Jubilee Pagent

[coach]

British Rowing have been featuring this once in a lifetime river event
on their web site.

However lost in the small print, in fact so small that it is not there
at all, is the consequences of the event.

In order to marshall the 1000 boats that are to take place, the PLA
are going to place temporary moorings on the reach between Putney and
Hammersmith.

These moorings will be similar to those already at Putney and will
include some buoys the size of the Black Buoy. There will be two lines
set so that they are at the edge of the fairway to ensure that vessels
attached are not beached at low tide.

This will not leave sufficient room for safe rowing.

As it will take some time to install and then remove these objects,
the current advice being given is that this stretch of the river will
be closed for rowing activiities for most of the month of May and some
of June

[Carl]

In which case, a spectacular own goal for rowing!

Who thinks up these grandiose plans? On what authority do they consider
the resulting buggeration of what everyone else does to be, in the words
of a previous Prime Minister pontificating on the scourge of rising
unemployment, "a price worth paying". Does the UK exist only for
pageantry, not for manufacture, recreation & a decent life? At a time
of grave recession, when the only way out of the hole is to work harder,
wasn't it daft earlier this year that we were awarded a day off work
(which in many cases became several days) for the wedding of 2 presently
rather unimportant people - at a high officially-recorded cost in lost GDP?

This sort of thing is a regrettable hangover from earlier centuries when
kings, convinced of the divinity of their own rule, cared nought for
their subjects except that they should remain cowed & poor.

Who explained these consequences to HM The Queen, or sought her view on
the logistical consequences of this pageant? Indeed, who asked anyone
who might be affected by it?

Could it be that those charged with the governance of our sport here had
more than a weather eye towards the gongs which might be so cruelly
withheld from their deserving breasts next year were they to demur at
this potential disruption of the fee-paying plebs' rowing activities?

Pip pip!
Carl

--
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[Henry Law]

On 09/11/11 10:50, coach wrote:
> This will not leave sufficient room for safe rowing.
>
> As it will take some time to install and then remove these objects,
> the current advice being given is that this stretch of the river will
> be closed for rowing activiities for most of the month of May and some
> of June

Of course I agree that this is arrant nonsense, and yet another example
of how these accurséd games are going to inconvenience, or indeed affect
the lives of, the 99% for the benefit of the 1%.

But why must rowing cease? Have you seen the width of our canal?
http://www.lawshouse.org/rowing/TH07-0093-1024.JPG

--

Henry Law Manchester, England

[Richard du P]

On Nov 9, 1:09 pm, Henry Law <n...@lawshouse.org> wrote:

>
> But why must rowing cease?  Have you seen the width of our canal?http://www.lawshouse.org/rowing/TH07-0093-1024.JPG
>

> Henry Law            Manchester, England

BEAUTIFUL picture Henry, so you're right to take any excuse to publish
it.

If sundry authorities would just control [a] the tides, to the rates
pertaining on your canal [b] other river traffic, likewise, and then
[c] consider temporarily rehousing with you, some of the forty rowing
and sculling clubs which boat directly on to the Championship Course,
so that we will be using the available channel widths pro rata, then
all should be well.

Until then, I shan't convert to monarchism.

Now, where did I leave that sense of humour?

Richard du P

[Tinus]

A 1000 boats doesn't sound like very much. I don't know the Thames but I
can't imagine the consequences will be so bad. There will be some buoys,
but is there also already a map on how it will look like?

[Richard]

On Nov 9, 1:09 pm, Henry Law <n...@lawshouse.org> wrote:

> On 09/11/11 10:50, coach wrote:
>
> > This will not leave sufficient room for safe rowing.
>
> > As it will take some time to install and then remove these objects,
> > the current advice being given is that this stretch of the river will
> > be closed for rowing activiities for most of the month of May and some
> > of June
>
> Of course I agree that this is arrant nonsense, and yet another example
> of how these accurséd games are going to inconvenience, or indeed affect
> the lives of, the 99% for the benefit of the 1%.
>

> But why must rowing cease?  Have you seen the width of our canal?http://www.lawshouse.org/rowing/TH07-0093-1024.JPG

>
> --
>
> Henry Law            Manchester, England

Erm. I believe the Thames pageant is to celebrate the Diamond
Jubilee, and nothing to do with the Olympics.

[Richard du P]

6th February? Something like that? [I remember the emergency school
assembly, cold wet weather]

[Henry Law]

On 09/11/11 21:01, Richard wrote:
> Erm. I believe the Thames pageant is to celebrate the Diamond
> Jubilee, and nothing to do with the Olympics.

Erm, yes. Must keep hobby-horse more under control. He does bang about so.

[Carl]

Even near the top of the tide, with ~500 eights marshalling & then
racing in the Head of the River there is no spare room. That's one
reason why the size of such events is limited to, IIRC, 550 crews. Part
of the problem over moorings for this pageant is that, with its
extremely large tidal range & gently sloping bed, the width available
for floating moorings is much narrower at low tide than the river's
banks might suggest.

So the adverse consequences could be severe for Tideway rowing. I
suppose that, with locals so preoccupied over the major engineering
works associated with the Thames Tunnel sewage disposal project, it was
relatively easy to slip this one past the voiceless (in public matters)
rowing fraternity.

As a French government minister once replied, with humour more apparent
to the Brits than to himself, "When draining the marshes, one does not
consult the frogs". (He'd been asked on the BBC how France built
nuclear power stations near to towns without canvassing local opinion.)

[Kit]

Do you know how far up to Hammersmith the buoys will extend? I can
imagine a situation where special measures are in force up to where
they stop, then it's "as you were". I would imagine it would be pretty
safe with special navigation rules say 2 hours either side of high
tide, with greater restrictions in place nearer low water. I would
also imagine that the more competitive crews would rent space
temporarily upstream.

Whatever happens, I only see minor inconvenience, personally.

[Tinus]

You may be right that it is going to be problematic. But now, after the
concerns are raised, it is time to get exact information about the
situation. It will help the protest to gain the momentum of a large
public. At this point it still sounds too much like hypotheses. Is it
really going to be like it is told or is it foredoom? For instance, who
has given that current advise?

[Carl]

The original poster is a significant member of one of London's most
significant rowing clubs, yet it appears that this came as news to him.

In my experience, rowers are good at whingeing but disinclined to unite
for desirable change.

Let's see what happens, but don't hold your breath.

[coach]

> has given that current advise?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

The matter was brought to the attention of the members of the Thames
Regional Rowing Council earlier this week.

So far as I understand the situation, the current proposal is to have
two continuous lines of moorings on either side of the fairway, but
located such that, at the lowest tide, any moored boats will not
bottom out. This will leave a relatively narrow channel in the centre
of the river. The initial advice that has been given is that there
will be insufficient space in the centre of the river for a rowing
boat to pass a class V passenger vessel with an adequate margin for
error.

These new moorings are expected to extend from Barn Elms to Harrods.

The PLA are working up the details and will be expected to publish the
plans and proposals in due course.

The PLA Harbour Master Upper, Alex Brown has our best interest in mind
as he is also the captain of one of the Putney based Rowing Clubs.
However, this is a once in a lifetime event and it may well be that
his superiors give him no alternatives.

One area where it may be possible to get some compensation for the
loss of amenity will be to see if it is possible to extend the 8knot
spreed restricted zone. The down stream limit of this zone is
currently at Wandsworth Bridge. If more of us are going to have to
train our crews downsteam of Putney/Wandsworth. this would help
significantly.