Last term, I joined the rowing team. We didn't do much last term (which I why I rarely wrote about it) because of the weather. When it rains, the river rises, and it becomes too dangerous to row. Since it rained most of the autumn, the river was generally too high for us to row.
This term, though, we did a lot more! The weather was better, except for the whole snow thing, so we actually got to practice.
Rowing is pretty physically demanding. After our first practice this term, I woke up so sore that I didn't get out of bed, I fell out.
To draw the blade (that's what the oar is called) through the water, you have to push with your legs, then lean with your back, then pull with your arms. Then, to get the blade ready to draw again, you have to straighten your arms, lean forward, and bend your legs. To make that clearer, here's a video (shot by my lovely friend Madison, who was awesome enough to come cheer us on at our timed trial to get into Torpids--more on that later) (as a reminder, to play the video, hit the sideways triangle in the bottom left-hand corner of the picture below):
I'm the one with the bright red sleeves, second from the right.
As you can see, the eight rowers are facing backwards. The ninth person in the boat is the cox (short for coxswain, pronounced 'coxen'). The cox has several important jobs. First, he or she is facing forward and can actually see where the boat is going, and steers accordingly. Second, he or she directs/encourages/yells at the crew. For example, our cox in that video, Ray, would yell things like, "LENgthen those strides, LOOKing ahead, BACKS are straight, PUSH with the legs, enGAGE with the water, HEADS in the boat." Whenever he would emphasize something (as indicated by the caps), that would be when we were drawing through the water. During races, coxes yell when you're getting close to another boat and tell you when to push harder.
Getting the boat in and out of the water is pretty fun. We lift it onto our shoulders and walk it out of the boathouse, and then carry it onto the raft:
Then we lift it above our heads. I don't have a picture of my team doing this, but here's a picture of the boys' team:
Then we sort of roll the boat from above our heads into the water:
Here's what the inside of the boat looks like:
We sit on those seats, which roll back and forth, and put our feet into the velcro-strapped shoes.
What are these pictures of, you may ask? (Or, if you are being grammatically correct, "Of what are all these pictures?") They are from Torpids!
Torpids is the Hilary Term race. Now, at Oxford, races are not like normal races where everyone lines up at the start and then tries to get to the finish first. Instead, this is what happens (to watch this video, hit Play):
What you just saw is the beginning of the Women's Division I race (Regent's Park was in Division V, which is why you can hear Erin and me in the background--we weren't racing). There are 13 boats in each division, and they line up along the bank of the river to begin. A gun goes off (which you may have heard at the beginning), and off they go!
The goal in these races is not to reach the finish line first, but to bump another team. Bumping can be accomplished one of three ways: you can actually physically bump the other team's boat with yours; you can get close enough to the other team's boat that the other team's cox can see you and then the other team's cox concedes; or you can totally pass the other boat. The whistles that you may have heard in the video are coaches warning their teams that they are either about to get bumped or are about to bump. This may make no sense, so let's use a picture (from Men's Division I):
In this photo, the white boat is trying to bump the yellow boat, and they are getting very close. You chase the boat directly in front of you. If you bump another boat (for instance, if the white boat runs into/overtakes/forces to concede the yellow boat), you are finished with the race and you get out of the way. If you are bumped (if the yellow boat is run into/overtaken/forced to concede), then you have to finish the race or bump another boat.
Please don't worry if all of that makes no sense. I didn't understand it until I actually raced.
Torpids was four days long, and started last Wednesday. Regent's Park women did alright overall, but not great. We didn't bump or get bumped Wednesday and we got bumped twice Thursday (which was absolutely depressing). On Friday, though, we finally bumped! This was a literal bump: we didn't run into the other boat, but we did accidentally hit their cox and three rowers with two of our blades. The cox had to go to first aid. Oops. Then, on Friday, we were bumped again.
Though we didn't do just amazingly, I absolutely loved it. I can't wait for next term's race, Summer VIIIs.
Here is the amazing Regent's Park Women's Boat Team:
Ailsa (co-captain), Holly, Erin, Joy, Becky, Ula, Lottie, and Kathryn (co-captain)
And here is the equally amazing Regent's Park Boat Club:
1 comment:
that is pretty sweet! think we could do that down the Missouri river?
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