A couple of re-rows in the divisions before us meant our marshalling was severely delayed so we sat in a jam just below Chesterton and rapidly became thankful that Tim had made us push off so early that we arrived in time to actually pull in to the bank.

After laughing for a while at the crews trying to manoeuvre around us we were eventually allowed to marshal and Tim kept us warm with various dubious bits of science and classics. Back in the boat we were told that due to the delays practice starts were disallowed. To make up for the lack of starts we had two crisp bursts down the reach and, feeling good, spun and pulled in with plenty of time to go.

Our quiet confidence was undermined by our nerves, and some rather quick opposition. Our start was certainly the worst we'd done for a long time and we never really hit a proper rhythm. As a result Selwyn bore down on us fast and by the middle of the gut it was all over.

Dispirited though we were, we knew that our chasing crew the next day would be slower and, with the first day nerves out of the way, our own race would be much crisper. (Alasdair)

Our row down to Chesterton was nice, and marshalling was surprisingly efficient. This was to be the last time fortune was to smile on us today. As soon as we got back into the boat after marshalling it became apparent that the coxbox had died. This was to set the tone for the rest of the day's events.

Our practice starts, despite the lack of coxbox, felt good. Perhaps they weren't the best we've ever done, but they were powerful, together and we were certainly moving the boat at a respectable speed.

After a lot of faff giving Chris a megaphone and working out how he was to hold the speaker, the bung and the rudder strings we pushed out into a howling wind. Although our start yesterday had felt panicked, today's was immeasurably worse as we succeeded in rowing utterly out of time which led to a boat-stopping crab. Catz, surprised to have caught us so fast, were rather slow in holding it up meaning that my blade jammed under their bows and had the unintended effect of turning the boat sharply across the river. Any mild fault on their part was, however, utterly eclipsed by our own incompetent failure to clear in any meaningful fashion. Thanks to the inability of anyone past 6 to hear Chris and a stream of mostly inaudible and contradictory instructions from the bank the rest of the division was klaxoned and a re-row ordered.

In our angry and dejected state our row back was poor and the subsequent chat rather curtailed. We need to go into tomorrow with a collective will to produce the sharp rowing of which we know we're capable. We're proved that we have a fast start, faster indeed than many of the crews around us, and if we can produce it tomorrow then Catz had better watch out. (Alasdair)

Very panicked. Neither side was able to settle down into a comfortable rhythm as rush and a lack of tapping down properly caused the boat to rock all over the place. We were very quickly caught by Emma at first post corner.

The upside? It was sunny enough that all our splashing created rainbows behind us. Very pretty. (Tom)