The BBC iPlayer is now my medium of choice for watching Formula 1 races; their coverage and commentary is simply the best. Having watched a qualifying session, I noticed they were covering the boat race live, so I watched that too.
The Oxford and Cambridge boat race has been run for more than 150 years, and there are worse ways of idling away twenty minutes on a Saturday afternoon, unless you are actually sitting in one of the boats, in which case it looks like reasonably hard work. Anyway, it was an closely fought race, I quite enjoyed it and I vowed to be really annoyed next year when I discover that I missed it.
But then a call from Polo Escape; we are having a boat race! Come see!
The chance to experience, first hand, the precision rowing of athletes who have spent the previous year in training. The surge of the boat as multiple sets of oars work in perfect harmony. The tension as they race neck and neck to the finish. I was on on my way immediately.
It wasn’t quite what I expected. There were three boats rather than two (Oxford, Cambridge and Leeds perhaps), although the all-Argentinian crew of one boat had a level of excitability and South American passion that exceeded the stability rating of the boat. Or to put it bluntly, they capsized at the start line. So that was Leeds out of the running.
Having failed to make the start, the gauchos were determined that the remaining two boats should not make the finish; and they didn’t. Notice the pair of hands at the back of the first boat…
And the fear of pursuit was sufficient to sink the final competitor.
So much for the boat race. At least there was some excitement, provided by the resident duck which either wanted to mate with me or take a chunk out of my leg. Neither option appealed and I made a retreat.
Then the final polo match of the season. Not a great selection of photos, and some looked quite murky:
On closer inspection, you can see this was because it was raining:
The boat race might have been rubbish and the polo a little rainy, but the meal afterwards was as wonderful as ever. The dinner was an asado. The basis of this is barbequed meat from various animals, and this takes a while to prepare, so copious amounts of wine are consumed while waiting. For some reason I found myself involved in a game of Scrabble, which is really hard to play when you are slightly pissed. Although, to be honest, I am not much better when I am sober. My highest scoring word was “beep”.
For the asado itself, you have a wooden platter onto which is heaped a seemingly infinite supply of beef, lamb and chicken. There was also a paella with crab and squid and some green stuff that looked suspiciously like salad so I avoided that.
Interesting company in the form of a man who owns one of Thailand’s better known magazines and may use some of my photos, an owner of a racing yacht who just maybe will let me come on board and photograph the action during a race, and a Thai super-model and her model/actor husband (yes I took some photos and no you can’t see them). He is really into F1 so we had a good chat about that and played with the F1 app on my iPad which I just happened to have with me.
Totally stuffed with meat, it was a challenge to discover that dessert included lemon meringue pie and tiramisu. I couldn’t choose between them, so had both.
Slept very well.
A big thank you to Robin and Susy who own Polo Escape. I must be the best fed photographer on the planet.
So that’s the end of the polo season. Yes, gentle reader, no more horsey shots until November, how will you manage…?
Comments 🔗
2010-04-26| genuinej saysCould that randy/aggressive “duck” actually be a swan or goose? Perhaps it only wanted to give you a little peck.
2010-04-26| Spike saysIt could well be a goose, how the hell would I know? To me it was simply “predator”.
2010-04-26| Any SAILING people. How do I go about learning to sail? says[…] Not the boat race | Pattaya Days […]