Thames rowers

T

tichmarshjohn

Active Member
Joined
20 Mar 2010
Messages
68
Location
essex uk
Visit site
We have just came back from a great trip from Tichmarsh to Windsor met some lovely people and made some new friends.Thats what boating is all about.Just one but.We were going up river towards Richmond when i spotted a rower coming down river on the wrong with a very erratic course i just could not decide quite where he was going so i shut down and went dead in the water.He was rowing straight at us,i gave him a blast on the horn but to no avail he hit us on our starbard side.The fff & abuse from this man was unbeliveable in front of my wife & 3 year old grandson.I only kept quite as i did not want to frighten my grandson.Some time later we were stopped by a Thames patrol boat & given a 15 min lecture they just did not seem to be interested in our version of the event at all.What was i supposed to do if i tried to motor round him & he hit me more damage would have done & possibley injury it left a nasty tast & made me fill very angery.On a much happier note we went into Limehouse on the return leg i can not praise George and his staff highly enough.Thay fitted us in at the last minute gave us advise on the weather & tides,locked us out late so we could sit on the outside pontoon to catch the 3 am tide home & George even came down to see if we were ok before he went home.All on the night England played like tits.Limehouse is a boaters marina with great people.
 
Unfortunately rowers on the tideway are a miserable bunch, however are you sure you weren't in the bouyed rowing channel, this is a channel kept clear specificaly for rowers and in the upstream direction it is on the wrong side of the river. Any rower wouldn't expect a cruiser to be in it so be will concentrating on his stroke looking the wrong way of course:(
 
Must be most rowers throughout the country.

On the Yorkshire Ouse we have the York University Rowing Club. The bigger boats have a coxswain who can see you coming. As you approach, throttle to idle to cut the wash and you usually get a cheery wave and a thank you.

The smaller boat without a cox have a bloke in an inflatable with outboard.

These guys are prats, the bloke in the inflatable weaves all over the river at speed behind them, glares at you, once nearly hit us and creates an hellish wake. Yet he is quick to scream wake as you approach.
The rowers just look down their nose as they pass.



Never get a thanks for showing seamanship and courtesy from them. Must be a different club.

The kayakers look at your approach with an anticiptory smirk and almost will you to speed up and create a good wake to bob about in.
 
Last edited:
tichmarshjohn said:
We have just came back from a great trip from Tichmarsh to Windsor met some lovely people and made some new friends.Thats what boating is all about.Just one but.We were going up river towards Richmond when i spotted a rower coming down river on the wrong with a very erratic course i just could not decide quite where he was going so i shut down and went dead in the water.He was rowing straight at us,i gave him a blast on the horn but to no avail he hit us on our starbard side.The fff & abuse from this man was unbeliveable in front of my wife & 3 year old grandson.I only kept quite as i did not want to frighten my grandson.Some time later we were stopped by a Thames patrol boat & given a 15 min lecture they just did not seem to be interested in our version of the event at all.What was i supposed to do if i tried to motor round him & he hit me more damage would have done & possibley injury it left a nasty tast & made me fill very angery.On a much happier note we went into Limehouse on the return leg i can not praise George and his staff highly enough.Thay fitted us in at the last minute gave us advise on the weather & tides,locked us out late so we could sit on the outside pontoon to catch the 3 am tide home & George even came down to see if we were ok before he went home.All on the night England played like tits.Limehouse is a boaters marina with great people.
Click to expand...

Limehouse is my favourite too :)

The rowers are usually rude and to generalise far more prejudiced than yachties are to mobos (or mobos to yachties). Even the minority, diehard "all mobos are bad" yachties don't in my experience actually swear at you just for being there - grunt maybe but not swear.
I swamped a single scull once after he swore at my kids for "talking". I had held back behind him for some time, below the speed limit, so as not to spoil his day. Bit of a pain actually because I was on passage but holding back was right. Kids playing on foredeck, and he just hurled the abuse, so I opened the taps fully and passed. I don't think I've ever behaved that badly in a boat before or since but he provoked me, swearing at me is one thing but the kids.......

Another time on a buoy at putney they came over and swore because I was in their way. I should have done a sound signal as I came to the left they yelled. No apology when I pointed out that I was tied up! Actually 100's of anicdotes with rowers, rarely showing rowers in a good light.
 
Hehehhehehe....I used to be a rower on the Thames. Our club used to be just by Barnes Bridge. Although I only did it for a year or two I never had a problem with other river users...only other rowing clubs.....Maybe because we weren't a poncy snobby club and we had experienced coxs we had many a good row without incident.

