It was the first day of Bumps, and for most of the W3 crew, it was our first time participating in Bumps! Our nervousness was palpable but there was also a lot of optimism in the boat, which stemmed largely from our cox, Hannah. As we pushed off to row down to the Lock, we faced the worst weather possible. It initially began with a strong headwind, which forced us to row even harder, and was quickly followed by a blizzard and hail, which made rowing down for the race even more agonising.
We were made to wait until the M3 race was over, which proved to be a relief because we were able to get out of the boat, stretch and bundle up to survive the freezing temperatures. Once we were given the okay to head down to the marshalling zone, we did so, and met our competitors; we were the last boat in the race, with the sandwich boat being Lucy Cavendish and the boat in front of us being Emmanuel W3. We waited nervously at our station as the countdown began, and once we were pushed out, it became a surreal experience. The cannon went, but no one in our boat began ‘drawing’ until Felicity called for us to draw, which partly was the reason for Lucy Cavendish quickly overtaking us. While we had a good few draws, a few people crabbed, which resulted in us having to quickly drop out, and the girls from Lucy Cav were incredible strong, and were able to bump us in less than half a minute.
As we rowed back to the boat house, we were disappointed, but alas, the weather took a turn for the worst again, forcing us to row through another blizzard. When we got back, our boat was completely covered in snow, resulting in everyone getting completely covered in snow when we lifted to heads. Once we got back for a debrief, we put our heads together and lifted our spirits for the race next day.
Even though our race was short, it was nonetheless a sweet experience. Thank you Nadia and Felicity for training us!
Thaneesha Raveendrakumar, 3