The women’s four was a story of good cheer triumphing over technical difficulties, lack of practice, and last minute crisis.
We started well //www.replicaforbest.co.uk/replica-breitling-watches-sale-for-uk.html, with a strong crew selected from the best of HBS and the Kennedy School. Robin McKinnon (KSG ’02) and Katie Milligan (KSG ’04) represented the Kennedy School as part of a new attempt to merge the two boat clubs.
From there on however, everything went downhill. It didn’t help that our captain, Emma Herbert (OF), didn’t know how to change a light bulb, let alone rig a boat replica watches. Our first couple of outings we went out with the riggers on upside down and back-to-front (riggers being those metal things that stick out of the side of the boat and which the oars go into). Then the next couple of outings we rowed without a skeg (which apparently is a fin that keeps the boat going in a straight line).
All this time we were desperately wondering what we were doing wrong, and kept shifting people around in the boat. Eventually we realized that Charlotte Gosling (OD) was just too strong for the rest of us and had to pull less hard – which finally seemed to get the boat going in a straight line.
Finally we managed to get our boat in one piece and the crew in the right order, and we lost a key member of our crew. Our coxswain, Katie, was sadly called home for a family crisis. Megan Reilly (NB) bravely stepped into the breach, doing an excellent job in coxing us for our final two practice outings, and for the race itself.
So onto race-day, where the calamities continued. We may not have been the fastest boat in our division, but we should have got a prize for the most crashes, none of which were our fault. Overtaking crews seemed determined to row right into us. On one occasion an angry crew actually stopped rowing and started attacking our stroke Caroline Cake (OA) with their oars – most unsporting behavior! They did get penalized 90 seconds though, which made us feel a little better. Altogether we rowed much better in the race than we had ever done before – it was pretty much a miracle that we finished at all considering that up until race day we had only done 20 strokes firm pressure (compared to about 600 strokes firm pressure on the day!).
Thanks to everyone who came out and cheered us on. Look out for us in the Graduate Schools Regatta in the spring.
