Report by Jeremy Pirt

Hertford Senior 8
Cox Finlay Jordan
Stroke Simon Martina-Perez | 7 Richard Bradshaw | 6 Paul Metz | 5 Jeremy Pirt
4 Rob (substitute from Lincoln M1) | 3 Teresa Taylor | 2 Oliver Harvey-Rich | Bow Anton Fedotov

Friday

Travelling down the day before the regatta, I was full of nervous anticipation for what looked to be a promising weekend of rowing on the Isis. Having spent two months off the water confined to the erg, expectations of the coming races weren’t high. The hope was more than anything else to simply avoid an ejector crab off the start of the first race. 

The Friday evening outing was the first time as the racing eight, most of us having not rowed with each other. Despite this we managed to run though some strong pieces. Full of hope for the next morning we headed over to Turf for an all important carb-loading session of pie and beer….

Saturday

Race 1: Curlew 

Our first race of the regatta in our almost scratch crew was against a strong London club of Curlew. We had a decent paddle before lining up for the start, even sneaking in a few short pieces outside of the umpire’s view. 

As the race umpire called attention, the nerves of the race were pushed aside, mind cleared and focused completely on the first six strokes of the start. At this point I zoned back into the race to see we were already half a length ahead and continuing to gain.

Taking the racing line, Finlay pushed us further to secure the race with clear water behind us. So completely unexpectedly we found ourselves landing only to push off against the City of the other one Rowing Club!

Race 2: City of Cambridge

As the band we entered had low applicants, CCRC had gotten away with avoiding a quarter final race going straight into our race fresh faced and ready to fight. 

Unlike the last we were unable to get ahead in the start so fight they did! For the length of the race we would push ahead only to be caught moments later. Even as we crossed the line at Longbridges the outcome was unknown.

We rowed back to City with an air of uncertainty. It wasn’t until we had landed that we found out we had just won by a canvas.

Race 3: Wolfson College Boat Club

Shattered from the previous races we lined up against Wolfson. A disappointing loss to end the day as we were beaten by clear water.

Saturday evening we were able to get in some very useful prep for the 4+ races of the next day by rowing the eight back to City with four men to swap with the four.