For all of us as a family Regatta always starts long before the last Friday in August. Vaughan is Vice chair of DARC and runs a safety boat for the skiff rowing on Thursday. Months of planning go into this event to ensure the 300 plus rowers enjoy a good day’s racing.
Before the biggest week of the year, there is a whole week of whaler practice for us adults and for the last couple of years I have assisted coaching the guides in preparation for their paired oared race. They practice every day for a week to make sure they are ready.
After a week of whaler ‘practice’ followed by important ‘teamtalks’ in the pub, Regatta proper starts on heats Sunday followed by semi-finals Monday. Every year we pray for the weather gods to be kind with a dry day and a following wind. Sometimes they smile on us, but frequently they don’t and one year it took us 20 minutes to row a course as the head wind was so strong! On Monday evening, once the gruelling torture of the long distance has been completed, it’s time to celebrate and get into the Regatta spirit!
Regatta Friday is the highlight of the week when the whaler finals are fiercely competed for. This has been even more special for us over the past few years as our daughter Issy has also taken part in the junior races and hearing Regatta President Hilary announce her name over the tannoy was a very proud moment. Our son Billy will be joining in soon too. Its a very special feeling to know that they will be a part of Regatta history, like their grandfathers and great grand-father before them.
So what does Regatta mean to me? It means tradition: continuing with the old and making a few new ones of our own and it means being rooted in a town like no other. It’s the yearly migration when the Children of Dart return home to be in some way to be involved in their town’s unique celebration of all that is great and good and, quite often, just daft. But above all Regatta is about the river. Whether on it, beside it, or occasionally, in it – competing on the river is what Regatta means to us.
