Henry's Eight, Michaelmas 1995
In this issue:
Captain's Report
I decided that it should be our priority to ensure that a large group of
novices took up and enjoyed rowing. It was with a certain amount of
trepidation that I returned to Cambridge this term to assume the mantle of
Captain. After all, we had hardly enough rowers to fill the 1st VIII, and had
debts slightly lower than the US government. Since few King's freshers have
ever rowed before (two this year was above average), I decided that it should
be our priority to ensure that a large group of novices took up and enjoyed
rowing. Previous years had seen the first boat training hard for the
University IV's and the Fairbairns, leaving little time for coaching novices,
who then felt neglected, and almost to a man decided that rowing was not for
them after their novice term. So this year, only one senior IV trained for
the races during the first half of term, and both myself and Rob Lachlan
(Novice Coaching Co-ordinator) with the help of other senior rowers put in a
lot of time and effort to try and make sure that the novices enjoyed their
rowing, and appreciated the social side of the sport also. Luckily this seems
to have worked, as a large proportion of the two novice VIIIs that have been
training this term seem set to continue rowing in the future.
Alas, you may have spotted the slight flaw in this plan, which is that the
first VIII doesn't have many outings. This lack of on-the-water training
reflected itself in rather disappointing results in the Cambridge Winter
Head and also in the Fairbairn races.
Looking to the future, things are looking brighter. A crowd of novices are
banging on the door of the first VIII, keeping us on our toes and ensuring
that we don't get complacent. These should continue the second VIII's rise
into the third division of the Lents next term, with the unprecedented
sight (or at least not in recent memory) of a King's third Lent boat not
out of the question.
Mike Dell, Mike is a fourth year engineer.
The Diverse Thrills of Novice Rowing
It was our first outing. "Oh look, what a beautiful duck" from Number 6 rudely
interrupted my poetry recital to the rower rushing up the slide behind me.
Having just survived the warm-up exercises, we were now softly (or maybe not
quite so softly) and steadily sailing by the sleepy swans, while not letting
the spectacular sunrise out of our eyes. As I watched the beams of light
being filtered by the weeping willows, I overheard our coach's directions.
To my great surprise, there were supposedly crabs in he Cam that we should
refrain from catching during our outings. There, another lovely duck. As
we dawdled farther down the river, Number 3 suggests that we play Chinese
Whispers, i.e. passing a message from stroke to bow to see how much of it
had been altered by the end. Quite a brilliant idea. It was great fun, but
we were forced to momentarily stop in the middle of the thirteenth game in
order to spin the boat (a nightmare) and take her into the bank for our
coach to give us some constructive criticism, such as calling us an epileptic
spider. While he spoke and spoke and spoke, I secretly checked out the other
novice rowers on the river. And some more pretty ducks. On our way back,
we all immediately discussed the merit of our male coach's legs, then wondered
why in the world he had got out of bed at 5.45 a.m. to teach some
uncoordinated clueless women which way around to hold their oar - especially
considering that he couldn't even partake in Chinese Whispers. I do vaguely
remember the word madness being mentioned. Pretty ducks. Next we attempted
to coax our cox into singing 'O sole mio' for us in his deep voice, however
to no avail. So instead we occupied ourselves with trying to name that one
mandarin duck we had spied earlier under the footbridge, meanwhile carefully
scraping some paint off the houseboats moored along the bank. Still undecided
between calling the duck either Donald or Peking, we finally began to worry
about getting to 9 o'clock lectures on time. However, due to our coaches
good sense of timing, only moments later we already approached our boathouse
landing... at a perfect right angle. Adorable ducks. And, before much
longer, a dripping boat rested securely on the racks, with its bow ball
slightly crooked (a sight one would become used to).
Now only eight weeks later, I smile at such puerile and naive enjoyments. I
have to honestly say that I am even partially embarrassed about them, as I
have since learned the true pleasures or rowing. It is all about showing off
your wicked blisters to boggle-eyed outsiders, and spitting blood on the erg
machine to improve your split time by 0.01 and being initiated into the rites
of boatie lingo (e.g. 'bow takes the catch with undersquared blades while
bum-shoving'). Naturally our outings have also become of a different nature.
