On a gorgeous day in late summer, this is the Great River Race, the annual rowing spectacular on the Thames. The course runs downstream for 22 miles, from Richmond through central London to Greenwich, here passing Chiswick Pier with 15 miles of crazed endeavour to go.
There are about 250 boats of various traditional sorts in the race, which is run on a handicap system where the slowest boats start first. The crews range from serious rowers to fun rowers to never-again rowers. They all seemed very cheerful.
It takes three hours to get to Greenwich, with cheering and applause from the massed spectators along the route. Progress is helped all the way by the ebb tide, when the current is so strong you could get to Greenwich at a fair clip just floating in a barrel.The lure of lots of booze at the finish helps maintain the motivation.