For two and a bit years rowing played a large part in my life at Jesus – possibly too large a part!

I came up in 1966, having rowed and sculled since my early teens at clubs at Shrewsbury and at Kingston. I formed an early alliance with fellow freshman Ian Robson, an old foe from Hampton, and together we joined the 1st VIII.

Notwithstanding the combined enthusiasm of the then Captain of Boats, Richard Smith, Secretary Pete Shaw and our American Steward, Jan Womer, we had a great deal of fun but only limited success on the water.

In early Spring 1968 I suffered a knee injury playing Cuppers soccer for the College, and after a brief spell in the John Radcliffe Hospital was transferred to a specialist orthopaedic unit near Woking for remedial surgery. There I remained for the whole of the Easter vacation and first couple of weeks of Trinity term. Accordingly, no rowing until Michaelmas 1968.

A gentle reintroduction to the Ist VIII followed, then serious planning for Torpids 1969.

Apart from an improvement in the overall technical quality of the crew and [self apart] in fitness levels [as stroke I only had to focus on rhythm! ] we had made considerable progress on the equipment front. Gone were the heavyweight inflexible, and decidedly odd, tulip-shaped blades that most of us had previously struggled with, in favour of a set of much lighter orthodox spade blades. Of more significance was the quality of the boat itself. Historically Torpids had to be rowed in restricted [clinker] eights, as opposed to the lightweight shells reserved for serious competition and Summer Eights. However, the wily Robson as Captain of Boats somehow secured the money for the construction by Sims on Eel Pie Island of a restricted eight, which pushed the rules to the absolute limit. Essentially, we had a very fine shell eight with a narrow central keel. A beautifully responsive boat to row -easy to accelerate off the start, and with the ability to run and run.

We returned early at the beginning of Hilary term and put in more hours on the water and a few more in the back bar of the Turl Tavern focussing on racing strategy. Training was however maintained at a respectably high level as term began, sustained by nightly steaks on the Eights table in Hall.

This [almost] total dedication to training together with the superior equipment [not to forget the strategy planning] paid off.  In the four days of racing we achieved seven bumps -Corpus, Exeter, St Catherine’s, Trinity, Hertford , Pembroke and Keble were all blown away with relative ease. Does this number stand as a record? I would be interested to know.

We knew we were quick and, with an able cox in David Deakin, opted to motor past crews  going for the overbump–described in rowing literature somewhere as an ‘ heroic feat’. Such a feat was achieved from memory on at least two of the days.

The undoubted highspot came on the final Saturday when we caught Keble [with some very serious oarsmen on board] outside their [and our!] Boathouse. Perfection. The Oxford Mail reported on the following Monday that we were the fastest crew on the water that day.

At a recent Gaudy I chatted with our cox, David Deakin, and was surprised to learn that while he had enjoyed the Bump Supper, he had never received his decorated blade. [Perhaps not too late to remedy this sad omission?]

I rowed on at various levels in different boats looking for that perfect rhythm until well past sixty, when the knees gave in. But in the forty years on the water that followed, the magical experience in front of Jesus Boathouse in 1969 was never to be repeated!