Britain made four starts at Eton-Dorney today and all four boats moved to the next round - three with relative ease, one with a big dose of drama en route.
Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins, in the women's double scull, and the men's four made it all look easy. They won their heats by considerable margins, leading from the front from the outset.
Grainger and Watkins, who recorded an Olympic best time of 6:44.33, are now through to a final on Friday and the men's four of Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom James, Peter Reed and Alex Gregory will race a semi-final on Thursday.
"Part of me thought it would be good to see how fast we could go today and we certainly have more but the final is the big one. No-one will remember on Friday who won the heat. It's a new job on Friday to do", said Grainger.
"Today was a wonderful bonus and a fantastic confidence boost that we are on absolutely on track", added Watkins.
Team GB's men's eight were winners of a sparkling repechage in which the home combination produced a strong first half and then controlled the race to win in 5:26.85. Their final is on Wednesday.
The women's quadruple scull of Beth Rodford, Melanie Wilson, Frances Houghton and Debbie Flood hauled themselves back from sixth place at halfway to qualify for Wednesday's final in third place, with only four progressing.
GB Rowing Team Performance Director David Tanner said: "We've had an excellent day today with the men's four and the women's double showing their standard in winning their heats and the men's eight and women's quad both qualifying for their A finals through the repechage.
"With all the heats completed we have placed ourselves in a strong position to step through the next rounds and gain more A final places in the next few days".
Tomorrow's race programme sees semi-finals for the men's double scull and lightweight men's four whilst the women's eight will race a repechage in which four places for the final will be up for grabs.
RACE REPORTS
The Olympic best time in the women's double scull had stood until today since 1992. At Eton-Dorney this morning Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins were good enough to take almost five full seconds off the time that Germany set in Barcelona.
After 20 strokes they were more than half a length up over the field and quickly established a large lead from then onwards. Behind them New Zealand and China battled bow-ball to bow-ball before the Antipodeans prevailed to take the qualifying slot and forcing China into the repechage.
"We could not be in a better place mentally, we know that we've got more and we know exactly how to get that out of ourselves. The final's what it's all about", said Watkins.
Andrew Triggs Hodge stroked the men's four into a commanding lead, too, in their heat. By halfway they were three seconds up on the field with Romania in second and Belarus in third. Those three crews held their positions and progressed to the semis, leaving the Czech Republic to face a repechage.
"You always have a few nerves going on in a heat but now we know what we've got and what we can do and now we start to race", said Andrew Triggs Hodge.
Hodge would not be drawn on GB's chances ahead. "I don't know what the other guys [the opposition] have in them, I know it's going to be a big battle but I feel like we are going to be right there in the mix".
Tom James said: "We are just trying to enjoy it all. We know that there are big expectations on us but we have a sense that everyone is being very supportive".
Alex Gregory said: ""Today was good. Not perfect but it's what we wanted to do. We did not want to show everything too much"
There was a sense of "next step achieved" about the men's eight today. They got out quickly and were definitely in the driving seat by halfway in a repechage played out in breezy but sunny conditions to the sound track of a very loud home crowd.
From the front they could watch and respond to the three-way battle developing behind them between Canada - who took second in 5:27.41 to GB's 5:26.85 - and the Netherlands and Australia who were third and fourth respectively.
Beijing silver medallist Alex Partridge said: "I think we have taken a lot away from today, I think we have learnt something. If we had won the heat the other day and not raced this repechage we wouldn't know what we know about ourselves now. We will take that into the final".
Home supporters were given a few heart-stopping moments though by the GB women's quadruple scull. Debbie Food, Beth Rodford, Melanie Wilson and Frances Houghton had to dig deep in a second half charge to haul back from sixth to third place with only four going through.
In the early phases Australia took a lead and never looked uncomfortable from there. China, the USA and New Zealand looked more likely to feature in the final at the halfway point.
Inexorably the experienced GB crew - with two double Olympic silver medallists and a former World Champion on board - battled back into the picture. Their pressure probably contributed to the New Zealanders catching a boat-stopping crab at just beyond the 1500m mark and their sheer tenacity saw them edge past China by mere tenths of a second in the final 30 strokes.
Frances Houghton said: "It was such a tight race and it's a real relief to be in the final. It's great to be in the Olympic final. It was probably the most pressure we've been under in a race and now we want to go out and enjoy the final and see what we can do and just let go".
Melanie Wilson said: "I was definitely aware that we were down at one point and then I could feel that we were moving through so I think everyone was just eyes-in and everyone was saying to themselves that what we were doing was working and just to keep going".
Beth Rodford said: "You just have to keep going. We were definitely moving through at the end. You never want to down off the start and that wasn't our best start but we are confident in our mid-pace and our finish.
Debbie Flood said: "It was a pretty emotional race. We really held our nerve, we knew that they weren't getting away from us. We just had to trust that we were doing the right thing. We just gritted our teeth and just kept pushing from that halfway mark. The crowd was fantastic, they were so loud. They mean that you are going to get every ounce of effort out of yourself.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE ROWERS?
Tomorrow's race programme starts at 09.30. The Team GB women's eight, stroked by Vicky Thornley and coxed by Caroline O'Connor, will be the first in action for the home "side" at 10.50 in their repechage from which the top four progress to Thursday's final.
Alan Campbell races his quarter-final of the men's single scull at 11.10. A top three finish would see him through to the semis on Wednesday.
Sam Townsend and Bill Lucas reached their semi of the men's double, starting at 12.30 tomorrow, with a storming second place behind the New Zealanders who are World Champions in a very fast heat on Saturday.
Brothers Richard and Peter Chambers plus Chris Bartley and Rob Williams will feature in Team GB's final race of the day at 12.40. They won their lightweight men's four heat in style earlier in the programme and have avoided some of their big rivals - China, Denmark and South Africa - in tomorrow's semis.