Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant Rehearsal
QDJP Rehearsal: a game of naming bridges as we paddled under them.
19 February 2012
Written by Kim Tran
It was a bright, crisp Sunday morning when we gathered in Putney to rehearse the route we would take for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant. There'd already been a few news items about the upcoming Pageant on TV and in newspapers, so we were all excited about being invited to take part to paddle behind the Queen.
Four teams were taking part in the rehearsal, Typhoon, Raging Dragons, Thames and Kingston DBC. We were to follow one boat length behind an official boat, with two launches on either side to advise us on positioning. They were also checking on our ability to maintain a steady speed and paddle safely.
Our Captain, Laura, sat at the front of the boat in a big waterproof poncho. Without a chair or drum, she fulfilled the role of an effective wave breaker, rather than a drummer! We set off in a two by two formation, straight under Putney Bridge and towards Wandsworth Bridge. With Rage beside us, the water was calm and the banter was light-hearted.
The aim of the rehearsal was to try out the speed we would need to go for the real event. We were surprised that ocasionally we going a little too fast, due to the tide, and had to take the power down. Kingston was doing pause paddling, but it had caused them to come more forward and they were told to slow down and pull back into the 2 by 2 formation.
The bridges came surprisingly frequently and the same question was raised each time: which bridge is this then? As we passed under each bridge, Laura initiated the Typhoon call, which echoed well under the bridges. We were amused that our call had an 'Awooohaa' tagged on the end of it from Rob from Bristol who came down to helm us but ended up paddling with us instead.
After half an hour of light paddling, we initiated the row by row rests. Part way down the boat, Laura was distracted by looking at the interesting scenery and forgot to call the switch for the next row to rest. Luckily the extra-long rest was for Carine, who had used a wooden paddle. Carine and Elna had literally come running to the rescue as awesome last-minute subs. So we thought they deserved the longer rest.
The water became choppier as we approached central London. But we focused on having a high set up, so that we didn't hit the waves on our recoveries. Alan made useful calls for length from the middle of the boat, and James kept rhythm well as lead pacer.
The hour mark and the second row-by-row rests came quickly as there were so many interesting sights of central London to spot. Sam Cheng managed to capture photos of us from some of the bridges on his way to driving our bags to the finish line. Laura taught us a Typhoon song she had made by getting us to repeat lines after her, which finished on a Typhoon call.
When Canary Wharf came into sight, we felt like we were nearly finished. However, just past Canary Wharf the officials called us into an emergency stop. They also told us to try a quick 180 degrees turn, which our helm, Richard V performed superbly. Satisfied, the officials told us to turn back round again and proceed to the finish. The end of the route was just as we got to the bend for Greenwich Maritime museum.
All in all, the experience was more fun than arduous. And we can just imagine the real Pageant would be even more interesting when we will paddle with a 1,000 other boats.
