Wednesday, June 6, 2012

 Largest Parade of Boats: Diamond Jubilee pageant breaks world record (PICS & Videos)

LONDON, UK -- The flotilla of 670 boats, which travelled down the River Thames in London to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee on Sunday sets the new world record for the Largest Parade of Boats, according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/.

  Photo: The World's Largest Parade of Boats.
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  The pageant achieved a new world record for the largest parade of boats - surpassing the previous Guinness world record of 327 boats in Bremerhaven, Germany, last year.

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the largest flotilla of tug boats: 148, achieved by Vereniging de Binnenvaart in Dordrecht, Netherlands.

  The new world record was announced as 419 boats reached the bridge, with up to 1,000 vessels expected to complete the pageant.

  Boat crews waved as they passed the royal spectators, many of the boats listing to one side as the passengers flooded to the south side to see the Queen.


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  The flotilla was led by the Royal Jubilee bells, with churches on the banks of the Thames ringing their own bells as the boats passed.

  Next came the rowing boats, led by the spectacular Gloriana, the million-pound row barge Gloriana led by Olympic gold medallists Sir Matthew Pinsent and Sir Steve Redgrave, rowing with 16 others.

  They were followed by boats carrying the flags of the Commonwealth before the heart of the fleet with the Spirit of Chartwell, Havengore and the Elizabethan.

  Havengore carried London Mayor Boris Johnson, Prince Edward and wife Sophie and Prince Andrew with his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie.

  Tower Bridge was raised for the arrival of the royal barge, the Spirit of Chartwell, which moored alongside HMS President to watch the rest of the seven mile-long flotilla making its way down the Thames.

  The Spirit of Chartwell had been fitted with red velvet thrones for the royal to sit on but the Queen and her family chose to stand throughout as they waved to the crowds and enjoyed the spectacle.

  The second half of the pageant passed in heavy rain, and Kate and the Queen both made use of scarves they had brought along as a precaution in the bad weather, but they were protected from the downpour by the ornate covering of the barge.

  "Despite the weather, spectators had turned out in large numbers, with a million people estimated to have lined the river banks to see the flotilla," The Mirror News reported.