All race reports for Sean Collins
Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2012 - Cup
Posted as: Sean
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After a rather rough start, we had a brief blades clash with Peterhouse. Peterhouse crabbed and the cox decided it was necessary to hold it up and restart so we took a pretty big lead. The lead gave us the opportunity to get some panic-free rowing in though at one point a whistle from the bank made several the crew stop rowing for a bit. Should only have stopped rowing if Tony called it, but either way we carried on soon enough and crossed the finish with lots of room to spare.
Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2012 - Cup
Posted as: Sean
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A much better start than in round 1! Much thanks to Neil for all of the kit and food between round 1 and round 2. My left foot came out of the strap in the first or second stroke, but fortunately that did not cause any disruption as my right foot-strap held. Again, the opposition crabbed early on and we maintained a strong lead throughout the duration.
Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2012 - Cup
Posted as: Sean
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Following some time back at the boathouse, the first thing the crew did together was take a pee on some trees near the marshalling area. Hopefully it's true that 'a crew that pees together, rows together.' The start was decent. Unfortunately, Stan caught a crab in the early part of the race and it was difficult to recover and we lost quite a bit on Maggie NM1. We seemed to be gaining on them a bit once we recovered, though, as we could hear their concerted grunts getting closer.
Event: Lent Bumps 2013 - Wednesday
Posted as: Sean
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Quite a strange race. We started off pretty well and held Churchill II at station for quite a long while. Several calls from Tony noting how wide the Churchill line was around the corners was encouraging and by reports from the bank we gained maybe a half length on them through Grassy. Nothing much happened through the Plough Reach though and going around Ditton Churchill II started pulling away. In the Reach we had a crab but it only slowed us down for a bit. No trouble from Kings II chasing us at all. However, we lost more ground on Churchill II and things didn't get better even when we got back up to rate. It felt like it was going to be just another row over. Coming into our finish, there was a bit of a conversation with the bank about whether it was worth it to carry on. Fortunately the decision was made to push through to top finish. Churchill II slowed down well before top finish at which point we pushed into an actually really good wind. Churchill if anything stopped and asked us why we were so keen when we bumped them. We were still quite a way away from what we understood to be top finish. Thanks to Matt and John for checking with the umpires!
Event: Lent Bumps 2014 - Wednesday
Posted as: Sean
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After an unexpected backing stroke called for our 7 man within the last 10 seconds before the gun, we set off pretty strongly. Jesus gained quickly on us and we stayed at high rate without settling into race pace. We were ultimately bumped just as we were coming to first post. Things were over quickly, but it was clear we were getting close to Queens' as there was at least one whistle directed at us. I'm excited to see what happens tomorrow.
Event: Lent Bumps 2014 - Friday
Posted as: Sean
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We had a decent start today and it seemed like we moved off Pembroke in our first power ten. Unfortunately, in the gut Pembroke managed to catch us up. Coming into grassy we held them with overlap for a bit. It was good to see we could hold them off even under pressure though they ultimately got the bump.
Event: May Bumps 2014 - Friday
Posted as: Sean
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We had a bit of a moment at the start as we almost drifted into the concrete under the bridge, but we got off without too much difficulty. We settled into a nice rhythm. Coming around grassy, we could hear whistles for crews behind Queens'. It was nice to see plenty of distance between us and Queens'. Coming onto the long reach, the bump on Catz was on, and we gradually moved up to one length mid-way along the reach and coming under the railway bridge we were closing on 1/2 length or less. The last few strokes from the bridge to the bump felt like a surprisingly long period of time, and with the bouncing around in the bows due to the wash it wasn't clear to me what was happening. I think I actually felt our boat suddenly stop moving forward, and that was when it was clear we had made the bump. Good strong race boys!
(We then spent quite a long time disentangling ourselves as we had by that point mounted the stern of the Catz VIII. At one point bow pair had to climb out of our seats and toward our stern to shift weight off our bows so we could free them.)
Event: Sudbury International Regatta 2014 - Mx.IM3.4+
Posted as: Sean
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Watching from the bank, we saw the Canadian IV come around the bend with no other boat immediately visible in the other lane. That seemed pretty promising and they finished the race strong with a few shouts of "Oh Canada" to help them along.
Event: Lent Bumps 2015 - Wednesday
Posted as: Sean
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While possibly not the prettiest rowing, today was a collected and disciplined row. A well-sat start moved us into a good position to settle into our racing rhythm. A bit of adrenaline pushed the ratings somewhat, but we got into a nice rhythm on first post reach and steadily gained on Christ's through the corners. Coming onto the long reach we were getting close and had plenty left in the tank to just steadily continue moving up until we got the bump. Though not observable from the 6-seat, Christ's reportedly were a bit slow to concede resulting in a Christ's blade running underneath our bow section. Nice solid bump.
