but the 2m rule distancing rule between persons was judged as ok in this instance , crikey just how long are them boats ?

 

[Capt Popeye]

Easily solved. Get the crews to do a portage around the bridge. This would add an interesting new dimension to the race.

Wow Capt P RN you do make fantastic comments and observations , pity about missing the HM job application , I say !

 

[Poignard]

Wow Capt P RN you do make fantastic comments and observations , pity about missing the HM job application , I say !

No use you trying to butter me up. If I was Harbour Master only Remainers would get berths!

 

[Capt Popeye]

No use you trying to butter me up. If I was Harbour Master only Remainers would get berths!

Ah thanks for the 'heads up' Capt P , please advise me which flag I sould hoist then when next approaching Dartmouth, already have a few to choose from in the locker ; guess that I could manage entering the Dart unoticed ; oh pl enjoy the 'butter' its Devon you know ! do hope its quite digestable ?

 

[WoodyP]

It's not the first time the boat race has been run on this stretch, as it happened during 1944, when there was another national crisis that the population managed to survive.
I was sort of involved when Cambridge university Boat club purchased the site of their new boat house at Ely. Very swish, while the forelock tugging local boat club operate out of a shipping container. Town and gown do not get on.

 

[Robih]

Town and gown do not get on.

Well yes, but let's not forget that Ely has a fine cathedral and is therefore very much a city.

 

[LittleSister]

It's not the first time the boat race has been run on this stretch, as it happened during 1944, when there was another national crisis that the population managed to survive.

It has also been held, numerous times I believe, on other stretches of the Thames, so once the Covid crisis has abated Hammersmith Bridge need not, er, stand in its way.

No doubt, though, the lizards will be cooking some other fiendish scheme to put the kibosh on it again, if only to annoy Cap'n Popeye.

 

[penfold]

What's the score with Hammersmith bridge then? Do the fun police banish you to the broads if you go under without tugging your forelock and completing the correct handshake? Going under it slowly and with prior permission won't help if it collapses, which I understand is the imminent risk.

 

[Leighb]

A friend this afternoon told us that she know of a couple whose garden runs down to the bank of that stretch of the Ouse. They are planning to invite a couple of friends to watch the race from their garden, as permitted under the current rules. However some officious p**t has tried to tell them that they are not allowed to watch the race!!!

 

[Capt Popeye]

A friend this afternoon told us that she know of a couple whose garden runs down to the bank of that stretch of the Ouse. They are planning to invite a couple of friends to watch the race from their garden, as permitted under the current rules. However some officious p**t has tried to tell them that they are not allowed to watch the race!!!

Yea well, from a quik glimpse of the TV News item i get the understanding that thats what the organisers are planning ; watch on tv or not at all

Part of the rational I understand from having the Boat Race ooop norf is that it will indeed make it a Covid free event (except for the rowers that is who are clearly within 2m of another?)