The sound of eight blades dropped simultaneously into the water chops through
the freezing air followed by a quiet grunt that vows for my ensuing physical
exertion. We have forgotten to care about the sun melting the morning's mist,
too concentrated on feeling the boat perfectly balanced underneath us. (Ed:
perfectly balanced?). I can't even be bothered to look at other rowers in the
boats left in our bubbles and the hairdo of the girl in front of me is holding
my full attention. What ducks? From afar we discern the voice of a coxswain
still asking his crew to feather their blades and a general pitying chuckle
escapes our boat. Our cox has got over his initial inclination to politeness
(i.e. "could two possible adjust her hand height please?") and turned into a
power monger. And we loved it. There is nothing like your cox yelling loudly
at your crew, or preferably screaming offensive curses at us to make you pull
harder. Always aware that pulling harder really means pushing harder with your
legs. On our way home, waiting for some carnage to clear, I remember that I
still need to ask everyone to formulate a witty slogan for the T-shirts if,
or better, when our Eight is going to win the Fairbairn Novice Race. But that
will have to wait until later (no talking in the boat). Finally the way is
clear, and our coach gives us instructions from the bank: rowing with eyes
closed, feet our of the shoes, one arm behind the back and of course square
blades. No one dares to complain, because we know that there could be a
reward at the end of the outing. Our coach might again call us goddesses of
the river.
Today, I think that maybe, just maybe, boaties only talk about rowing over
dinner not because they're too dull to discuss the implications of Poisson's
ratio for supply side economics or too lazy to deduce the rhyme pattern of
octosyllabic Anglo-Norman lyrics, but because they simply love the sport. I
know I do.
Barbara Romer, Barbara is a first year PhD
Raising Funds for the Boat Club
One cannot have failed to have seen news, particularly near the start of term,
about the cuts to the money given to higher education. Not just in the form of
the grant, but also that given to universities in the form of fees. The
principle upshot of this at King's is that over the last two or three years,
the Student Union has had less and less money to be able to distribute between
the numerous student run societies. It has always been a matter of
considerable contention that the Boat Club has received what is felt to be a
disproportionately large fraction of this budget.
With the lower amount of money available to the student body as a whole, the
Boat Club needs to find some money from sources other than the student union.
To this end, the Development Committee, whose task it is to help raising
funds for the Club, was founded in 1994. It is hoped that the Committee will
eventually consist of both resident members of King's, as well as Alumni and
Friends of the club. If you would like to be a part of this Development
Committee, we would very much like to hear from you: please write to the
Chairman of the Development Committee - see the address
here.
On top of this, the members of the club will be taking part in fund-raising
activities. Some activities planned for 1996 include:
- Taking part in the Cam marathon, sponsored by friends, family and alumni.
- The Cam marathon is a row of over 30 miles from about 6 miles
downstream of Cambridge, through Ely, all of the way to Denver Sluices
out in the depths of the Fens.
- Auctioning the names of two of our boats.
- We still have two nameless boats. This is (we are told) rather bad
luck, so we would like to remedy this as soon as possible (see the
article on the naming auction below).
- Holding an informal regatta for past and present members of the club.
- For the last two years we have held a fun regatta at the
end of the Easter term, during May week. It is not an official CUBC
regatta, but is purely a bit of fun. We have invited crews from other
college Boat Clubs to attend, and then assembled scratch crews on the
day from those that have turned up. We have then raced for just 500 m
and decided a winner (generally fairly arbitrarily) and then returned
to the boathouse for a barbecue. This year we intend to invite old
members to the regatta which will be held on the week following the
May Bumps (which end on the 15th of June 1996)
- A sponsored 24 hour ergometer row during Easter Term 1996.
The KCBC Boat Naming Auction
KCBC currently owns two nameless boats.
- A front-loading wooden Eton shell four (currently known rather dully
as 'the front-loader')
- A bright yellow plastic Empacher shell Eight (our first boat and
currently known equally dully as 'the Empacher').
