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On Tuesday afternoon this
week the Stewards of Henley Royal Regatta took
delivery of a new Umpires' launch that was named
Herakles at a private ceremony on the banks of
the river Thames in Henley.
Built by Creative Marine in Norfolk, Herakles
will join the Regatta's existing fleet of three
similar launches that were built in the early
1990’s – Ariadne, Argonaut and Ulysses.
Constructed using a set of lines taken from
Umpire’s launch Amaryllis in 1992 by Yacht
Designer Andrew Wolstenholme, Herakles has a GRP
composite hull and will be powered by a 4.3
litre V6 petrol engine. Construction work has
taken about 9 months to complete and the vessel
will be used for the first time at the 2008
Regatta. The topsides and decking have received
7 coats of varnish to give a deep lustre to the
wood.
Simon Read, founding Partner of Creative Marine,
recalls how close he came to not obtaining the
vital plywood templates that supplemented the
hull mould tool following a clear-out of a rival
boat yard:-
“I received a
call from a friend saying “you’d better get
round here if you want those patterns to the
Henley launch – they have been thrown on the
bonfire and are about to go up in smoke”.
Immediately we jumped in the van and went
straight round to rescue the templates - years
later I’m relieved that we acted so speedily
because without them this project would have
been a nightmare!”
The Chairman of the Regatta’s
Committee of Management Mike Sweeney commented:-
“I’m very
pleased that, with the addition of Herakles to
our fleet, we have gone a long way toward
safeguarding the continued use of
traditional-style launches at the Regatta whilst
embracing the advantages of more modern
construction materials and techniques.”
18th June, 2008
Photographs of Herakles are
available at
www.hrr.co.uk/herakles
For further information
contact:
D. G. M. Grist
The Secretary
Henley Royal Regatta
Regatta Headquarters
Henley-on-Thames
Oxfordshire RG9 2LY
Telephone 01491-572153
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