The Club's Results

Aside from the result, there's nothing I would change about yesterday's race. There was some confusion in the countdown and I remember thinking on '3' that this was not going to be good, so was pleasantly surprised when we managed to pull off a nice start. Clare didn't appear to move on us here, though I can't see much from 4.
We may have strode too early, but the rhythm felt nice, racy and powerful. We attacked the corner, and I heard someone say 'They're moving' but wasn't sure if this meant Clare or if Jesus had pulled away. We began to worry coming around Grassy that we hadn't had any whistles, and this was really where Clare moved up on us. They seemed to take a strange line coming up to the exit of Grassy, but it obviously worked as they soon bumped us.
Not what we wanted, but we raced our race, and I couldn't have hoped for better first day rowing. I'm not foolish enough to attempt to predict any Bumps race outcomes, but we're going out tomorrow keen and "fierce", to quote Ms. Poseidon. (Julia A.)

More chaos at the start as our cox box stopped working just before our practice start at the plough. The rowing gods are testing our calm in the draw strokes, evidently.
Another good row with another disappointing result. Queens picked up a lot of speed from yesterday, bumping us around Grassy, but we were about on station with Clare, who were in turn on station with Jesus.
Rhythm was nice, chunky and long, but obviously rowing nicely (while wonderful for Doug's photos) isn't helping us in the bumps department.
Liz advised us to just start enjoying it and go for it tomorrow, which is what we'll do. Glad I didn't try to predict anything in my last report. (Julia A.)

Today's disaster on the start was that it absolutely poured. Our bank party resorted to standing under a tree while we frantically roughened our blades with Fletch's room key (must remember this trick for future use).
We were determined to row over, and though I don't recall much of the start as I was concentrating on feathering, it seemed nice, and our pushes were effective. We pulled away from Catz quite quickly, who then fell under pressure from Tit Hall, and soon bumped out. With nothing chasing, and unsure where Queen's were in front of us, we fell off a little in the middle third of the race.
It was nice to finally get onto the reach, and having reached a state in which I couldn't imagine what it felt like to be dry and being amused and somewhat perplexed by the sloshing of water in the boat, we put in a strong finish. The course seems remarkably short finishing at the Railway Bridge, which was a pleasant surprise. I feel like this row-over has helped us find our feet and we're going into tomorrow in high spirits come hell or (more likely) high water. (Julia A.)