The Rowing Eight Britain Afloat

The waterways of Britain are a wonderful world of their own.

From the earliest times, we've sailed, rowed,

paddled and steamed along them.

Whether travelling, trading, hunting, racing

or just having a good time,

we've made a boat that's perfect for the job.

I'm Mary-Ann Ochota.

I like nothing better than getting out on the water.

Boats fascinate me.

Their design, their engineering...

..and what they tell us about the people of Britain.

For a boat that embodies British ingenuity

and our pursuit of speed,

look no further than the rowing eight.

It's the product of centuries of tradition,

competition and a class war

that spread from the river to Parliament.

The history of Britain's boats is our history.

This is Britain Afloat.

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

APPLAUSE

Oh, they're catching up!

The Henley Royal Regatta is arguably the world's

most famous rowing competition.

And, of course, to win, you need the ultimate racing machine...

..the rowing eight.

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

The eight's the biggest boat, it's the fastest boat.

Nine minds trying to act as one.

It is incredibly exciting.

CHEERING

High-class competition on the river, champagne on the river bank...

..Henley is about as posh as it gets...

..but rowing's roots couldn't be more working class.

This may be the pinnacle of British rowing,

but the sport didn't start here.

To discover its origins and how the eight became the ultimate racer,

we have to go back 300 years...

..and to the waterways of London.

In the 1700s, the city's population doubled to a million people,

spread from the East End to Richmond,

and they all needed to get around.

With no black cabs or the Underground,

the quickest way to get around London was in one of these.

All right, Bobby?

VOICEOVER: Well, this is the life. Today, I'm being chauffeured by Bobby Prentice,

who's the fourth generation of his family to work on the Thames.

We're in a beautiful replica 18th-century river taxi.

Back then, you'd pay four pence to cross the river.

About £1.50 in today's money.

Bobby, the watermen weren't just taking people across the Thames before bridges,

they were taking them up and down, as well, weren't they?

Yeah, indeed. And, of course, the royal family to the palaces.

Watermen would row from the Tower up to Hampton Court

and, indeed, to Windsor.

-How far's that?

-That's, er...

I suppose you'd be talking in the region of 70 miles.

But then they would change crews,

a bit like the stagecoaches did with the horses.

Right. So, you'd keep fresh men at the oars?

Yeah. Well, I don't know about fresh! They'd do quite a few hours.

But, um... Yeah, and the timings, they'd get up there quite good.

Bobby, I've got Samuel Pepys' diary here from the 1660s,

and he writes, as well, about being ferried around on the river.

He says, "With merry heart I left them, sailing pleasantly from Erith,

"hoping to be in the Downs tomorrow early.

"We toward London in our boat pulled off our stockings

"and bathed our legs a great while in the river,

"which I had not done some years before."

It sounds like pretty easy for the passengers.

I guess it was a different kettle of fish for the man at the oars?

Especially coming from Erith. That's quite a long way down.

Unfortunately, I would like to go to Richmond, sir,

and I shan't pay you a single shilling more.

Well, we do charge a little bit extra.

THEY CHUCKLE

It was a hard life.

Watermen often picked up diseases that spread on the Thames.

And with more than 3,000 taxis fighting for work,

competition was fierce.

They needed more money and a break from the daily grind.

Their solution? Racing and gambling.

There were official races, of course,

but there were many unofficial wagers

and, um...a lot of gambling went on.

You know, there wouldn't always be umpires,

so there was nothing to say you wouldn't hit a piece of wood

that shouldn't be going across your head at a certain time,

depending how the gambling was going.

What, so you got hit by an oar?

Well, people would put obstacles in the way of a favourite.

You wouldn't want to hit that in Doggett's.

It's like you've done this before, haven't you?

Someone who loved these races was the Irish actor, Thomas Doggett.

In 1715, he set up an official race.

And away they go, with four miles, five furlongs of river ahead of them.

It became a Thames tradition - the Doggett's Coat And Badge Wager,

where the winner receives a red coat and a large silver badge.

300 years on, it's still going strong.

