Bowdoin Rowing

Remigio Delectate et Remigate Velociter

Lowell

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The Textile River Regatta 2015

The leaves have barely started turning and we’ve already got our first race under our belts… sort of. The Textile this year was one unlike any other in recent history.

For the Bowdoin Navy, it included just as many non-races as it did races. The gentle breeze that kicked us into gear early Sunday morning ended up kicking us off the water by early afternoon.

Our novices, scullers, and club fours returned from mighty voyages down the Merrimack River with stories of being “slaughtered” by the waves and trying to dodge buoys that had drifted all around the course, yet all crews pulled through with remarkable spirit.

Our first novice men’s boat came in fifth in their event with a time of 25:30, with the second novice men’s boat following closely behind with 28:36. The first novice women earned second place with an impressive 28:36!

Next up was the men’s recreational single sculling event, which was demolished by our very own Lucian Black with a time of 28:25.

In the men’s club fours event, our third varsity boat came in eighth with a time of 23:32 after a penalty. Several course marker buoys had moved around in the tumultuous waves, so many crews were getting penalized left and right for “skipping” them. A similar thing happened to our women’s third varsity boat. Despite the odds, they had a great race with an adjusted time of 28:44!

By the time 1 pm rolled around, three more men’s boats and two more women’s boats were sitting pretty at the start line, ready to take a stab at it. 

The Merrimack had other plans…

Several boats had already flipped downriver due to the nasty conditions, and race officials deemed the whole project unsafe for the rest of us. In an exciting and thoroughly unsystematic manner, about thirty boats of all different sizes made a beeline (“paddling”) back to the dock.

Thankfully, all our rowers, coxswains, and equipment made it back safe and sound, albeit damp. Land ho!

This weekend, we take on the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta and, after that, the Chahhhles River! Stay tuned with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@bowdoinrowing).

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Speedboats!

A beautiful fall season saw speed boats right through the Navy! In the three races of the head season the top women’s boat won both the Textile and the Snake and was 5th at the Charles. The Men’s First was second twice and 6th at the Charles. Lightweight Men won at Textile and took third in the Open Division at the Snake, and competed with gusto to beat a couple of crews in the elite lightweight event at the Charles. And we had speedy novice crews as well. The Women’s Novice Four sped its way to gold and silver at the Textile and Snake, and the Novice Men’s Fours came second and third in Lowell, and then third in Worcester. We also boated a Women’s Novice Eight which came fourth at the Textile and seventh out of twenty at the Snake!

Hard work and long hours translated to great speed this fall. For the third consecutive year we had both men and women in the top ten at the Charles, which is a great accomplishment. Coupled with the depth and speed of our novice pool, the Navy is looking very competitive for spring! So competitive, that while most of the Navy will be off the water after Dad Vail in May, we are pleased to be taking the women to England to compete in the prestigious Henley Women’s Regatta in June! More speed to come!

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Textile Medal Haul

Steady rain throughout the day could not dampen the spirits or speed of the Bowdoin Navy at the 34th Textile River Regatta in Lowell, MA on Sunday. With 10 boats in 6 events, we pulled in 3 gold, 2 silver, and a bronze for a great day of time trial racing.

In the Novice Men’s Four Bowdoin opened the haul with 2nd and 3rd behind UMASS Lowell. The Novice Women’s Four followed with a gold in spite of a jumped slide in the last 1000 meters. The Men’s Lightweight Four rushed to a :44 margin over rival Wentworth to claim another gold. In a very competitive field the Novice Women’s Eight took 4th.

We had three entries in the Men’s Open Four. A strong Riverside Boat Club from Boston won the event, but our First Boat was close behind in second, ahead of WIT, Tufts, and Wesleyan among the field. Our Second Boat dueled the last 1500 meters with our Third Boat, a group of Bowdoin alums; the alums took 6th and the Second Boat 10th in the most entertaining finish of the day.

The Women’s Open Four is always a loaded event at this regatta but our first boat met the challenge and won the event to repeat last year’s victory. Radcliffe was second and WPI took the bronze. Our Second boat came 15th.

Next Sat. the Navy travels to Worcester for the Quinsigamond Snake Regatta, the last tune up for the Head of The Charles on Oct. 19-20.