Rhubarb Issue 12: November 2023

Schools’ winners). An early race (9:35am) and bad traffic almost ended our campaign: Rik Lancaster (Apsley, 1995-2000) (now at 4, switched from 6) found himself on the wrong side of the river at 9am. The newspapers record a schoolboy hitching a lift across the Thames and then running through the Stewards’ Enclosure in rowing kit. After that excitement we were back to form going a length down but rowing through to finish with clear water ahead of them. Our Friday race was against arch-rivals, Radley. Going down from the start would demoralise most crews but we were used to it. Still behind coming into the enclosures, however, we had a lot to do over the final 300 metres. Gambling a little, and perhaps inspired by that first trip to Henley and subsequent instruction from Mike Rosewell, I steered within a foot or so of the booms taking the boat out of the oncoming stream to maximise the advantage of our Berkshire station. We won by three feet, inching ahead in the last few seconds. Whilst a cox (or any single oarsman) can never ‘win’ a race, that one certainly goes down on my list as one where I made a difference from the steering seat. The remainder of Henley was a cruise in comparison, rowing through Abingdon before the mile signal in the semi; we even led the final from the start! We didn’t hear it but the commentary announced: ‘St Edward’s School Boat Club beat St Peter’s College, Australia, by two and a half lengths in a time of six minutes and forty-seven seconds.’ Crew: R.T. Potts, J.R.F. McEwen, P.A.H. Wilkinson, R.T.F. Lancaster, W.A. Poole, T.A. Smith, G.M.A.M. Vaciago, C.D.A. Smith (Capt), C.J. Moncrieff (Cox)

another argument with Chris’. The following day: ‘I am still waiting for an apology!’ More positively, the diary records our coach’s graduation from ‘Mr Wiggins’ to ‘John’, a glimpse of the warmth and mutual respect we shared by the end of the season. It was a gutsy crew, characterised by quiet confidence and a willingness to play the underdog. Arguably we spent too long cultivating the latter: School’s Head was disappointing and National Schools’ is recorded by Captain, Chris Smith (Corfe, 1994-1999) in our diary as ‘A disaster’. However, it seems we were just late developers, both through the season and in races. When racing, we developed a habit of going a length down and clawing back the lost ground, increasingly successfully. An early blueprint was Bedford Regatta: initially a length down but won by a foot. I know our 6 man at the time would have been delighted we did no more than absolutely necessary! Marlow was a turning point when we beat Eton in the final (having lost to them at Wallingford). From there we were set on Henley, with confidence and a sense that we were underestimated (despite Marlow we were not ‘seeded’). Henley was always special for me. On my first trip two years earlier, the then 1st VIII had warned me about the ‘booms’: wooden beams laid end to end, marking the course. One helpful bowman explained I’d have my work cut out steering because the booms only left a foot clearance either side of the boats. He was winding me up, but it sowed a seed.

FEATURE

At Henley 1999, after an easy first day, our Thursday opponent was Hampton (Schools’ Head and National

The winning crew: R.T. Potts, J.R.F. McEwen, P.A.H.Wilkinson, R.T.F. Lancaster, W.A. Poole, T.A. Smith, G.M.A.M.Vaciago, C.D.A. Smith (Captain), J.C. Moncrieff (Cox)

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