Attending (if not competing in) the Henley Royal Regatta is on many rowers' bucket lists, but it's not as straightforward as going to the Head Of The Charles, another bucket list item; the Charles is in a big city with lots of hotels, taxis, a major airport, and an extensive (if overtaxed) road system; Henley-on-Thames is a 2.5 square mile small town of 11,000 people or so that is billowing with rowers for a week every July for the past 150 years or so.
Read on for our short guide to Henley 101, from getting there and what to wear to where to go and how to watch.
Getting to Henley-on-Thames
Most international visitors fly into Heathrow, which is a little less than halfway to Henley from the center of London; Gatwick and Luton are much further from Henley, although still doable. Getting to Henley by train isn't that bad, requiring a couple changes (including one from the Heathrow Connect train) and taking only a bit over an hour overall.
If you are in London, it is worth nothing that the Henley-Paddington train is among the busiest lines in the country, so if you are taking it to or from the racing, you will want to be somewhat strategic about ticket purchases, timing, and how much stuff you have.
That said, a row2k tactic is to take the train to Henley to shake off the red-eye and start to beat the jet-lag, and a bit of a slog through the train system often does the trick.
An Uber from Heathrow to Henley costs about 25-35 pounds; a taxi costs a bit more.
Regatta Site
The walk from Henley over the bridge to the regatta site is one of the iconic experiences for many rowers; from the bridge, you can see Leander, the boat tents, the enclosures, and the last bit of the race course, a tease of the entire experience. That said, the walk in can be pretty crowded, so give yourself time if you are trying to see a specific race.
The area just along the last 250 meters or so, the best seats in the proverbial house, is the Stewards Enclosure. Can anybody get into the Stewards? Not really; in short, the Stewards Enclosure is open to Stewards, Members of the Stewards' Enclosure, and their guests; the Regatta Enclosure, slightly further up the course, is open to everyone, including all competitors as well as the general public through ticket purchases. Regatta Enclosure admission is free to children under 14 when accompanied by a ticket or badge holder.
To gain access to the Regatta Enclosure, parking, and more, you can purchase tickets here: https://www.hrr.co.uk/buy-tickets.
The towpath to the north of the Regatta Enclosure is a public pathway, and you can walk all the way up to the starting line and beyond. The starting area is open to the public, and you can see the crews start at very close proximity, a must for serious racing fans.
In the mile above the Regatta Enclosure there are several clubs, bars, and restaurants, some requiring membership and others not. On Saturday, however, the towpath is extremely crowded and slow going; veteran regatta attendees avoid it, but if you take your time and sip and schmooze along the way, it can be a great time.
With regard to the towpath opportunities for food and (especially) drink, we could outline all of these here but defer to one much more expert than ourselves (note that it hasn't been updated for almost a decade, but despite all the new events, things change slowly at HRR): The Rabbit's Guide to Henley Royal Regatta.
On Saturday, just as the racing gets really serious, the scene gets seriously silly, with the singing Elvises competing with military stunt planes for attention.
Dress Code and More
The Steward's Enclosure has a fairly strictly enforced dress code; we have definitely seen folks who did not meet the code turned away.
For "Gentlemen" (and yobs to boot): Gentlemen are required to wear lounge suits, or jackets or blazers with flannels, together with a tie or cravat.
For "Ladies:" Ladies are required to wear dresses or skirts with a hemline below the knee. Ladies will not be admitted wearing divided skirts, culottes or trousers of any kind. Whilst not a requirement, it is customary for ladies to wear hats.
The hat custom is take it or leave it for sure; our sense is that either way you are good to go; a crazy hat invites some conversation and eventually is nearly forgotten. and absence of a hat is ignored.
Making calls on mobile phones is prohibited. Yeah, we have seen folks make calls without dire consequences, but why be that guy?
The Regatta Enclosure has no dress code, although the regatta Web site notes that "many who attend do enter into the spirit of the Regatta, wearing club blazers and other rowing apparel."
This is true for pretty much the full length of the course; even if you are not going into the enclosures, feel free to wear rowing blazers or the like, as truly heaps upon heaps of folks will do so all week long.
Henley Town
The town gets very crowded during the regatta, especially on the weekend; some roads are rendered one-way only, and change back and forth during the day, creating a fair amount of confusion; here is a suitably confusing traffic map outlining one-way changes during the regatta.
The best bars and restaurants can be extremely crowded, but if you can get yourself a properly pulled beer at The Little Angel, The Angel, the Anchor, the Argyll, or the Catherine Wheel (good luck), do it for sure.
Henley is less of a country town than it used to be in decades past, and is more of a London commuter town, but as such has most of the things you would expect from a commuter town; restaurants, a grocery, fish and chips joints, curry places, boat rentals that you can row out to watch the racing, a toy store, etc.
Despite the crowds, going into town during the regatta is unquestionably part of the overall experience, so plan on it.
Weather
The show goes on irrespective of weather; the classic Henley day is a partly cloudy day with a bit of a breeze, but we have seen downpours, heat waves, cold snaps, and combos of all of the above. Things tend not to get too crazy, but England is a maritime country, and if you are attending five days of racing, be ready for five days of weather.
Fireworks
A longstanding Henley tradition is fireworks show after nightfall on Saturday, and it’s usually well done, although not the 40-minute extravaganza you sometimes see stateside these days, whew. Many regatta-goers will have either packed a picnic or dined and returned to the course. During some years, most recently in 2015, and to the delight of visiting Yanks, Saturday at Henley falls on July 4th, so you could go overseas and still have your bang-bang on the 4th.
The Racing
Last but not least, the rowing and racing.
Racing hours will reliably hew pretty close to the following:
The draw for the next day takes place at the very end of racing each day, so you will not know specific race times for the subsequent day until pretty late. You can find that information here:
https://www.hrr.co.uk/racing-timetable
The racing rhythms of Henley Royal are timeworn and fun to watch; race comes down, launches go drop off folks, new launch comes out, all of them making nearly the exact same turns, heads up course, heads off course at same spot, another race comes down, repeat – all day long. Add to that the more modern choreography of the drone pilots, and paying enough attention to catch a glimpse of this routine is worth the effort.
Some races will be MUCH better than others; there is a reason that Henley has an official verdict of "Easily."
The enclosure side of the course/portside-most lane/Lane 1 is called the Berkshire, or "Berks," shore (which is locally pronounced "Barks"), the other side/starboard-most/Lane 2 the Buckinghamshire, or Bucks, shore. Races are rowed into the oncoming current as the Thames makes its way toward London, and when the current is strong, you may overhear debates about which lane (or "station," as the regatta vernacular has it) is better, including an entire section on Wikipedia that outlines percentage wins by lane.
The Stewards and longtime attendees tend to downplay any lane advantages, and the stats on Wikipedia support them, but when the current is fast, it is telling that crews in Lane 2 who stray from their water appear to get steered by officials more often than crews who stray from Lane 1, and that most British coach complaints about steering tend to be of the sort where a crew in Lane 1 "failed to take advantage of their station." Your current may vary.
The racing is of the "knock-out" variety where a loss means your regatta is done; crews knocked out before Sunday tend to take considerable consolation from the ability to enjoy the regatta, however, so don't feel too badly for them.
Across the board, catching the racing at Henley is a decidedly different experience from your run-of-the-mill, "dusty parking lot and race course in the middle of nowhere" regatta. Go for the racing, but definitely stay for the show (and the hats).
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|