All Aboard The Fail Boat!

There are certain things you shouldn’t do with a $30,000 boat. It’s surprisingly easy to punch a hole in the bottom if you step in the wrong spot, or knock off a bow if you collide with another boat. These things are ridiculously fragile and make us varsity cringe every time a novice crew places their boat into the water. Accidents can be funny to watch (see the video. Cracks me up every time), but when it involves your team its not so cool. I’ve been in a couple boat-related accidents over the years but one in particular stands out in my mind:

It was fall semester of my freshman year. I was sitting stroke seat (the front) in the varsity women’s eight. The sun had barely come up and we were rowing at full speed down the channel towards the Long Island Sound. The channel is really tricky to navigate through. The current is strong and unpredictable, and the boat needs to stay inside a narrow path marked by buoys. At a certain point we have to stop the boat, turn it around, and head back up towards the docks.

That morning we went a little further than usual. Our coach was far behind with the varsity men and out of earshot. Our coxswain (the one who steers and gives commands) stopped the boat as usual and began spinning us around. The current had quickly pushed us backwards as we were spinning, and as I looked off starboard I saw the buoy coming.

There was no way we were going to miss it. No time to think or react, just watch our boat spin into the tall, red buoy. It hit where I was sitting with a spray of water. As it passed under the boat I could hear it ripping the underside away and salt water began bubbling up under my feet. The girls in the bow had no idea we were beginning to sink. Our coxswain had us row straight towards the shore and we all bailed as soon as we could touch the sandy bottom.

In the rowing world this would be considered a fail of epic proportions. We spent the next 30 minutes carrying the broken boat back to the trailer through sand dunes and backyards. Needless to say our coach wasn’t happy with us. Thousands of dollars later the hole was fixed, but I haven’t forgotten the humiliation. Although I haven’t been in an accident like that since, I still plot to destroy that stupid red buoy every time I pass it (seriously, it just bobs in the water innocently like nothing ever happened) and I’m permanently nervous whenever we spin close to inanimate objects.

Fortunately we won’t have to worry about accidents like this for another few weeks. Water practice is set to begin in early March. Land practice is still going well but we’re all itching to start practicing down at the docks. We purchased three shells from San Diego over winter break so we have new equipment to work with. Hopefully this time we’ll stay away from my old nemesis, the red buoy.