All race reports for Patrick Winter
Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2019 - Men's Plate
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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Thanks to plenty of practice over the previous week, our start was strong, gaining an entire length on Jesus almost immediately. At this point, Jesus veered right and into the bank, so we understandably thought the race was essentially won. Unfortunately soon after, one of our bowsiders caught a very large crab, pushing us not only across Jesus' path but into the same bank they had hit. As we were pushing back off, Jesus were rapidly approaching, getting a lot of us very worried! Thankfully by the time we were back on the correct side of the river our advantage was around the same as it was before, and the race continued with us slowly pulling away further. An entertaining and hopefully fun first race for the crew!
Event: Clare Novice Regatta 2019 - Men's Plate
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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Pembroke had an extremely strong start and gradually gained around half a length on us in the opening stage of the race. This was almost certainly the best we had rowed so far, but unfortunately Pembroke were on fire and we couldn't consistently gain on them. A controlled but very strong effort which should hopefully bode well for Fairbairns!
Event: Pembroke Regatta 2020 - M3 division
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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Going into this race, we knew Churchill were quick and this would likely be a tough battle. At the start, Churchill drew out a small lead, with neither crew willing to settle for anything less than rate 36. By the Railway Bridge, the lead had increased to a few seats (aided by a couple of airstrokes from 4-seat), but we courageously held on despite the rate being unsustainable. After the bridge, Gurpreet called a well-timed push as Churchill began to die, and by the time we fatigued we had pulled ahead to win what was one of the most exciting races of the division.
Event: Pembroke Regatta 2020 - M3 division
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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At Newnham Head the previous week, Pembroke had been 16 seconds quicker than us, so we knew this would be a difficult race. Pembroke quickly moved on us at the start and drew out a comfortable lead. A small window of opportunity opened as they hit the bank, but our push wasn't enough to capitalise on this and they remained in the lead. All in all a very strong showing from a boat that had been battling injury and illness all week, with plenty of experience gained that will be put to good use in Bumps!
Event: Lent Bumps 2020 - Tuesday
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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Given we had to work hard to beat Churchill's M3 in Pembroke Regatta, we knew staying ahead would be a tall order. We had a powerful start, taking the rate up to a never-seen-before 41 and pulling out half a length on Churchill. Meanwhile Clare Hall ahead got a very slow start, and soon we were on two whistles. However around a minute in, the power started dropping significantly, meaning Churchill were within a canvas by the time we arrived at First Post Corner. Here the boat slowed even more and by the time the race was stopped due to carnage in the Gut, Churchill had enough overlap to be awarded a technical bump. Not the result we wanted but a good learning experience nonetheless.
Event: Lent Bumps 2020 - Wednesday
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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We went into this race intending to row the full distance, and possibly bumping anything that came our way in the latter part of the race. On the first start, we settled in more quickly than yesterday, as per the plan. Out of First Post, Fitz had made up a whole length before the race was stopped at the same point as yesterday owing to more carnage.
On the re-row, our start was better and we denied Fitz the second whistle for much longer. However on the Reach it started coming apart and soon Fitz even had overlap. At this point, Gurpreet's evasive maneuvers and aggressive line through the bend under the Railway Bridge kept them at bay, and encouragement from our W1 (and from seeing that Maggie M3 were bumped) gave us just enough strength to get us home and (not so) dry.
Event: Lent Bumps 2020 - Friday
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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Going into the race, we were hoping we could hold off Fitz and use them to push us into Clare Hall. However, the entire day was against us, from the weather, our stroke hurting his arm in the Stomp and our three being on such a tight schedule that he jumped straight into the boat at the marshalling zone. The paddle-up was rocky but the practice start was very good.
At the start, we quickly gained a whistle on Clare Hall, but unlike the first race kept our cool and played the long game. We were slightly surprised when we reached Grassy without the entire race being stopped, although perhaps we would have rather that happened. By this point Fitz were around 3/4 of a length behind and our technique fell apart dramatically. Airstrokes and near-crabs all down the boat meant Fitz bumped us at the end of Plough Reach.
Event: Lent Bumps 2020 - Saturday
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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With Queens M3 behind, we were confident we could row over, but the fact that M3 headship was at stake was in the forefront of our minds. Although the sun decided to come out today, the river level was well over the bank height at the boathouse and the current was extremely strong.
We got off to a strong start, then our prayers were answered as Queens suffered a crab that they failed to totally recover from, meaning they were bumped by Jesus M3 well before First Post. All we had to do now was fend off Lady Margaret. We pulled away from them in the Gut, but despite Gurpreet's skills with the rudder, the current pushed us very wide around Grassy and strokeside almost had to stop rowing altogether. But the worst was yet to come. On the Reach, the combination of current and headwind made it feel like we were rowing through treacle. Lady Margaret started gaining on us and worrying our bank party, but thankfully we didn't feed them enough breakfast at Stomp for them to come too close to us and M3 headship survives another year.
Although we may not have performed as well as we may have hoped at the start of the term (something something blades, Luke?), we gained some important racing experience and hopefully we can all win our first bump come Mays!
Event: Talbott Cup 2020 - 3rd men's VIIIs
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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After Bumps, one of our regulars injured himself and another decided to gain early immunity to COVID-19 by letting himself get infected. This left two bowsider-shaped holes in our lineup which were duly filled by two strokesiders in the form of Leszek and Ziqi. As a result, our regular Two (who is slightly bisweptual) and our Four (who can't actually row strokeside and decided to see if he can row bowside) moved forward one seat. The conditions were similarly bad to Pembroke but the majority of the racing crews turned up.