And in 1973, Bobby Prentice set the fastest winning time in its history.

His record still stands.

He's now the umpire.

I think what makes it special,

it's actually noted to be the oldest and longest rowing event

to be held annually in the world.

-The whole world?

-Yeah.

BOOM!

-Flag is up.

-Did you see, they're all...?

-And they're off!

-And the race is off.

The wooden boats have been replaced by modern racers,

but many traditions remain.

Only apprentices working on the river can enter.

In the early years, the badges they won

served an important purpose in later life.

Some of the original badges still survive,

and are cared for by race historian, Peter Capon.

This is the oldest Doggett's badge we have in the collection.

It was won by George Staples in 1825.

And it's a silver gilt example of the badge.

So often Doggett's men would melt the badges down in the 18th century

so they could fund their own retirement.

A solid-silver badge would give you quite a nice pension.

So some of the older badges, especially, are lost to us,

but for a very good reason.

The badge today is very similar to this,

and it's very much part of the history of the race

and something that we continue to try and keep going.

Rowers race from London Bridge to Chelsea, as they always have.

And the commentary team enjoy the racing as much as the spectators.

And if he falls in now, he can swim over the line with his boat.

-That would be allowed, would it?

-As long as you get there with the boat.

Ha! Here we are, the white flag is up.

-And it's done!

-It's all over. Very worthy winner.

Well done indeed.

In first place for 2017,

in 25 minutes and 1O seconds, Jack Keech!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Today's winner gets his medal presented by royalty.

Hopefully he won't need to melt it down.

Just over a mile to go from here...

As 19th-century working men raced to provide for their families,

one of the world's most famous boat races was about to be born.

The Oxford Cambridge Boat Race is watched by millions each year,

not only in Britain, but around the world.

And that was a very, very good race.

Yet it began with a simple challenge between two friends.

In 1829, Charles Wordsworth at Oxford

and Charles Merivale at Cambridge

challenged each other to a competition

to see which university would win in a race.

It was decided that the race should be held on Oxford's home river, the Thames.

And the boat of choice? The rowing eight.

The boat was based on the Cornish pilot gig...

..which can still be seen around our coastline.

The gigs carried crews from ship to shore

and were so fast, smugglers used them to outpace customs officials.

Yes! Come on!

I did that for the first time last year.

Oh, my God, it's a killer, isn't it?

A man who knows the university boat race well is Richard Phelps.

Did you enjoy it?

He's part of a rowing dynasty that dates back 200 years.

He's an Olympic rower

and won the boat race three times with Cambridge.

In 1829, the first boat race between Oxford and Cambridge,

what sort of boats were they racing?

We've got two replicas here, the Oxford and the Cambridge one.

I think there were three, probably, main differences

to what we would have seen before these boats.

One, they're longer.

Two, they're narrower.

And three, the rowers are set to either side

to maximise the leverage, so they can generate more speed per stroke.

Right. So, each rower doesn't have two oars? You have one?

Yeah. One oar each.

These would have been really quite new and innovative.

It's all well and good talking about them,

but I think we should get them out on the water and give them a spin.

So I've collared 16 rowers.

You and me are going to cox.

Because I went to Cambridge, as well,

I reckon I get to be Cambridge and you have to be Oxford.

-Bring it on.

-Cool.

Forward! And row!

You might have spotted there are actually nine people in an eight.

Eight oarsmen, plus the cox.

It's nice being in charge.

You might also have spotted an Olympic gold medallist in my boat -

Anna Watkins.

Anna, what's it like rowing in an eight?

At its best, it's, um...nine people

thinking the same thing at the same time

and feeling the same thing at the same time,

so it can be a bit of a hive mind. That's the best bit.

Feel that change!

At its worst, it's nine people thinking different things at the same time

and having a different opinion about what's going to make the boat go faster.

At the end we're sitting at, I'm in the stroke seat,

and that's the person setting the rhythm,

so they need to be a real leader.

Somebody that... Who we'll follow into battle.

The middle of the boat tends to be, physically, the strongest people.

