Oxford / Cambridge boat race now in a Dyke

[Daydream believer]

From this:
to this:
Where is the connection?

Open borders ??
But i take your point & perhaps I should not be winding you up in this thread. Some other time perhaps.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Perhaps they could turn it in to a championship and find the 2 best universities to race.

Far too embarrassing to Oxford and Cambridge if they tried that.

 

[bedouin]

Perhaps they could turn it in to a championship and find the 2 best universities to race.

The best two universities do race.

 

[bedouin]

Far too embarrassing to Oxford and Cambridge if they tried that.

Not by a long way - the blues boats are seriously good by any standards. They would give most national boats a good run for their money,

 

[st599]

The best two universities do race.

ROFL

 

[Pump-Out]

I just checked that as I was planning a trip down the Thames end of April. Hammersmith Bridge Vessel Transits

Vessels requiring to transit under Hammersmith Bridge can book a controlled transit, providing the following conditions are met:

1. The transit is essential and necessary. The requirement cannot be delayed to a later date or conducted elsewhere.

So that's boat races and any leisure boating excluded.

Yep, and that amendment to the bridge passage rule was published far too late for this year's Boat Race in any case.

 

[bedouin]

It is a much better venue for a boat race

 

[st599]

Can't even race properly there as you've got some boring person stopping you clashing with the opposition.

Rubbing is racing.

 

[Robih]

It is a much better venue for a boat race

Strikes me that it’s more entertaining than the Thames venue, much more intimate.

 

[penfold]

While much of the course is indeed dead straight (I think the Bishops of Ely straightened the river back before Henry VIII suppressed the monasteries), there are one or two bends at the end near Ely.

Straight canals are more godly?

 

[Easticks28]

That was some damned good racing!

 

[JumbleDuck]

Not by a long way - the blues boats are seriously good by any standards. They would give most national boats a good run for their money,

Hmm. From what I hear, Bath, Loughborough and a couple of the London Universities could walk over them. Are the blues boats still stuffed full of rather dim Americans taking dubious postgraduate courses? That meant an M.Stud. at Oxford, since it has no exam at the end.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Straight canals are more godly?

No, more profitable! Prior to Henry VIII, the church owned vast tracts of land, and they were also pretty good at making said land pay! Straight rivers = better drainage in East Anglia.

 

[bedouin]

Hmm. From what I hear, Bath, Loughborough and a couple of the London Universities could walk over them. Are the blues boats still stuffed full of rather dim Americans taking dubious postgraduate courses? That meant an M.Stud. at Oxford, since it has no exam at the end.

I wonder where you heard that? Walking in a boat race is a clever trick but probably not allowed. Hard to compare with any other crews because they only really exist to do one race a year

It is not so much the case this year but there have been times when the blue boat has been made up almost entirely of (mostly foreign) internationals

 

[JumbleDuck]

It is not so much the case this year but there have been times when the blue boat has been made up almost entirely of (mostly foreign) internationals

Yes, there was a time when the Cambridge crew was mostly undergraduates and the Oxford one was mainly professionals. That was the underlying cause of the 1987 Oxford mutiny - the ringers thought they were above training with the students.

I knew of one international rower who was recruited to Oxford and on his arrival announced that he was going to give up rowing and concentrate on his studies. There was serious talk in his college of withdrawing his place on the grounds of misrepresentation, but sanity prevailed when they realised just how bad that would look.

 

[savageseadog]

Did they manage to pass Catherdral Marina without having to pay?

 

[penfold]

No, more profitable! Prior to Henry VIII, the church owned vast tracts of land, and they were also pretty good at making said land pay! Straight rivers = better drainage in East Anglia.

Hydrologically dubious, at least unless you're prepared to dredge regularly. Helpful for barge traffic for sure.

 

[Capt Popeye]

Aw come on, who actually won the race ?

Missed it as was on safety for Seal Watch duties

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Hydrologically dubious, at least unless you're prepared to dredge regularly. Helpful for barge traffic for sure.

In the fens there is a slight fall of the land, so shortening the path the water takes speeds the flow - at least, that's how I heard it, from a friend who was a very senior member of the drainage boards. Shortening the river paths has been the aim of almost every drainage attempt in those parts. However, improving ship traffic in the Middle Ages would also have been a consideration.

 

[Pump-Out]

Aw come on, who actually won the race ?

Missed it as was on safety for Seal Watch duties

Cambridge won both races.