How I rowed the Vets' Head
I was an inconspicuous fifth-former sauntering past the Monkton railings when the call stopped me in my tracks: "Dawson!!!" Had I had my hands in my pockets, or the wrong number of buttons undone on my school jacket? No, the question was even more shocking: "How are you at rowing on stroke side?
"Well Sir, I haven't"
"Excellent, you are sub'ing in the 1st Eight for the Schools Head. Pack a toothbrush and your kit. We leave for the Tideway in the morning."
Who the what the?? I had tubbed on stroke side for a single afternoon on the flooded puddle at the boathouse before being told to change to bowside, and as for the Tideway, well where was that?
I duly sub'ed in the boat for the outing before the race while someone went off for an interview, and it was also arranged for me to follow an outing of the Oxford Blue boat in Bosphoros, the wonderful Henley launch. I was a very happy bunny indeed. What a huge river the Thames seemed after the confines of the Monkton stretch. And how different was the water compared with the liquid mud of the Avon.
Fast forward 43 years to 2006 PIAOWWW - and I am off for the annual pilgrimage to the Tideway once more, this time to take part in the Vesta Veterans' Head. It is just the same: the crew meets up at the boathouse; we hitch up the trailer carrying the boat and oars; check we've got everything, especially the seats; and off we go. As we pass the M4 Reading exit, the adrenalin begins to stir. What will the conditions be like? Who is in that Scullers boat which beat us last time? We must blitz the Worcester crew who just pipped us. I wonder who is in the Abingdon composite starting just behind.
We pull in to the yard at St Paul's School and discover that Barry Bathe-Taylor, the former MCS boatman has just become a proud Dad. Well done Barry! Now it's out with the mobile phones to round up the rest of the crew. There's our regular coxless four and another sculler from Avon County, but we are meeting three other friends for the big day. Our usual cox arranged to go skiing before checking the date of the Vets' Head, so we have had to find a super-sub, a mission achieved in some style. We have a former Boat Race cox who finished fourth in yesterday's Head of the River with the Italian Olympic eight. She is small as well as good, a great bonus.
We assemble the boat, get changed and miraculously the crew is complete. "C'mon let's go," - the cox takes charge and we launch on the concrete slipway at the southern end of Hammersmith Bridge. Brrrr wet feet as usual but at least we don't have to contend with Mr Bewick checking our boat and telling us for the umpteenth time what a disgrace it is. "Bow four to backstops, light, go," and the boat gathers way. "Join in 5 and 6, go," and we join the stream of boats heading towards Chiswick and the start. "Stroke and 7 join in," calls the cox. The boat forges ahead through the choppy water along the Chiswick Eyot. We have never rowed together as a crew before, the bowman has had to change sides and the 2-man hasn't rowed in a sweep-oared boat since last year. "Big circles, big circles," says the cox this one knows what she is doing all right and after 30 strokes we relax and the cover increases. Yep, it all fits and we are going to have a good day.
We row on past the start marshalling area and turn just short of Kew Bridge to fit in a couple of full pressure bursts in the race direction, before turning to tuck into our slot. Fortunately the day is not cold as we try to stay warm before the start.
After a short wait we get the instruction to turn. "Hats and tops off everyone, check your gates and nuts, let's have a good row," and we paddle down to Chiswick Bridge. "Crew 101, go." Up goes the rate "37, good start, well done," then after 15 strokes we find our cruising pace. We shoot Barnes Railway Bridge: "32, good run, we are in a good position on the river; we are hauling in number 100."
In the Chiswick reach it is more of the same and we are reaching the landmarks quickly. The cox calls for a burst, "10 finishes," and it works wow, we don't usually bother with tactics like that! At Hammersmith, we cut inside a German crew from Berlin and overtake them. We hit the second lamp-post and then the rough water past Harrods and down to the Mile Post. "Big circles, finishes, use the wind to help us home" comes the call.
By now we are overlapping the stubborn Worcester crew and the cox calls for another burst. We finally pass them and then we are at the Black Buoy nearly there now. A last effort takes us down the line of boats to Putney Pier and the finish. Phew, we made it.
The cox is worrying now that she will not make it in time for a Confirmation service in Wimbedon, so we turn as soon as possible and head back upstream. She jumps out onto the first bit of gravel, leaving us to make our way home as a seven, which goes surprisingly well.
Back at St Paul's, the cold starts to bite so we strip the boat quickly and make for the fantastically welcoming hot showers easily the best ones on this stretch of the River.
And that was the end of our race. We'd had a good row, it had not rained, the time out on the course simply flew, we'd kept ourselves fit and motivated for another year, and had a thoroughly good day out.
We beat that Worcester crew and made up some time on the Tideway Scullers, finishing 7th in our division and beating some younger crews which we should not have. Mission accomplished. Mind you, if we had been 1.07 seconds quicker we would have been 4th typical! We will have to redouble the training for next time.
Thank you Monkton and Bluefriars if I hadn't stepped into the tub that day on the puddle by the boathouse I might never have discovered the Tideway and the many delights of rowing through the ages'.
James Dawson