The only muscles that should be really working are the legs!

Your Labradors, who are going to just work and work and work without complaint.

Feel that change!

Down at the bows, you tend to have your most technical rowers,

the people who are really good at making sure the boat is balanced.

Giving feedback as to how the crew is connecting together.

And if you can get all that right, then it's a much happier boat.

The first boat race was won by Oxford.

Push the legs!

He's really getting into his coxing!

Since then, the men's crews have faced each other 163 times...

Push the legs! Now relax!

..with Cambridge leading 82 wins to 80.

Drop and squeeze!

For my race today, I'm hoping history is on my side.

Last four! One!

Two!

Three!

Easy there!

CHEERING

We have a winner!

CHEERING

-Told you.

-Phelps!

That was Olympic-level effort.

It was, yeah! Well, as near as you'll get

five years on and two children down the line.

The brain's still Olympian, but maybe the body isn't.

It's with gall in my throat that I have to say congratulations.

-Well done to you. Very well tried.

-Thank you.

-Next time.

-Next time...we'll have you.

As the boat race captured the country's imagination,

rowing became one of the biggest spectator sports in Britain.

Oxford are first out, and away they go.

But while upper-class students could afford to race for fun,

working-class rowers were racing to supplement their income.

The race is rowed at Henley this year, over the Olympic course.

One of them was Harry Clasper, born near Gateshead in 1812.

A boat builder by trade, he couldn't read or write,

but had a natural talent for rowing.

Without his innovations, the modern rowing eight wouldn't exist.

To find out why, I've come to see Bill Colley,

the last man in the country building wooden rowing racing boats by hand.

Bill, what was so revolutionary about Harry Clasper's designs?

From the centre of the seat to the swivel point of the oar,

which was on the edge of the boat, on the gunnel, if you like,

there's a minimum width of about four feet.

He had the brilliant idea of putting the point of swivel on a stick,

something like this, only, obviously, much cruder.

What is now known as an outrigger.

You've got the point of swivel nearly five feet across,

and the boat could be very narrow.

Because you've put the point where the oar moves on a frame,

-you can actually shrink your boat.

-Narrow the boat. Yeah.

It was a huge revolution.

How much quicker were boats like this compared to what came before?

A hell of a lot. He'd win by half the course.

Ready? Lift.

I feel very privileged and a little bit nervous

because Bill is letting me take this beauty out on to the water.

It's a boat very similar to what Harry Clasper would have used,

but it's been about 20 years since I've been in a boat this narrow.

Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!

It's all right.

Well, that didn't go quite to plan, did it?

What happened? Well, except that I fell in!

THEY CHUCKLE

In a boat like this, you realise just how much balance

and technique is involved when your boat is this narrow.

But in exchange, you get a lot more speed.

Over the years, Clasper's design was improved upon,

and a sliding seat was added,

which helped rowers use their legs to produce more power.

Every now and then, when I get more than one stroke in the right place

and sort of balanced, you can feel the boat lift below you

and sort of just bob up in the water,

and you suddenly feel like you're really moving

with a bit of symmetry and rhythm.

It's lovely.

All these new innovations were added to the eight-man boat.

The modern rowing eight was beginning to take shape.

These sleeker designs set new records,

and by the 1850s, the Henley Royal Regatta

had become the biggest rowing event in Britain.

But there was trouble brewing off the water.

At the heart of it - class.

Oxford, Cambridge and the elite clubs on the Thames

created the Amateur Rowing Association.

In what was seen even then as the most extreme example of sporting snobbery,

they banned working-class rowers from their events.

We've got the Field Rowing Almanac. 1938, it was taken out.

Natalie Patel from the River and Rowing Museum

has brought along the ARA's rules from the 1930s.

The class divide is spelled out in black and white.

The definition of an amateur cannot include anyone

who has ever been employed in or about boats

or in manual labour for money or wages.

It also excludes anyone who has ever been by trade

or employment for wages, a mechanic, artisan or labourer.

Then later added the defining phrase,

"or engaged in any menial duty".

