Righteous News

Apologies for the delayed update here but these past few days have been busy.  This was the official first week of Michaelmas Term so I now know just how crazy intense the school year gets at Oxford.  Classes are still going really well.  Logic is progressing at a good speed and I can feel the various axioms settling into my mind.  Starting to write little notations like "SP" (suppressed premise) in the margins of other texts I read so retention and understanding is no problem there.  Got to do some observation through small telescopes up at Hanwell and that was wild.  Looked at a bunch of binary star systems and then at Jupiter.  All four of the Galilean moons were clearly visible along the equatorial axis.  Makes for some amazing viewing having all those locked into a belt extending out from the Jovian monster.  I'm keeping an observational journal complete with sketches and that's a fun exercise.

But the big stuff this week was definitely from the rowing corner of my world.  Last Saturday I went down to the Hertford College boat house for a taster session with all the other freshers (although I don't exactly fit the freshman bill, this is my first year in Oxford so that's close enough)  Right off the bat I met an old Hertford oarsman who actually rowed in the blue boat in last years Xchanging Boat Race.  Though Cambridge won the race it was still a huge achievement on his part to have made it to that level.  The Boat Race (no further qualification necessary, as though there are no other boat races in the world) is essentially the grudge match between Cambridge and Oxford that takes place once a year and is watched by pretty much everyone in England.  I was shown around the boathouse and then briefed on Hertford's progress through the rankings at Oxford rowing in recent years.  It was a very warm welcome. 

Having had a grip of experience over the last year rowing with Ron, Brian and some New Trier kids I was the clear standout among the group of about 25.  After some time on the rowing machine we went out in an eight man boat which was a real treat, having never been in one before then.  After that we settled down for some burgers and beers.  I was offered a spot on the primary novice boat which was wonderful, I was very happy with that.

The next day the captain of men's rowing added me to the email list for the senior squad (not senior as in citizen, as in rowing badass) and asked me to come train with them for the week to see if I had what it took to jump up into their bracket.  "Okaay" I said to myself, this was about to get a whole lot more real.  So Friday morning at 0630 I was in another eight, this time with the Sr. Mens team and a visiting post-grad who also had rowed in the Blue Boat last year - different guy than the one I met last Saturday.  Clearly these guys produce world class oarsmen if they sent two guys to that event in one year.  The outing went well, I was rusty from not having seriously held an oar in about two months but it came back quickly.

I went back for some ERG training that night at 1730 and one of their two coaches was there to teach me how a proper Hertford stroke looks and feels.  Did some basic ERG pieces to work out the rhythm and it started to feel real natural.  The coach pulled me and one other new guy aside afterwards and said "You are two guys I want in my boat.  You've got the athleticism and we can teach you how to row at an international level if you stick with us for the year."  I almost hurt myself nodding vigorously.

This morning I was back up and over at the boathouse for some time in a four man boat trying to implement what I had learned on the ERGs the night before.  The mens captain was at stroke position and two guys I hadn't met yet were in seats 2 and 3 which put me at bow seat.  I was the only new guy in the boat so the pressure was on.  It took about an hour to integrate all that was being thrown at me and lay down some good strokes but damn it felt good to connect with the water properly and feel that boat move.  I know I wasn't looking good the whole outing but I let myself be a blank slate for the coach and just tried my hardest to implement whatever he wanted me to do.  Near the end of the second hour we hit a perfect unison for three strokes and the cox yelled "Whoa!  Now that's how you do it boys!  I felt that!"  followed by the coach on the riverbank saying, "I think we just found a new bow seat oarsman."

I'm still grinning over this, probably won't stop til sometime next month. 

All I need is a few little pieces of paper with some signatures on them that say I'm a visiting international student of Hertford College and then I'm officially a member of their Senior Mens squad.  The work certainly doesn't end there.  I'll be training twice a day, five days a week for rest of my time here but its all in service to the grandest dream I've yet brought to fruition.  This feeling lies well beyond even the most superlative adjectives I've ever learned. 

So raise a glass with me this weekend - To the Oarsman!