All race reports for Jacob Shepherd


Event: Foster Fairbairn Pairs 2005 - Men's 2-
Posted as: Jacob
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Yes Bryn! it's there now.

After three strokes we were in full flow. Our oppo weren't. In fact they hadn't heard the call... so we screeched to a halt, backed it down, lined up again, and went.

A tidy start was followed by 15-20 powerful strokes. Bow-man was then distracted by a Pembroke pair nestling in the reeds just past the motorway bridge. Confusion led to a wobbly row led to a bad line round 1st post which almost led to a barge. A serpentine route took us past that and another, safely onto the Plough Reach. Despite our obvious lead, there was no slacking... but our big push for 10 slowed the boat down... almost as much as our power (but no length) bursts after Ditton. The long, bank-bouncing route I steered down the Reach was then lengthened further as bemused marshalls sent us to the (wrong) later finish-line. Pembroke were just about in sight behind us :)

Having doubled the number of times we've rowed the course, tomorrow might be a tad quicker...

Event: Foster Fairbairn Pairs 2005 - Men's 2-
Posted as: Jacob
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my dodgy steering gave us a close-up view of grassy. oops

Event: Peterborough June Regatta 2005 - Senior3 VIIIs
Posted as: Jacob
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Event: Peterborough June Regatta 2005 - Senior4 VIIIs
Posted as: Jacob
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woohoo! a rhythm! we moved fast. and our main regret was missing the division record.

Event: Cambridge Small Boats Head 2005 - S4 2-
Posted as: Jacob
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Excellent lines from Pedro, lots of solid spacking, some tidy stretches, and even some powerful strokes were promising signs; the lady's single gaining on us down Plough Reach wasn't. Fortunately our crew pasta weight-gain program paid off as we cruised through the headwind down the Reach, leaving leaner crews for dead. Passing Peter's Posts we bee-lined to the finish, but were twice foiled by the bendy bank. oops

Event: University IVs 2005 - 1st division
Posted as: Jacob
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After some excellent pieces in practice, and Rachel's 'you can win blades: not just any blade, one with my name on it,' we were keen for this. Lashings of grunt and a fluid high rating saw us fly away from Jesus. Good corners, a determined drive down plough reach, and yet another out of ditton left us slightly ahead. Down the Reach we put down huge power, but technique began to flag: we lost the zing. Jesus closed a fraction, and we finished dead level. grrr. Eventually both crews opted for rerowing just the Reach - Jesus relying on their size; us relying on another blistering start. Despite hundreds of huge pushes, the chasing gap never changed. Except it did slightly, and we lost by a canvas. grrr again.