PLA Galleries

The PLA Hydrographic Service provides a wide range of services to river users.

The Port of London Authority (PLA) owns and operates Richmond Footbridge, Lock and Weir, situated between Teddington and Richmond, which offers a wonderful location for any type of film and television productions as well as still photography.

Our photo gallery showing the highlights of the Great River Race 2013. As ever, colourful in costumes and gritty for the enduring over the 21-mile course.

The Thames Barge Sailing Match is believed to be the longest running, regularly organised, national racing event for traditional sail in the world. This year’s event, held on Saturday, 13 July 2013, and marked the 150th running of the match. It was run for the first time over a course finishing at Erith.

The 38th TOW Barge Race was held on Saturday, 13 July 2013. The race is rowed over a course of seven miles between the palaces of Greenwich and Westminster. It showcases the skills of Watermen and Lightermen in navigating under oars, using only their own strength, experience and the tide to propel their craft, which can weigh up to 30 tonnes. The PLA crew on barge, Blackwall, took their seventh win in eight years.

This year’s annual Doggett’s Coat & Badge Race was run on Friday, 12 July 2013. Doggetts race is one of the oldest continuous, annually-staged sporting events in the world and has taken place on the Thames every year since 1715. The winner of this year’s, the 299th, race was Nathaniel Brice.

Run on a July summer’s evening, the Port of London Challenge is rowed over a 4.4 mile course from HQS 'Wellington' to Chelsea Harbour. The cutters are crewed by six rowers, carrying a cox and passenger.

Over 1,000 people attended the recent PLA-hosted Thames Careers Day. Visitors learnt about training opportunities and Thames operations from 24 exhibitors, before seeing round the PLA’s Marine Services base at Denton Wharf.

On Monday, 17 June 2013, 14 crews tackled the Admiral of the Port’s Challenge, a 1.33 statute mile race from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Boating Base. The crews raced traditional Thames cutters with four rowers, coxswain & two passengers. Formal results to be confirmed.

The Venture Cup Powerboat Race started on the Thames at Tower Bridge on 8 June 2013. The boats, which had gathered at West India Dock over the preceding days, mustered at Greenwich Yacht Club, after locking out of West India Dock, before heading up to Tower Bridge. They were shadowed to the race start ‘proper’ off Southend Pier by PLA launch, Gunfleet.