KCBC to auction the names for two of their boats with bidding starting on
1 February and the deadline for the first round of bidding being 29th February.
Quite simply, we would like to name these boats, with the chosen name for the
Empacher being that accompanied by the highest bid. The second highest being
used for the front-loader. To cover the cost of actually painting the names
onto the boats, we must ask for a minimum bid of £45.
Perhaps you feel that just a small name across the bows of the boats would be
a little too subtle. The Empacher particularly is very distinctive on the
Cam, and should be seen at a number of events outside of Cambridge (including
Henley) and probably on the Continent. If you have any grander ideas for
'decoration', be it corporate or just a bit different, then please do not
hesitate to submit them.
Please send names and bids to
- King's College Boat Club
842 King's College
Cambridge
CB2 1ST
or email to kings-boatclub-request@lists.cam.ac.uk. The
initial deadline for names and bids is February 29th. The bidders will
then be contacted with information about the initial bids and be given
the chance to bid again. After three rounds of bidding, the highest
bidder(s) will be contacted to discuss final designs.
Although we will be displaying the new names and designs as soon as the boats
have been painted, an official boat-naming ceremony will take place after the
last race on the Saturday of the May Bumps (15th June 1996).
If you have any questions about the bidding procedure or the type of design
that can go on a boat, please do not hesitate to contact the Alumni
Association Secretary.
KCBC looks forward to receiving your bids as well as name and design
suggestions. You can e-mail bids, suggestions, etc to
kings-boatclub-request@lists.cam.ac.uk
Dates and Events for your Diary
The Lent Bumps (28 February - 2 March 1996):
Everyone is invited to come and watch King's crews race informally on any
day of the bumps (the Men's 1st VIII races at 4 p.m., all other crews beofre
that). Please make yourself known to anyone in King's attire and you will be
introduced to the Alumni Association Secretary or another member of the
Development Committee.
In addition the following events are on offer: Come and join the Boat Club's
Lent Bumps dinner on 2 March (£28.50 per person, black tie), stay the night
in College (£19.50 per person on a first come, first served basis) and
row in a King's boat with past and present members of KCBC on Sunday morning.
Spouses and friends are naturally also welcome. All members of the Alumni
Association will receive a separate invitation (along with first choice of
guest rooms) to these events. If you are not already a member of the Alumni
Association you are of course also welcome to attend any of the events. Please
make your booking by 15 February.
May Bumps (12th - 15th June 1996):
We plan to have a more formal reception for members of the Alumni Association
at the boathouse on Saturday. The boat naming ceremony will take place
after the last race on Saturday 15th June. There will be a dinner the same
evening and alumni and their spouses and friends will be given the chance to
spend the night in College and have a rowing outing on Sunday morning. Costs
will be similar to those for the Lents events. Please feel free to make your
booking now by writing to the Alumni Association Secretary with your
requirements.
Other events:
The KCBC regatta is planned for the week after the May Bumps. If we qualify
for Henley, there will be a small reception for members of the Alumni
Association. The sponsored 24 hour row is planned for Easter Term, 1996.
Please watch this space for further announcements or write to the Alumni
Association Secretary for further details.
If you are in touch with anyone who you think might want to join the Alumni
Association, please give them this WWW address or suggest they contact
- The Alumni Association Secretary
King's College Boat Club
842 King's College
Cambridge CB2 1ST
Tel. 0468-344065. Fax 01223-331347
If you would like to join the Development Committee and add your thoughts and
ideas to our fund-raising efforts, please contact
-
The Chairman of the Development Committee
King's College Boat Club
842 King's College
Cambridge CB2 1ST
Fax 01223-331347
Please address comments and questions to:
-
The Newsletter Editor
King's College Boat Club
842 King's College
Cambridge CB2 1ST
Fax 01223-331347
Written contributions to Henry's Eight on any Boat Club topic would be gratefully
received and should be sent or faxed to the editor.
E-mail on any of the above will also be accepted to
kings-boatclub-request@lists.cam.ac.uk