Bumps 2016: day 1
The day was hot but so were we. Woof! Is that an oar in my one-piece or am I pleased to see you? Overall results:
- W3, M3, W2 and M2: row over.
- W1, M1: up.
M1: the full story
A blistering[*] start peaking at 45 got us our first whistle on Nines 2 really very soon - I distinctly heard John shouting "one whistle and I really mean it". Under the bridge and outflow it got rather choppy but we closed down to two and then three whistles (listening to the video we clearly get two whistles before the bridge wich is pretty damn leet). Then it got really choppy - or perhaps we weren't quite as sharp as we should have been[+] - because we rather stuffed up the "kill" call, which we misinterpreted as "row badly for a bit". Fortunately we soon recovered and pushed on through the overlap to get Nines at First Post corner.
[*] Not literally. It's a metaphor.
[+] And maybe Mr T steered for the bump just the teensiest bit...
M3: row over
It was a row over for M3 at the top of the fourth division. We came close to a bump but sadly our third position meant we were vulnerable to the fact that 99s ahead of us only had to be better than the boat ahead. Which sadly they were and we were left to row along a clear river to the finish. We were within station of them when they got their bump so the 2nd night should be a good one for us - provided some real river detritus doesn’t float down from division 3 as 99s also bumped up when they were sandwich boat. It was a good row and we hope to catch the crew ahead by the gut tonight.
The start was a bit ropey - particularly given some of the fliers we’ve had, but we soon settled into a rhythm and it was commendable given that: we are the third boat and, let’s be honest, they don’t always fly; we’d practiced for this which again is unusual; and three of the crew have not been rowing for long and this was their first experience of bumps.
The crew were: Tidy as cox, Simon E as stroke, Paul H, Rob, Barney, Steve, Will B, Stuart and finally Lewis at bow. A fine evening gentlemen.
Women's side
W1 went up, fairly soon, around First Post I think. Also, I do know that they caught a fish, which is remarkable. Further details:
Our zen like race preparation was punctuated by the combative narrative from our trusty bank party. The start came all too quickly but we had a good start and surprisingly quickly we heard a whistle, Jo reassured us from the bank that it was “Our whistle”. Champs behind, who we’d feared, didn’t come up and we were soon hearing we were ½ a length off. Then it went a bit quiet…”Oh no!” had they got away. But no the calls of “1/2 a length” returned and we battled on as we hit choppy water. Then it was our bow-side vs stroke-side push for the Bump followed by “Hold it Up!”. We’d Bumped City 3 going into first-post corner. Much over-excitement followed we were now at Station 9 – single figures!
W3: row over.
First Bumps for many of the crew, and yes the canon’s really do exist and are loud! The crew set off well and remained in sight of Radegund 2, however Rad 2 quickly gained on Cantabs 7 and rowed a ¼ of a length off them for the first half of the course. Just going into Grassy it seemed like Rad 2 might have missed their chance but with a final push out of Grassy they finally Bumped leaving W2 with nothing to chase. Dave did some good manoeuvring to row through the crews Bumped out in front as the crew rowed on for the row over. Nines 5 behind did a final push on the Reach but had left it too late.
W2: row over.
Sandwich boat beckoned. The crew rowed well initially gaining on the pecky Robs J15s but by Grassy a first night row over was on the cards. There was no danger from behind so as Robs IV bumped down Champs 6 as sandwich boat the crew are in a good position for the rest of the week.
CRA officials; please avert your eyes from this video, it is Naughty.
The day in pictures
