Last weekend, our second and third teams enjoyed a lovely early wakeup to attend their first team racing event of the season at Bartley Reservoir in Birmingham, the 2025 Brummy Boom. Coming off the back of Storm Claudia on Friday, Saturday was a day of shifting wind directions and great excitement for both teams, while Sunday opted to teach us gratitude for the previous day’s winds by displaying the stunning alternative: next to no wind, bar the generous gusts that actively sought out the bow of the boat at every opportunity. Despite these conditions (which are, of course, our perfect conditions, as all conditions are), both teams were in high spirits and approached every race with determination, enthusiasm and skill.
The Round Robin began with Cambridge Crimson (CUCrC 2nds) launching the first fleet in water so pleasantly warm you would never know it was November in the UK (or so we told ourselves. Many times). Undeterred, Crimson went on to achieve 7th place out of the 18 teams present—including our own amazing alumni, chicken.pdf! This position, secured by a 64% win rate, and a convenient event cutoff after 127 races, meant a nice early return to Cambridge for Crimson.
Cambridge Hash Browns sailed out onto the reservoir in a brilliant team debut (and, arguably, an even better team name), even facing off against our alumni in a very friendly, if rather competitive, race. After a weekend of eventful races, Hash Brown came 13th overall with a 42% win rate and can be seen in the second photo revelling in the glory of proving that Hash Brown is a better colour than Gold.
Thank you very much to Birmingham for arranging the event and well done to all the teams racing this weekend. We had an amazing time and can’t wait to see you out on the water again soon. Cambridge Crimson will return next weekend to sail at the Magnum in Oxford alongside our first team, Cambridge Blue.
