david biddulph

I didn't see all of the film "Sweet Medicine" on ITV yesterday evening
(2100-2200), but in the part I did see there were a number of different
rowing scenes. There were a number of different sets of blade colours
visible, but I didn't nail down where it was filmed; was it Bedford?

I was amused by the regatta where the start was given by a starting pistol!
--
David Biddulph
Rowing web pages at
http://www.biddulph.org.uk/

richard packer

pistol!

What an *excellent* idea! Blank or live ammo? ;-)

Richard

tony curran

At the H&D coastal regatta as Swanage (England) they used to use a shotgun.

Tony
Ottawa RC

ewoud dronkert

At our annual Varsity regatta the finish is marked by a cannon shot.
Yes, a cannon

stuart jones

In Oxford and Cambridge bumps, the 5 (in Ox, 4 in Cam) minute, 1 minute and
start signals are all marked by cannons! How to scare the crap out of
Novices in one easy lesson!!!

jon anderson

Had the pleasure of starting underneath a road bridge in Bumps this year
with the cannon underneath it too. 20 metres away when it went off.
Ouch!

Jon
--
Durge: jon@durge.org http://users.durge.org/~jon/
OnStream: accounts@rowing.org.uk http://www.rowing.org.uk/

[ All views expressed are personal unless otherwise stated ]

rpcollings

Don't forget that they use maroons at Tideway too. The first time we
went down, one of our guys just about had a heart attack as we were
moving past the boat and one was fired.

What weight shot do you use in the cannon? Does shooting the
opposition count as receiving extraneous assistance? :-)

Rob.

chris harrison

Last year, the Scullers Head, whose course is under one of the standard
flight paths into Heathrow, was a week or two after the missile attack
on a plane in Kenya and the maroons signfying the start of the race were
the subject of several phone calls to Scotland Yard ....

tlog

Sadly times have moved on and it is now a dodgy old air horn.

By the way the South Coast Championships were at Swanage this year and
there was some really excellent racing and the organisation was second
to none. Nothing to do with me I might add. I haven't found anyone who
didn't enjoy the day, I did and only managed a fifth.

Roger

mjw_mcc

I can confirm that the 'races' in the episode of Sweet Medicine were
filmed at Derby Rowing Club on the Derwent. Unfortunately it wasn't
part of any regatta. The film crew had the river and the boat house
to themselves for 2 days. The blades weren't from any particular club-
I think 'Stoneford' were racing with navy blue blades, and there might
have been a flash a Derby (white, with Cambridge blue and red vertical
stripes toward the blade tip). I think the starting pistol was thought
by the director to be a bit more dramatic that someone shouting
'Attention, Go'...