Day 2

Hi All,

Tuesday morning has dawned overcast and damp - after last years perfect weather we are back to standard English summer fare.  Arriving at the course yesterday for an ergo, we were foiled by an empty ergo tent, so moved straight to the boat.  We found rigging ability is much improved after plenty of sleep, but it still took us an hour or so to recognise that there were no seats in the shell.  A bit of a hunt turned up 4 seats that did fit, but left me with an uncomfortable feeling that they belonged to another boat...

Nevertheless, we had a productive paddle with Hatsy replacing Sam in the 3 seat, 2 laps of the course and found the boat to be excellent.  It is a Fillipe, 7 years old, rated at 92kgs average weight and despite a few dings to the shell, is light, stiff and very stable.  The steering is both responsive and not too flighty which is a real bonus for me, the course is much narrower than I recalled.  Nicole, I really, really miss you now!

For those who don't know, the course at Henley is a single lane, dead straight, bounded by wooden piles rammed into the river bed which extend about 2metres above the water and linked by a series of floating timber booms between each pile, separating the racing crews from the rest of the river traffic.  Down this lane, the 2 crews race side by side.  A normal single lane on a championship course is about 12metres wide.  The Henley course is at some points only 18metres wide.  When you consider that a crew takes up a minimum of 6.5m each and if you hit the barriers, your race is over, you may be able to imagine some of the stress the coxswains and steersmen of coxless crews are under.  Interfering with the other crew is grounds for disqualification, so you steer a very fine line.

Anyhow, yesterday I caused Shane some anxiety by, as Hatsy described it, "Shumachering" with the barriers, although I only hit once.  Part of the problem is that from the bow seat, I can't see past Conrad's enormous bonce to the 'tell-tales' over the start line.  More practice today.

Last night we hit the supermarket and are now very well provisioned.  Hatsy's tech expertise has us all well set up with Skype and email.  Shane is becoming steadily grumpier which is usual in the lead-up to a big race, so all running to plan.  The only hiccup at present is that my gut feel on the seats was correct...  the seats for our boat are on a trailer in Ireland.  Conor is taking care of it and we are hoping no-one needs the seats we have pilfered for a couple of days yet!  We are only ignorant Aussies after all.

Heading of to the course shortly for the first of 2 rows today.  One of the other gents will come good on their promise to help me with the next post tonight, right guys...

Cheers, Drew