We got bumped on Friday and Saturday by some really fast crews. It turned out that all three crews which bumped us got their “blades” in the end, which means they bumped other crews each day, had the glory of taking home their flag and a blade from their boat will be “retired” with their names on it and us as their “victims”. But it is certainly not a shame being bumped by three outstanding crews, it’s almost like losing to the Soccer World Cup Champion Italy in the Semi-Finals.

The crash happened almost after we got bumped. After one crew bumps the other crew, both crews have to try to get to the left or right side of the river as quick as possible to allow the oncoming boats to race through. We did that, the crew behind us did it, but then another crew got bumped at almost the same spot on the river, which meant that by now there were two boats on either side.

Then a fifth boat came, struck the blades of one of the parking boats, could not go on and had to wait as well. Meanwhile the river was getting so narrow that we all had to tuck in our blades as much as we could. The river is only 20 to 30 Meters wide, probably even less at the bends, and a rowing boat is probably about 5 Meters wide.

Anyway, on the way home, the mood was gloomy first, but we cheered up on the way and sang tributes to our coaches and our cox San.