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Consuta River Trials

28th May 2002

During the rather damp morning, Consuta ran trials supervised by the Environment Agency and members of the Henley Royal Regatta Committee.

We made three runs by Temple Island on the Henley Regatta course. On the first Consuta made a speed of 13 kilometres per hour, the second was 16 km/hr and the third was at 21km/hr

The speed on the last run increased to 24km/hr after we passed the radar gun, and we were still accelerating before being requested to shut off the steam! This is a 15 mph ground speed, against the river current. We had 12 persons on board who all found it very exhilarating - WOW is the expression use by several.

Consuta also had to perform an emergency stop, this was also quite remarkable, stopping in less than a boat's length.

Result: we have been granted an exception certificate to umpire at race speeds.

Consuta travelling at 15 mph

Tony Hobbs re-commissions Consuta at the Leander Rowing Club landing

This page was updated May 29th 2002

More pictures later

Watch this space for more news.If you want to get involved with this important preservation project please contact Brian Smith brianws@ukonline.co.uk Volunteers will be needed to help maintain and run Consuta.

For lots more about other steam launches see The Steam Boats Association of GB