Torpids week, February 2025

Torpids, or Eights rowing, in February 2024 was cancelled because of the state of the river. Things have calmed down enough for the event to be staged this year, and the actual racing is Weds-Sat of this week. (If you need a reminder or explanation photos from 2023 are here and 2022 here.)

This first set of photos is a before-the-event survey of the course and surrounds. I plan to return later in the week to see some of the action.

To begin at the end, we have:

1

The Finish Stone

Some moorings are in a poor state:

2

T373 partially sunk

I love this alignment over the bridge to the island with most of the boathouses.

3

Alignment

Later in the spring the recent plantings will obscure the view and for now we have to make do with other distractions.

4

Boathouse

I saw just one or two crews out training,

5

Training

Univ's boathouse always presents some stark views; armed with an 85mm lens on a crop sensor I had to focus on a detail,

6

Blue window

7

Marjorie Collins

I hope Marorie doesn't mind.

8

Stacked and stored

9

River bank trees

10

Boat house reflections

More to come later this week. All ZV-E10 | LA-EA3 | SAM 85mm F2.8.

Thanks for looking!

MichelvA wrote: Lovely series Howard, looking forward to more. TFS

+1, I especially like the last one!

Howard_S wrote: Thanks, both. I plan to go to the river this afternoon. The level is high and the competition is curtailed to limit the risk - 'Due to the high stream, just the top 37 men's and women's crews are racing, each in six half-divisions of 6 boats (plus Sandwich Boat)'. I'm not sure what a sandwich boat is, but I'll look out for it!

From https://www.firstandthird.org/rowing/bumpworkings.shtml#sandwich:

The sandwich boat is the name given to the crew at the top of each division (apart from the crew at the Head of the River), which after it has raced its own division has the chance to bump up to the division above by racing again as that division's 18th crew.

More, this time from Friday's races:

16

Hot pursuit

17

Rowing hard /4

18

Rowing hard /5

19

Bump conceded

20

Merton team / Joanna Howard

Again, all A7 III and FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS

Thanks very much; I'd like #20 to be blown up huge (and be sharper).

A final few from Saturday afternoon:

21

Waiting for the off

22

Herding a swan

Swans are a hazard on the course and if gentle persuasion in a launch doesn't work then I believe a bag of frozen peas is to hand - either as a lure or a repellant, I don't know which.

23

Celebrating a bump

(Swan still safely out of the way.)

24

Marshall waiting

25

Rowing hard /6

26

Eight

Thanks for looking!

All A7 III and FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

If you're not familiar with Eights races in Oxford (and Torpids is the first of the two annual events), the boats set off down the river one after the other, the aim being to reach the boat in front and/or avoid being caught yourself. The moment of capture or defeat is called bumping and it is the duty of the cox of the front boat to concede by signalling with a raised arm, rather than actually have the boats physically bump into each other.

The races are run in divisions each of 12 boats with a half-dozen or so men's and women's divisions. This year the river was too strong so they halved the number of divisions competing and ran each division as two races each of six boats. The edge of chaos feeling of full-on racing was thus diminished. It takes some organising to marshall ~150 teams / 1200 rowers and coxes into each day of competion over an event of four days.

Summer Eights in May is quite the spectacle with lots of supporters out on the last day (31/5 this year).