YOUNG KIWIS AT THE QUEEN���S PAGEANT
ON THE RIVER THAMES
BY RON BIRD
I
of Adventure Voyagers Club members were
n early 2011 the Mayor of London, Boris
invited to tour the Lord Nelson and Pelican
Johnson, appeared on New Zealand
of London sail training ships, which was soon
television announcing a pageant on the River
extended to the whole Shackleton crew and
Thames to celebrate the 60th anniversary of
their support team.
the Queen���s coronation. Two who registered
their interest in participating were Ron Perano
The West India Dock where the Swift Sure 1
in Blenheim with his 30ft whaleboat Swift
and Shackleton crews were staying, started
Sure 1, and myself with the 20ft, Londonto fill up with the arrival of the 400 strong
based, Home Counties Gig the Shackleton.
powerboat flotilla that included Dunkirk
The two teams had one thing in common: they
veteran vessels. Two days before the Pageant
both had a crew of young people to row their
we were informed that the New Zealand Prime
boats! The New Zealand contingent reached
Minister John Key wished to meet the crews of
three when we were joined by a Netherlandsthe waka and two youth boats, which required
based waka Te Hono ki Aotearoa.
an extra two miles being added to the course
Jamie-Lee Sadler and Charlotte
Boys from Marlborough Boys High School
on the day.
Pym aboard the Pelican of London
rowing club crewed the Blenheim whale boat,
The day before the pageant the two boats,
and Shackleton���s crew were a collection of Sea
sporting black New Zealand silver fern flags,
Cadets, a young Girl Guide leader, Young Mariners, Spirit of
were towed up to Chiswick in West London by a London
Adventure Voyagers Club and one Cook Islands based Sea Scout.
Nautical School vessel. The number of New Zealand flags
The boats were going to have to maintain a speed of four knots
that appeared from balconies of flats on the banks of the river
for the pageant and had to be on the water from 9am to 5pm ���
Thames was amazing. This endorsed our decision to use this
with no toilet stops! The waka crew invited Shackleton���s crew to
flag, instead of the New Zealand flag, which can easily be
join them at Hamilton to practice on the Waikato River, and then
mistaken for Australia���s.
it was off to the University Marae for an official welcome and
The Prime Minister arrived to be given a Maori greeting and
sleepover before more practices, while Swift Sure 1 was packed
speeches before he and Derek Leask, the New Zealand High
into a forty foot container for it���s passage to and from London.
Commissioner in London, met all the crews and supporters
While in London, arrangements were made for each New
and inspected the boats and waka. After he left, the boats were
Zealand youth organisation represented in Shackleton���s crew
preparing for the trip back down the Thames when a UK sea
to meet up with a similar UK organisation. The two Spirit
scout crew were having problems with an outboard. I was
62 Professional Skipper January/February 2013
