Henley Royal Regatta prides itself on orderliness and discipline. The racing goes off without a hitch, thousands of spectators line the banks in their finery - some of them even look at the crews from time to time - and the standard of catering at the car park picnics moves ever higher. But sometimes unpredictability gets in the way, and yesterday’s racing programme provided plenty of upset.

The drama started when the day’s third race between two schoolboy composites of quadruple scullers from Peterborough City and Nottingham, and Sir William Borlase’s School and Leander Club, battled nose-to-nose down the course with never more than a few feet separating them, to produce the Regatta’s first dead-heat since 2001.

This was in a quarter-final of the Fawley Cup, and hurried arrangements were made to fit in a rerow just before the lunch break. This time, Borlase’s and Leander led off the start but eventually their rivals drew them back to progress to the semi-final with a hard-fought one-length win. They face Malvern Preparatory School from Pennsylvania in the semi-final, who had a fortunate come-from-behind win over Australia’s Cathedral School. The Australians had built a two-length lead but suffered a major mishap halfway through the race when an oar caught in the water. This stopped the Australian boat dead, and they never recovered as a surprised Malvern crew rowed past them.

Henley’s most prestigious trophy is the Grand Challenge Cup for international eights, but like most of the Regatta’s top events, it has suffered this year as most of the world’s leading crews, including the entire British Olympic squad, are concentrating on their Olympic preparations.

Yesterday’s semi-finals, however, still produced fireworks. Hopes of a British win were dashed when local club Leander just failed to pull back the Canadian Under-23 international eight, racing in the colours of Victoria City and Kingston clubs.

The Canadians were repeatedly warned for poor steering, but still managed to carve out a three-quarter length lead by the half-mile mark.

This moved to a full length by three-quarters of a mile, when Leander started a remorseless charge, reeling the Canadians in over the second half of the course. Leander closed with every stroke, but the finish line came just too early and the Canadians hung on for a six-feet verdict.

Leander appealed to the race umpire, feeling that the poor Canadian steering had interfered with them, but this was dismissed by umpire Mike Sweeney, who deemed that the result had not been affected. The Canadians contest today’s final.

There they will meet the University of Southern California, who were too strong for a Danish composite crew from Bagsvaerd and Danske Studenter clubs, and powered their way to a length-and-a-half victory. The California crew includes six members of the Estonian national squad, who, despite attending classes at the University, have been banned from racing in some top events on the American circuit this year.

The Regatta has not been completely shunned by top internationals this year, and there were three Beijing-bound crews racing yesterday, all of whom will feature in today’s finals.

South Africa’s Shaun Keeling and Ramon Di Clemente from Trident Club swept aside Dan Bartlett and Ashley Haynes from Polar, Blackwell and District in the semi-finals of the Silver Goblets for coxless pairs. They did so with an “easily” verdict, and meet Ole Ruckbrodt and Felix Otto from Germany’s Hamburger and Germania Dusseldorf clubs.

Estonia’s national quadruple scullers will face a crew from the California Rowing Club in the final of the Queen Mother Cup, while the USA’s Beijing selection in double sculls, Wesley Piermarini and Elliot Hovey, beat off Leander’s Ross Hunter and Ian Lawson to qualify for today’s Double Sculls Cup final. There they will face Peter and Thomas Graves in what will be a rerun of the final USA Olympic trial, with Piermarini and Hovey hoping for the same result.

Two British composite crews, from Furnivall and Leander, and Leander and Wallingford, will contest the final of the Remenham Cup for international women’s eights. The Furnivall/Leander composite beat Oxford University’s Osiris by a length and a quarter yesterday, under the coaching of Andy Holmes, who partnered Steve Redgrave to two Olympic golds in the eighties and has rarely been seen since.

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