Although my biggest claim to fame was being called a T@$$er by some ex-olympic rower (Tim something I think) and nearly being rammed by his tender whilst myself and another guy were going upriver in another tender.....granted we were making a wake but it's very difficult not to make zero ripples in a Dory...To say his actions were dangerous would be the understatement of the year....

Unfortunately the sport attracts far too many pretentious snobs...Thankfully our club were a down to earth bunch who enjoyed nothing more than a good beer after a row...

....When you saw how many spoilt bratts went into the sport from a young age it's not surprising it has more than it's fair share of kn08 jockies.
 
Certainly sounds like most rowers. They do not seem to recognise the fact that they are still a vessel and subject to the usual colregs - especially the one that requires a good lookout. My time on the Thames was blighted by these people, despite my attempts to be as helpful as possible. Some rowers do acknowledge your efforts to accomodate their antics and this makes a difference when you next approach them.

However, I eventually ended up always having a camera to hand - especially the video. Any comeback from their club, the EA or any other patrol was soon mitigated or even silenced when shown the evidence of unreasonable behaviour by the rower.

Don't give up. The Thames is always worth a visit.
 
tichmarshjohn said:
We have just came back from a great trip from Tichmarsh to Windsor met some lovely people and made some new friends.Thats what boating is all about.Just one but.We were going up river towards Richmond when i spotted a rower coming down river on the wrong with a very erratic course i just could not decide quite where he was going so i shut down and went dead in the water.He was rowing straight at us,i gave him a blast on the horn but to no avail he hit us on our starbard side.The fff & abuse from this man was unbeliveable in front of my wife & 3 year old grandson.I only kept quite as i did not want to frighten my grandson.Some time later we were stopped by a Thames patrol boat & given a 15 min lecture they just did not seem to be interested in our version of the event at all.What was i supposed to do if i tried to motor round him & he hit me more damage would have done & possibley injury it left a nasty tast & made me fill very angery.On a much happier note we went into Limehouse on the return leg i can not praise George and his staff highly enough.Thay fitted us in at the last minute gave us advise on the weather & tides,locked us out late so we could sit on the outside pontoon to catch the 3 am tide home & George even came down to see if we were ok before he went home.All on the night England played like tits.Limehouse is a boaters marina with great people.
Click to expand...
You are not alone - these peeps think that they have sole access to the river - everything must revolve around them.

and.....the tin trays that the coaches 'drive' are the biggest PIKA to mankind.

A generalization I know but thats what I see on a daily basis - I live next door to several rowing clubs!
 
What was the patrol boat

tichmarshjohn said:
We have just came back from a great trip from Tichmarsh to Windsor met some lovely people and made some new friends.Thats what boating is all about.Just one but.We were going up river towards Richmond when i spotted a rower coming down river on the wrong with a very erratic course i just could not decide quite where he was going so i shut down and went dead in the water.He was rowing straight at us,i gave him a blast on the horn but to no avail he hit us on our starbard side.The fff & abuse from this man was unbeliveable in front of my wife & 3 year old grandson.I only kept quite as i did not want to frighten my grandson.Some time later we were stopped by a Thames patrol boat & given a 15 min lecture they just did not seem to be interested in our version of the event at all.What was i supposed to do if i tried to motor round him & he hit me more damage would have done & possibley injury it left a nasty tast & made me fill very angery.On a much happier note we went into Limehouse on the return leg i can not praise George and his staff highly enough.Thay fitted us in at the last minute gave us advise on the weather & tides,locked us out late so we could sit on the outside pontoon to catch the 3 am tide home & George even came down to see if we were ok before he went home.All on the night England played like tits.Limehouse is a boaters marina with great people.
Click to expand...

I used to keep a hefty stack of pork pies to throw at them, they are usually so incensed they chase you to the lock then they cant get out so their efforts are wasted.
 
Bouyed channel .....

"........ however are you sure you weren't in the bouyed rowing channel, this is a channel kept clear specificaly for rowers and in the upstream direction it is on the wrong side of the river."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interesting you should refer to the bouyed channel.
We have been traversing this part of the tidal Thames for many years and for the 1st time, this year, noticed both red and green bouys (small but lit) and assumed they were marking the main boat channel.
Surely the rowing channel would not be marked by red and green bouys?
 
miket said:
".Surely the rowing channel would not be marked by red and green bouys?
Click to expand...

I'm not a rower but have had a number of "exchanges of views " with the rowing fraternity. They view their channel, in whatever direction they are travelling, as marked by the left bank and the right bank; and believe they are in the right!

OP; don't worry - you did nothing wrong - these PITA's believe they own the river and can do what the f... they like.

Richard... seems like a waste of pies; I'd happily throw a brick at the support boats that create so much wash they almost put your boat on the bank
 
Last edited:
Yep!

steve_clayton said:
I'm not a rower but have had a number of "exchanges of views " with the rowing fraternity. They view their channel, in whatever direction they are travelling, as marked by the left bank and the right bank; and believe they are in the right!

