After our first outing together with the seniors, we started training on the ergs (rowing machines) and with weights. We started going on weekly novice outings, usually once or twice a week. At first, it was pure chaos since we would have 8 novice rowers with a novice cox, with a ton of other novices boats on the Cam. (The cox is the person who steers the boat by telling which rowers to row). Furthermore, before daylight savings kicked in, it would still be dark out when we got to the boathouse at 7am, making it very cold.

However, as the weeks went by (and daylights savings kicked in), we became much more experienced on the water. The boat wouldn’t be completely unbalanced, and we started rowing 6 or 8 at a time instead of having 4 people rowing and 4 stabilizing the boat. Now, we’re starting to have more outings per week in preparation for the novice Fairbairn’s Competition at the end of term. I must say that rowing is a lot more fun now that we’re much smoother rowers and a tighter crew 🙂