He wore a light summer suit, with a striped purple shirt, a purple tie and a Panama Jack hat. His suit jacket was draped over his shoulder as he walked through the gate.
"I'm sorry," the woman at the front said in her flawless British accent, "but gentlemen must have their jackets on at all times in the Enclosure."
Welcome to Henley, an event unlike anything TigerBlog has seen before. It's a combination of one of the best athletic events in the world and Princeton Reunions, with a party atmosphere surrounding ferocious competition.
It's not quite a regular regatta, either. It's a single-elimination format that begins with a fairly random draw (the Stewards can make small corrections after the fact), where each participating crew has its name written on a piece of paper that is then drawn from a championship trophy.
If you win your race, you advance to the next round. If you lose, you're done. That's it.
The races themselves are head-to-head, in two lanes, Berks and Bucks. There is no buoy marker between the lanes, so boats can be disqualified if they drift too far towards the other boat in the race.
The rowing is held on the River Thames, at a spot about 45 minutes outside of London. Both sides of the river are framed by tents, enclosures, fans, food, bars, bands of all kinds and anything else that creates the vibe.
Everything at Henley is about tradition. The event dates to 1839, and other than the addition of women about 50 years ago, TB supposes very little has changed here.
Princeton has sent boats from all four of its teams to Henley this year. They are mixes of a few of the varsity boats from this past season, when the Tiger lightweight men and lightweight women won national championships.
The schedule for the next day is announced at the end of competition each day. The racing starts early in the morning and runs through around 7 pm, with two breaks: one for lunch and one for tea. What else would you expect?
Princeton had four crews row yesterday, and two of them advanced. One was the men's "A" boat, which defeated Cambridge for its second straight win in the Temple Cup group, which is the highest collegiate bracket. The Tigers are off today before tomorrow's quarterfinal round.
The other Princeton winner was the men's 4-, which defeated the Radley Mariners and the Tideway Scullers' School in the Visitors' Challenge Cup.
The distance is a little further than the standard 2,000 meter American college distance. The starting line is pretty far out of view, though there are as many groups partying there as there are as you get closer to the finish. Why, TB asked one of the stewards, would you want to be at the start? The answer was something like "because they don't care about anything other than eating and drinking."
As the races go along, a PA announcer keeps the crowd updated on who is ahead, by how much and with how many strokes per minute at that particular juncture. Eventually they come into view of the Regatta Enclosure, which has no dress code, and finally the Stewards' Enclosure, which, as TB learned, does have a dress code. The cheering gets louder and louder through the end regardless of whether the race is close or not.
Each boat that enters the river is cheered onto the water; each boat that comes off is cheered off, win or lose.
The racing itself is great. There are boats from all over the U.S. and Europe, and the elite of the elite row here.
TigerBlog spent a lot of time with Marty Crotty, the head coach of the men's lightweight team at Princeton. Marty, himself a national champion when he rowed at Princeton in the 1990s, gave TB a tutorial on Henley, what to expect from the racing and what to expect from the parts around the racing.
It was also good to see Lori Dauphiny, the women's open coach. To them, Henley is pretty much heaven.
Beyond that, though, there is everything else. TigerBlog watched, what, maybe seven or so minutes of racing in all as he checked out the Princeton boats? The rest of the time is soaking in the experience.
Of any place TB has ever been, the absolute, unquestionable, without a doubt best people-watching ever is at Henley. Maybe 90 percent of the men in the Regatta Enclosure are in suits and ties, and as you know, 100 percent of the men in the Stewards' Enclosure are as well. There are jackets like TB was wearing, but the overwhelming majority of them are colorful reminders of Princeton's Reunion jackets.
The rules for women? No dresses above the knee in the Stewards' Enclosure. Hats are also required.
And oh are there hats. There are the ones that Queen Elizabeth liked to wear. There are hats that make you think of "Downton Abbey." There are hats with feathers of all colors. There are what the British call "fascinators," which looks like you have a bird who is sitting on top of your head. There are big hats and little hats and everything in between. There are derbys and top hats and straw hats — and even a few cowboy hats.
Pretty much everyone is dressed as if they are attending a wedding. Everyone matches perfectly.
The majority of those in attendance are British, with the requisite quick British humor. You can talk to anyone. You can sit with anyone. It doesn't matter that you've never met them before. In about 10 minutes, you'll know everything about them.
That's how it works at Henley.
It's not easy to win, but it is easy to make friends.
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