OP; don't worry - you did nothing wrong - these PITA's believe they own the river and can do what the f... they like.

Richard... seems like a waste of pies; I'd happily throw a brick at the support boats that create so much wash they almost put your boat on the bank
Click to expand...

And my local one is very good at that, no names though....I live in Twickenham....

I am saving the bricks for Richmond Up Thames Council who have exactly 48 hours to return my 465 hard earned POUNDS I had to pay the clamper at 0645 this morn from taking my car. Apparently its for an old fine despite the fact they have know I live in their borough, pay their tax and vote in their elections and have the car registered to my address but never once seen a ticket or summons. And why do they employ a clamper form Croydon to hire and van to drive to Twickenham and pass the charge onto me? You can tell I am having a good birthday so far.....
 
Last edited:
RichardShead said:
And my local one is very good at that, no names though....I live in Twickenham....

I am saving the bricks for Richmond Up Thames Council who have exactly 48 hours to return my 465 hard earned pennies I had to pay the clamper at 0645 this morn from taking my car. Apparently its for an old fine despite the fact they have know I live in their borough, pay their tax and vote in their elections and have the car registered to my address but never once seen a ticket or summons. And why do they employ a clamper form Croydon to hire and van to drive to Twickenham and pass the charge onto me? You can tell I am having a good birthday so far.....
Click to expand...


Don't ruin your birthday over £4.65 Richard. It's just not worth it :D

Happy Birthday BTW
 
nonitoo said:
Have a look at http://www.pla.co.uk/pdfs/maritime/THE_ROWING_CODE.pdf from the PLA's site.

Don't think many of the rowers I have encountered pay much attention to it.

Deeply, deeply unpleasant people.

Tom
Click to expand...

I do find these threads a bit surprising, having never had problems with rowers on the the tideway myself, however being an ex rower I guess I know how to not upset them.
I'm afraid I think you all must be doing something wrong :D ducks for cover.
 
Many years ago when we were on the Thames, I had almost the exact experience. Near Bray, this single rower was coming down stream in the middle of the quite narrow part of the river. I moved to the right, and he moved to the left. it was pretty obvious he was on collision course - I could go no further to the right to get out of his way, and by now I had stopped.

I blew the horn, not prolonged, just to warn him of our presence, and he veered off at the last minute. The abuse about our so called wash was unbelievable - foul language in the extreme. Having suffered their wrath for no reason before, I flipped. Helm hard to port, I opened up 500 hp shouting "If you wan't Fu**ing wash you can fu**ing well have some" I tell you, Steve Redgrave could not have kept up with him, his arms were a blur.

Of course, I had no such intentions, but I hope I scared the **** out of him. It certainly gave me some satisfaction.

I was half expecting to get pulled over at the next lock, but it never happened..
 
A friend of ours cut a single man rower in half and got taken to court over it. He argued that they are dangerous and cannot see where they are going because they are facing backwards, he won.
 
Some of the views expressed on this thread astound me!

Being in a boat with 500 HP and using it to threaten somebody in a small rowing boat and hoping to scare the **** out of them is not only a disgrace to your hobby, but your species!

I have been messing around on the river for over 20 years, and have had to shout my presence to rowers many, many times (not blasting the horn, that actually has navigational meaning not "oi, look at me"), but have NEVER had abuse hurled at me.

Perhaps that's because I am genuinely not swamping them, and not just in some misguided perception from on high?
 
nicho said:
Many years ago when we were on the Thames, I had almost the exact experience. Near Bray, this single rower was coming down stream in the middle of the quite narrow part of the river. I moved to the right, and he moved to the left. it was pretty obvious he was on collision course - I could go no further to the right to get out of his way, and by now I had stopped.

I blew the horn, not prolonged, just to warn him of our presence, and he veered off at the last minute. The abuse about our so called wash was unbelievable - foul language in the extreme. Having suffered their wrath for no reason before, I flipped. Helm hard to port, I opened up 500 hp shouting "If you wan't Fu**ing wash you can fu**ing well have some" I tell you, Steve Redgrave could not have kept up with him, his arms were a blur.

Of course, I had no such intentions, but I hope I scared the **** out of him. It certainly gave me some satisfaction.

I was half expecting to get pulled over at the next lock, but it never happened..
Click to expand...
I did much the same when the umpires boat started to 'order' me on where I could navigate under Hammersmith Bridge during a local regatta. I was well off the rowing line and to the far side of the river at dead slow. Silly arse in a coloured schoolboy cap thought he was the bloody HM.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top