Bumps, Blades, and Bowballs- Cambridge Boatie Chat

Yeah, river was pretty bad this morning. We did our second reach, and got to the end to spin at the same time as at least four other boats. Christs M3 and someone else were getting ready to do practice starts. Our coach had us take a few strokes to begin spinning then easy on the other side of the river to let Christs past. Unfortunately they went off a lot slower than we expected when they had started, and our cox told us to start spinning too early, and they managed to take our bow ball off and nearly take out bow on the way past. Lucky it was at the end of the outing and not the start.

On a positive note, we were half way through a piece when Wolfson did a practice start just ahead of us. We managed to catch up and overtake them, and they were only holding us for speed for about 5 strokes at the top of their wind. Looking good for Tuesday...

Reply 201

HappyHupo

Apagg

You're sure it was Sidney? Sounds an awful lot like something we did

Yeah, I'm sure it was Sidney. Unless you were rowing with sidney blades and had a female coach wearing a sidney splash top....

Reply 202

HappyHupo

afoneleri

Yeah, river was pretty bad this morning. We did our second reach, and got to the end to spin at the same time as at least four other boats. Christs M3 and someone else were getting ready to do practice starts. Our coach had us take a few strokes to begin spinning then easy on the other side of the river to let Christs past. Unfortunately they went off a lot slower than we expected when they had started, and our cox told us to start spinning too early, and they managed to take our bow ball off and nearly take out bow on the way past. Lucky it was at the end of the outing and not the start.

On a positive note, we were half way through a piece when Wolfson did a practice start just ahead of us. We managed to catch up and overtake them, and they were only holding us for speed for about 5 strokes at the top of their wind. Looking good for Tuesday...

Are you in M1 division? Which college?

Reply 203

FadeToBlackout

OP

15

River was, as people have said, hectic.

We did a double lock run rather than spack around spinning at the top of the reach and the P&E- probably saved a lot of time.

In other news, I'm quite annoyed that I've had to spend the evening at a Small Hal with the historians, sat opposite a fellow who was so stereotypical you wouldn't believe- he asked me my name twice and the same question 4 times- rather than being at Girton formal swapping with my crew. :frown:

Reply 204

Apagg

13

HappyHupo

Yeah, I'm sure it was Sidney. Unless you were rowing with sidney blades and had a female coach wearing a sidney splash top....

Sometimes, for fun

Reply 205

afoneleri

HappyHupo

Are you in M1 division? Which college?

Peterhouse W1 :wink:

Reply 206

Anonystude

Taiping

We're behind a 4th boat! Trinity can't be that good, so I hope we bump on the 1st day! :biggrin:

I'm rowing in FaT M5 and, to be honest, am bloody scared about how good some of the rowing I've seen is (as in, I'm feeling almost ashamed, and that's in M5...)

Reply 207

FadeToBlackout

OP

15

Why can my crew not seem to master the simple art of spinning?

We were in a four as one crew member threw up in the boathouse, so the eight outing was cancelled.

We're spinning at the top of the reach, continuous arms and bodies only, as full-slide spinning is too unstable for them in a four.

And they manage to get the saxboard literally so far down to strokeside that a wave came over the top and we nearly swamped. Special...

But, that said, they did a piece on the way back at rate 34 (bearing in mind that this was the first time three of the guys had been in a four) and it was FANTASTIC. Properly set, all of a sudden, and we just started planing through the water, hearing it hiss underneath. Magical.

Reply 208

Ditting Suck

8

We've cancelled two outings in a row now due to illness. No one out of comission all term, then, within the space of two days, one guy is hospitalised pending surgery, and two of us (myself and someone else) are bed-ridden with illness.

I'm better now though :smile:

I slept for eighteen hours last night...

Reply 209

Helenia

20

My first outing with W2 was cancelled because another girl has got injured. I feel really sorry for them - they've been having a great term and now they're going to be rowing bumps with at least two subs :s:

Reply 210

Childermass

Results for GoR are out

Congrats Christ's W2, bad luck W3.

Reply 211

Anonystude

Huzzah, we get to keep the 5th VIII headship ... :wink:

Reply 212

FadeToBlackout

OP

15

Wow, what a change!

Had the worst outing with Simoco ever, thy just weren't together, infuriating the coach, and now there's a lot of politics and infighting going on and upset middle aged women. Ouch!

And then I go out with M2 for bumps practice. We have our best start EVER on the reach, it's literally 300% better than any previous one. And then we race our first women's boat. The headship boat.

And beat them conclusively three times in a row. Understandably, really, as we're guys, but hey! It was fun.

Hit 43 coming out of the winds, to, and race pace of 39-40 out of the lengthen strokes.

That outing was literally THE BEST FUN EVER and I'm still flying.

Reply 213

coldfish

12

Gnah. We weren't allowed to do GoR because of us having too few outings together. It's very frustrating hearing some of the stories of awful rowing that are allowed to race in bumps when we're not... though of course rules are rules.

Particularly since most of our crew were in the same novice boat together, in roughly the same seats, with the same stroke, and an experienced cox. We were actually making really good progress in our outings, too. *sigh*

Reply 214

Ditting Suck

8

Grrrrr....not a good outing. Two people *still* out of comission so rowed with two subs.

Race pace of 39-40 sounds FAST for boys, FTB?

Reply 215

Taiping

Yeah! I'm completely pumped for Bumps. With every outing our boat improves. Definitely a huge difference to the start of the term.

Trinity IV, we want your heads on pikes. :biggrin:

Reply 216

Childermass

Our captain is already fantasising about where she'll hang her blade.

The rest of us are more quietly confident. :wink:

Reply 217

Taiping

Childermass

Our captain is already fantasising about where she'll hang her blade.

The rest of us are more quietly confident. :wink:

If you get blades do you get one each? :smile:

Reply 218

Helenia

20

Taiping

If you get blades do you get one each? :smile:

If you pay for them. They're around the £150-200 mark. Some colleges pay for them for you, others are not so fortunate.

I don't think anyone can really ever be confident of blades, there's just so much luck surrounding bumps that you can never tell - a crap crew 5 in front of you can totally screw up your chances even if you're the fastest on the river. It's clichéd but it's true - "Good crews go up 3; lucky crews get blades"

Helen (up 3 in Lents 06 :wink:

)

Reply 219

Taiping

Helenia

If you pay for them. They're around the £150-200 mark. Some colleges pay for them for you, others are not so fortunate.

I don't think anyone can really ever be confident of blades, there's just so much luck surrounding bumps that you can never tell - a crap crew 5 in front of you can totally screw up your chances even if you're the fastest on the river. It's clichéd but it's true - "Good crews go up 3; lucky crews get blades"

Helen (up 3 in Lents 06 :wink:

)

I'd certainly buy a mini blade for hanging on a wall. You certainly can't buy such memories and you only do this once! What else are bursaries for?

With regards to a mini blade, how much cheaper are they?

Bumps, Blades, and Bowballs- Cambridge Boatie Chat

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