Bumps, Blades, and Bowballs- Cambridge Boatie Chat

I am so angry at all of Caius 2 right now.

Chewwy, tomorrow we'll hand you your spoons in double quick time.

I am so angry at all of Caius 2 right now.

Chewwy, tomorrow we'll hand you your spoons in double quick time.

i doubt it. three days of meticulous planning, everything has gone our way, and the double overbump on robinson is now ON.

i jest. today was horrible. sadly it seems some people in my boat cannot row when under pressure. i can't really fault their fitness or motivation, so i kinda have to put this down to coaching. this makes me sad.

though, to be fair, what the hell girton. you didn't even gain on Downing, at all. not helpful.

If you want a race where the best crew wins, go and row a regatta or something. Bumps isn't fair. Caius M1 will tell you that. Hell, Darwin M1 will probably tell you that too. We don't row bumps because we want to be able to rank ourselves in order of ability at rowing. No-one would assume that bumps position is a particularly good indicator of ability.

The challenges in bumps are pretty unique. Sometimes good crews face near insurmountable obstacles but the unreasonable challenges are part of what makes it so much fun. The excitement of pushing off a crew that's inches from your stern or putting everything into a frantic 500m do-or-die dash is unlike anything in any other sort of rowing event. If you're going to get angry when circumstances conspire to deny you a bump you feel you deserve, I suggest you try something more sedate like head racing. Or knitting. Or go to Oxford and row torpids.

You're absolutely right, up to the last bit where you say you shouldn't get angry. I'm angry cause I care, and because I want to win, and hell, I wanted a chance to get a oar on my wall. I accept that bumps will often do things like this (it's happened to Girton crews quite often recently), it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it when it happens, it means I should motivate myself to work harder for next time. It means I will be annoyed that the boat 2 in front wasn't just a little bit faster, and wish they had been motivated enough, because I wanted to win. I'm not going to throw a tantrum, or pick a fight with members of the opposing crew, so what exactly is wrong with being angry?

Also, it means I need no pep talk or inspiring speech tomorrow, just the memory of today. If you just shrug your shoulders when this stuff happens, I'd say it means you care less. Of course, it's stupid to care about a silly rowing race, so that's not necessarily a bad thing per se. But if you don't care, there's no point putting yourself through the early mornings, the grim ergs, the horrible pain and everything else you put yourself through.

The motorway bridge is looking pretty cool today

yeah, 16th on the river, woo!

yeah, 16th on the river, woo!

sad day for my boat. made a deal with darwin last night, they actually stuck to their half of the deal. we didn't quite.

oh well. i'm men's captain for the club next year, and given our first and second boats will be looking pretty similar in a year's time, i'm hoping to lead us to success (i.e. for one, get head of the river!!)

Any potential Silas' for next year?