Favorite Rowing Stories

[byron]

What is your favorite rowing story? I have two. The first was when moored just downstream of Henley Bridge. I watched a Moonraker holding station just below centre arch to allow another boat to pass through with the stream. An Eight started screaming abuse at the Moonraker for making too much Wash. The other story is same place same situation except the boat was a Princess DS 30. An Eight rowed in front of the Princess taking centre arch causing the boat coming downstream to take violent evasive action, the Eight then screamed at the Princess for chucking out too much smoke as he roared his engines astern.

©2001

 

[Guest]

I have a good rowing story, but where the rowing is pronounced diffrently.

A friend was in his boat in the marina, when a visiting boat moors alongside late evening, and overheard a verbal ding ding-dong between the bloke driving and his wife crewing which eventually subsided.

Anyway, in the morning, all sweetness and light, and everyone pottering about, my mate got chatting to the chap, who was actually fine. My friend only spolied it when asking after his wife - "what's her name - Mona is it?" he asked, recalling the overheard words exchanged of the previous night. Unfortunately she wasn't called Mona, nor Moaner, nor Bloody Moaner at all! How embarassing!

 

[markc]

Last year I was bringing my new boat back from Southampton to the Thames for the winter with two mates. As we did the journey in one leg, it was pretty dark by the time we got to Chiswick [en route to Teddington for the night]. We were pushing the tide and making a fair amount of wash, but the tide was low and the river deserted.

However, about 200yds ahead of me, emerging from the dark was an 8 rowing along. I immediately pulled into neutral, but as it was dark I had left a pile of wash. One of the crew started shouting abuse at me, but when I started shouting abuse back along the lines of "how the ****ing hell am I supposed to see you when you don’t have any lights on" he still didn't get my point and kept screaming until all his crew mutinied and stated screaming at him "life in danger....stupid git....why didn't you put the light on" type of stuff - it was very funny. Someone on the shore even told them to shut up!!

M

 

[mike_kolling]

I was crawling up along the cordoned off area at Marlow regatta with an race coming downstream towards me. One of the eights strayed outside the course and missed me by inches again screaming about wash etc etc. The umpire boat who was following them and heard it all disqualified them on the spot and appologised to me!

 

[mike_kolling]

Another one I love to tell is during Henley regatta, I was again crawling up the narrow bit left over for the rest of the world to use. Just where the most narrow bit of all is at the lower end of Fawley Meadow an eight was rowing up behind me after their race and as they werent looking where they were going had to suddenly stop to avoid crashing into the backup of me. Then as they were really impatient they tried to overtake me but there was not enough width left so they had to crawl upsptream behind me breathing in all my glorious diesel fumes at 4mph. Lovely.

 

[Guest]

Mine is from Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1961. I was a Cadet on a tramp steamer anchored in the river.

Two men came alongside in a rowing boat - one jumped onboard and started throwing anything over the side that would float. His mate rowed around and picked the stuff up.

When my fellow Cadet approached the one onboard he pulls a knife the size of a small sabre - smiles and wanders down the companionway where his mate is approaching to pick him up.

Fellow Cadet screams blue murder and I arrive just after 1st Mate who is getting the story.

First Mate looked over side of ship to see round beaming face, waving knife and a huge grin. (I think it was the smug grin that made him flip.)

The boat came alongside - the smiling thief stepped into the boat and picked up his oars - the two of them pulled away.

It was at this stage that the First Mate dropped the first of two "10 ton" shackles though the bottom of their boat.

For the first five minutes they looked like a Tom and Jerry cartoon - rowing like mad and slowly sinking as they headed for the shore about a mile away.

By the time they realised they couldn't row and bail at the same time .............?? Well, they were last seen heading out into the Atlantic on a fast ebbing tide.

I can still feel the blast of sound that went past my ears when I asked the First Mate if we were going to pick them up!! (Sympathy wasn't his "long suit" as they say.)

Nowadays whenever I see rowers on the river who get a bit stroppy I just smile, blow them a kiss and think of what damage a nice big shackle could do to their lovely lacquered shell.

Best regards ))

Ian D

 

[Guest]

Many years ago working as a Special Constable attached to the Thames Division at Wapping I was part of the detail attending the Ox / Cam boat race. Our duty was to escort the boats out from the boathouse to the start. The boats duly left the shore and proceeded down stream to turn for the stake boat. One of the cox's as usual knew little about real boating and turned too close to Putney bridge on the flooding tide, which ment that he came through the bridge arch sideways. all could have been fine except that they were now running sideways, straight for the stake boat which was a large barge anchored mid stream. The steel cable anchoring the barge proceeded to effortlessly saw off the front 6 feet of the rowing boat.
Having pulled the sinking mass to the shore in the full view of the considerable crowd, it was time for the paperwork. The cox and his crew promptly complained that the barge had deliberatly run them down and the skipper should be arrested and charged with dangerous navigation. This statement was duly written down and recorded. Strangely however they felt this account should be modified when we pointed out that the barge had been moored there for some 2 hours before the rowers had even gone afloat, and was still there not moving.
The moral of the story is.
1. Always treat the rower as the complete idiot that he really is.
2. No matter what his background or schooling he will try to lie his way out of any situation always claiming to be the innocent party.

Advice. Keep a camera handy and get your statement in first.