Never trust a head-crosswind at Henley Royal Regatta, as several crews found out on the second day of racing at the revived event on the Thames in Britain. Though up and down both in strength and direction, the wind gave a lot of trouble to boats, particularly the coxless ones, so that several races had unplanned stoppages.
One of these was the Prince of Wales outing for Craftsbury Green Racing Project against Hinksey Sculling School/Exeter University, a handy Oxford-based composite. The Craftsbury crew, made up of scullers who had been aiming for world championship places before Shanghai '21 was cancelled, always had a difficult test in the shape of Hinksey who have been rising rapidly in standard over the last few years, but it was made harder when the two crews collided soon after the start.
The Craftsbury crew, which had a medical substitution for Dom Williams, was leading slightly when a crab dragged them into the other lane, leading to an oar being lodged under the other crew and a permanently twisted oarlock. Craftsbury tried valiantly but could not catch up; you can see the crab and aftermath starting at around 30 seconds in here.
There was a better outcome for TBC Racing in the Visitors' elite coxless fours against Oxford Brookes University's B-crew. Brookes is out in force at Henley, hoping to win the Grand, Temple, Goblets, Ladies' Plate amongst other trophies. The B-crew is not their strongest, but gave TBC an even easier day by hitting the booms when already behind the Potomac quartet.
Another worlds hopeful was Hugh McAdam, who had won the LM1x place on the team before Shanghai '21 was cancelled by the Chinese organising committee due to COVID concerns. McAdam entered the Diamonds at Henley after being unable to persuade his doubles partner to come along. "It was an excellent opportunity to do something I've wanted to do for so long", he told row2k. "I really lucked out on the draw, don't know how I got the bye."
After escaping the first round of competition his Friday quarter-final will be against club-level sculler Tim Wilkinson of Greenbank Falmouth, who raced toe to toe in the best race of the day with another club singler, William Young, on Thursday before being declared the winner by a two-foot verdict which took several minutes to be verified. If McAdam comes through Wilkinson he is likely to race British Olympic M2x bowman Graeme Thomas in the semi-final on Saturday.
St Joseph's Prep earned selection and a bye in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup by winning the US Youth Nationals in an undefeated season, but that didn't excuse them from facing Shiplake in their first outing on Thursday. The local British crew had already whetted their appetites by racing hard against old rivals Radley the day before, and the experience stood them in good stead, pushing the Prep all the way to the spectators' enclosure for a half-length verdict which did not reflect the true speed difference between the crews.
Due to some warnings for St Joseph's about steering, Shiplake protested the result at the finish, but umpire Sarah Winckless turned their appeal down on the basis that the result had not been affected.
"Tough conditions today but a great race against a very well-coached crew", said Prep coach John Fife. "I had always wished to have a Wednesday race to get the early jitters and errors out of the way, but that wasn't to be. We definitely made some errors that cost us speed after the Barrier, but our boys learned a lot from it and feel good about their race versus St Paul's tomorrow." It is 21 years since I watched a St Joseph's crew make the final and then win this storied trophy: if they can defeat the St Paul's UK national silver medallists then they are likely to set up a final against Eton to try for a repeat of history.
Incidentally, the Prep crew have earned plaudits in the boating area from one experienced rowing umpire and volunteer who was doing boat checks earlier in the week, and could not believe the speed and efficiency with which they whip their shell on and off the pontoons. "I've never seen anything as slick as that", she said. "I blinked and they were off the water. Amazing."
The last US crew in action on Thursday was Long Beach Olympic triallist and Pan-Am medallist Maggie Fellows. She had an 'easily' verdict against aspirational British sculler Sarah McKay but now meets the considerable power of Canada's Olympic gold medallist Andrea Proske in the quarter-final.
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