So for example, in 1920, Jack Kelly from Philadelphia,

he'd come off the back of winning six US championships

and he wasn't allowed to compete at Henley in the diamond sculls.

And that is due to him having his background as a bricklayer.

And so, he was effectively excluded by ARA rules.

Ironically, while Jack Kelly might not have been good enough for the ARA,

his daughter Grace would become Hollywood, and European, royalty.

So Grace Kelly, famous Hollywood movie actress of all time,

her father wasn't allowed to race at Henley

because he was once a bricklayer?

Absolutely. But he found out the winner

and he beat him by just one second later that year.

So, the bricklayer had the last laugh?

He really did, yeah.

In 1936, the row came to a head

when the ARA banned the Australian Olympic team from entering Henley.

The reason? They were all policemen.

The international outrage the incident caused

meant Parliament stepped in.

And the next year, the ARA finally changed its rules.

So, a fight that started here, on the River Thames

between posh gentlemen who wanted to keep rowing to themselves

and a national team from the other side of world

ends up in our Parliament?

Absolutely. It's something that has taken the best part of a century

to overcome this social division, this bad feeling,

and to make rowing a more inclusive sport

open to all levels of society.

It's the day before the Henley Royal Regatta.

And just upriver is the Leander Club,

the most successful rowing club in the world.

With 123 Olympic medals,

its impressive roll call has included Sir Steve Redgrave,

Sir Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Anna Watkins.

Debbie Flood has two Olympic silver medals,

three golds at the World Championships,

and was Leander's first female captain.

She's spent her career winning in the modern boats

that are being prepared for tomorrow's regatta.

The boats are all made of the same thing now,

which is carbon-fibre re-enforced plastic.

And that has been a big change in boats, even in my rowing lifetime,

from wooden boats, which were obviously very heavy,

to these light, composite, carbon-fibre boats.

Wood also can, over time, warp,

and become less stiff and a bit more flexible.

And that kind of absorbs the power when you're rowing.

So the good thing about the carbon-fibre composite boats

is that they retain their rigidity

and their shape and their stiffness,

so actually, the effort you're putting in in the water

is being transferred to speed, and it's not being absorbed.

Everything within the boats, you know,

it's all specified for the individual athlete.

Where the feet are, the seats.

You can individualise all the different positions in the boat, as well.

I didn't realise rowing boats could be so complicated.

The introduction of carbon-fibre shells in the 1980s,

and oars that are more like a blade than a paddle,

have transformed the modern eight into the ultimate racing machine.

But what about the rowers?

One of our greatest-ever athletes,

and now chairman of the Henley Royal Regatta,

is five-time Olympic gold medallist, Sir Steve Redgrave.

You read some of the old rowing books from 80 years ago,

a training session was a stiff walk in a heavy overcoat.

And when we come back, we'll have a glass of port.

That sounds like my kind of training.

That's pretty good training. I would have liked that.

Now they're training 12-18 sessions a week.

100 years ago, they were doing four sessions a week.

The more you do of something, the better you become.

Sir Steve has rowed all over the world

in five Olympics and 14 World Championships,

but Henley will always hold a special place in his heart.

I was born and bred in the next town downriver, so this was my local regatta.

You put the boat on the water, there's cruisers out,

there's people in punts, there's skiffs.

The water's so crowded, it's a nightmare from that.

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

The chances of hitting obstacles are much higher.

MUSIC PLAYS

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

But, then, you get onto the start and there's noise,

there's atmosphere, there's crowds there.

There's no regatta in the world that comes close to this atmosphere.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thousands come to watch.

And while the sport is, of course, centre stage,

like Wimbledon and Royal Ascot,

the Henley Royal Regatta is as much a key date in the social calendar

as it is in the sporting one.

A lot of people think Henley's about, you know, posh boys in blazers. Is that true?

We're still trying to look for them at the moment.

THEY LAUGH

Are you actually watching the rowing, or are you just here drinking?

No, no. I love rowing. It's great fun.

I don't really know. I don't know what's going on, I'm sorry.

THEY LAUGH

We're going to have to try and watch a race, otherwise there's no point being here, is there?

