Henley Regatta

My friend John Peachey and I took Sirius along the Thames from the back of Reading Tesco's to Henley, we left Reading at about midday, and arrived in Henley at about 3:30pm, I don't think I have ever seen Henley so busy (I have been to the Regatta three times before on foot)

There were boats just about everywhere! It was amazing that there were no major boat collisions (at least, none that I saw) we cruised along the mile and a bit course to Temple Island, and then turned around to do the stretch again before searching for somewhere to moor.

In both directions we were nose to tail with other boats, probably with about 30 foot between us, considering Sirius is 70' look, 30' seem's like a short distance to me, especially as we don't have ABS on a Narrowboat ;-)

On the return leg we were called apon to give a lift to a couple of local girls and their younger brother (I'm guessing) we dropped them off by one of the enclosures to the delight of the ladies and gents, but not to the delight of the security guard, who tried to tell them they could not come through, of course, he didn't really have a choice after I pulled away ;-)

We then went under Henley bridge and were faced with the dilema of where to moor?! We looked for another 70'er to moor against, but none were in sight. Then, luckily we found a 40' space, with another boat at the end of it who shouted across and said they were just leaving, what a stroke of luck!

After mooring, we helped a couple of other boats moor front and back of us, then settled down to have a couple of glasses of wine with the crew of the boat in front (sorry folks forgot the name of your boat!)

The rest of the evening lead to copious amounts of budwiser to be drunk in, none other than the "Budwiser bar", which for those who don't know henley, is a large marquee sponsored by Bud.