At the start, Christ's gained quickly as many air-strokes were taken by our Four-turned-Five who now identifies as "asweptual". However a huge crab from Christ's slowed them massively, and pushed them into us causing a blade clash. From then on, it was a close fight with our boat having considerably more power but rarely being together. We were a a good half a length ahead at the Railway Bridge before Christ's gained quickly, and the finish line couldn't have come sooner.
Event: Talbott Cup 2020 - 3rd men's VIIIs
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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Off the line, some of our crew decided air was a better medium to put power down in than water, others decided to try keeping the blade feathered all the time and our Four-turned-Five decided no power was necessary at all until the twelfth stroke. Magdalene were a strong crew and they were quickly gone, and unfortunately stayed gone for the rest of the race. Thankfully they won the finals, and most of our crew belive we would have beat Kings so we claim 2nd place in spirit.
A massive thanks to Leszek and Ziqi for subbing in at very short notice and saving us from having to scratch, and of course thanks to the numerous First and Third members who volunteered as umpires, marshals and other roles, without whom there wouldn't have been a race at all.
Event: Fairbairn Cup 2021 - Senior VIIIs
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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We had hoped we could build off our Winter Head results, but unfortunately injury and illness struck us down at the worst possible moment, leaving us two men down with three days to go. Mihailo and Xander stepped up to fill these gaps, and to their credit, by the pre-paddle on Friday morning the boat felt just as good during the bursts as they always did. Undeterred by Jesus' decision to "request" extra time due to starting behind us (from a race they run?!?), we moved well off the start.
Outside the combined boathouse, Leo "FOUR YOU'RE DEEP" Versteegen decided to make it known to the houseboat opposite that now would be a good time to repeat what happened two years prior and pull out to block the boats behind us. However the houseboat owner didn't get the message, probably because the chosen medium of communication was a big rhythm-busting crab. It took us at least until Green Dragon for the boat to feel good again, and by the end of the reach, the typical second-half troubles struck with the boat feeling heavier and heavier every stroke. We fought hard to the end but sadly failed to defend our title (and to add insult to injury, got beaten by the same people who won said title and hadn't trained for two years...)
Event: Champion of the Thames Eights Head 2022 - Men's 4th div. Mays
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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"Would have been faster than M2 if we used their shell and their blades" - mystery coach/6-seat
Event: May Bumps 2022 - Wednesday
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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https://youtu.be/csTvKTmFU9w?t=373 A thriller - it'll knock your socks off...
Going in, we were not a particularly fancied crew, with the eventual overall Men's Bumpit winner kindly predicting spoons for us. We believed we were faster than Corpus M2 but weren't confident we could bump them before they would bump Clare M3. Kings M2 were likely to pose a serious threat as they had inherited a couple of M1 rowers displaced by blues. Of course Bomber told us to ignore all of this and simply row fast, as he always does.
The race was fairly routine until the exit of First Post Corner - we had moved to around 1 length from Corpus with Kings about 3/4 of a length behind us but rating significantly higher. However Corpus bumped Clare and cleared poorly which forced us into the trees in the Gut, caused several overhead crabs and knocking me out of my shoes and nearly out of the boat entirely. Bomber was on the verge of calling for us to stop and claim a likely technical rowover, but upon seeing Wolfson M2 who were described as something I can't repeat here, he decided the overbump was worth it. I fastened my shoes between strokes and made light work of Wolfson, gaining a length every 15 strokes and getting them on the Ditton entry. Not the way I expected to get my first bump but glad to have gotten it!
Event: May Bumps 2022 - Thursday
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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We knew we were faster than Caius M3 and got to within around 3/4 of a length by Grassy but all this achieved was pushing them into Pembroke M3 leaving us nothing ahead at all. Corpus behind us had a fast start but died enough of a death to allow us to wind it down with a minute to go. FaT M3 have arrived, they're fast and this term they can actually survive the whole course.
Event: May Bumps 2022 - Friday
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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From previous race results we knew Pembroke would be around 40 seconds slower than us over the full Bumps course so barring disaster we would have them. Luke decided to inject some excitement into the race by taking Grassy just a little too tight, but we recovered well, avoided getting bumped by Corpus and took Pembroke on Ditton.
Event: May Bumps 2022 - Saturday
Posted as: Patrick Winter
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We moved to around a length on Caius but they seemed to be made of totally different stuff from earlier in the week and built a 2.5 length gap by the Railings. We managed to close a little but not enough, and the sight of our W2 cheering us on was clearly too much for some of us as "Yeah FaT" was promptly followed by "EYES IN THE BOAT THOMAS!". Luke called for a lift but after one stroke I realised nobody else was going with me and we soon wound it down. Not a perfect race from us but we don't think we'd have caught them even with our best rowing.
Slightly annoying to miss out on (technical) blades but up 4 is exactly 8 positions better than we thought we were going to get 2 weeks ago after a series of incredibly cursed IV outings, and the strongest performance from a FaT crew since 2017. Huge credit to Sam, Luke and Bomber for whipping us into shape and producing probably the most technical M3 on the river. The Strava data doesn't lie: today we were only a few seconds slower than M2 over the bulk of the course, and rather embarrassingly this is now the fastest boat I've been in, beating the segment times of Michaelmas M1. It's been great rowing with the crew and I hope to see many of them contesting M1 and M2 seats next term!