While anyone can enjoy most of the regatta's enclosures,

there's a 10-year waiting list

to be a member of the exclusive Stewards' Enclosure,

where formal dress is still a must.

APPLAUSE

At the boat tent, it's serious business

as crews prepare for the biggest races of the day.

And taking centre stage, the rowing eight.

The pressure is on to gain every extra second.

So before the crews even get out on the water, they'll have spent hours

tweaking and finessing every part of the boat

to optimise its performance.

For cox Henry Fieldman and rower Jacob Dawson,

it's the final chance to make any changes

before racing for the coveted Grand Challenge Cup.

We are a sport that is about making marginal gains,

but when you're out on a row, the coaches will have a look at you,

decide if you need a little bit of extra length here or there.

Like, you know, you can adjust the footplate, um...

to move it more forward,

so the work you're putting behind the pin can be adjusted.

Um... Yeah, just make it more comfortable while you're sat in the boat

so you can perform to the best of your abilities.

Is it right that even the seats are individually moulded to your bums?

Oh, absolutely not.

THEY LAUGH

Can you tell me the game plan?

Just go out really hard, really fast and just stay really fast.

THEY LAUGH

No, I mean, I guess specifically in any rowing boat,

you go off the start and there's a period where you're at a high pace,

above your race pace, and then there's a period where you

transition into that race pace.

And then from that point on, it's kind of just do whatever you can

to hold boat speed. That's the key, really.

Is it nine minds all working as one?

There's eight guys in the boat and one mind that's important.

THEY LAUGH

Ensuring all's fair on the water, it's Richard Phelps.

An umpire for today's race, he remembers vividly

what it was like to compete here.

Every time you go around to the start of the course,

it brings back to me all my races.

And down the start, there's that hushed silence.

It's a crowd of people, hushed silence and it makes you think,

"Oh, my God, here we are again".

Go!

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

These athletes give everything.

There's not an ounce of energy left.

But when they cross the line, as an umpire, it's more of a,

"Oh, thank goodness it was all fine".

He's wrestling with them to let them know Brookes are on course to win!

And then, of course, you deal with the vision of eight athletes delirious,

knowing they've achieved their life ambition of a Henley medal,

and another four or eight who know they've got to come back next year and try all over again.

CHEERING

This will be the 900th race that we've shown at Henley this year,

the final of the Grand Challenge Cup.

It's the oldest of Henley's events.

Finally, the main event - the Grand Challenge Cup.

One of the most prestigious races in rowing,

Olympic-level crews travel from all over the world to compete for the trophy.

-Go!

-But the British will go out hard.

There's no other way to race eights.

Despite giving everything against their rival German crew,

Jacob and Henry's eight is beaten by a single boat length.

It's a setback, but they're focusing on Olympic glory in three years' time.

We've got to really just keep going, keep trucking,

keep improving what we're doing day by day

and I'm sure we will catch them.

Maybe not next race, maybe not by the summer, but we will catch them.

Do you think there's something special about racing the eights?

Oh, yes, definitely. I think the eight, it's the biggest boat,

it's the fastest boat.

It's a hugely-exciting boat to be a part of.

The irony of being here at all isn't lost on Richard.

As working men, his ancestors were barred from racing at Henley.

The social change that this sport's gone through

from the '30s to now is just incredible.

I think it reflects the social change of our country.

But if you want to sort of capture it in one little microcosm, rowing is that.

I think as and when I die

and I get to go up to the great regatta in the sky,

there will be all the Phelps forefathers looking at me, going,

"Who the hell do you think you are? Above your station, young man, becoming a steward!"

But, you know, I think deep down, they're probably equally proud.

From the old wooden river taxis to the modern carbon-fibre racers,

across three centuries, the rowing eight has remained iconic

in our quest to be the best.

It's evolved from British innovation,

been the battleground for class struggle,

and captured the imagination

in our search to find the limits of human performance.

If history is anything to go by,

the rowing eight will continue to deliver excitement

and sporting drama for many years to come.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE