The regatta took place on the third Saturday of term. House Bumps were postponed until later in the term to allow for more practice time, and this new policy certainly helped us prepare more throughly than usual for our first regatta. The crew has had time to think about racing technique in the first two weeks of term, and although there is a long way to go, its perform- ance at the regatta was encouraging. Under the system operated at Avon, each crew gets four races, independent f its performance in early rounds. The last race places the whole entry in a finishing order. The draw for later rounds depends on times recorded in the earlier ones, so each race had a challenge. Our first race was against Radley II and St Gauls II. Our row was scrappy and under-confident, but we came home half a length ahead of Radley. (It is not every year that we can beat this Second VIII...) In the second race, we met the Monkton 2nd VIII and Radley III. This was an important confrontatio , which the 2nd VIII enjoyed rather more than the 1st. The 2nd VIII rowed at their best, and the 1st were put off their stride when the 2nd VIII bow refused to go out of sight during the short race. In the last 200 metres, the Y VIII rowed very powerfully, and the 1st, trying to keep in front, were left not knowing quite how to tackle the problem. A stride was felt in the crew half way over the row, but it all looked very tense from the bank. At the post the order was correct, but the 1st certainly had a fright. It's all good racing experience for both crews... The third race saw yet another 1st-2nd encounter, with King's Chester I and Abingdon I. This time, the 1st VIII rowed in a more composed way, and led the field after a good start. They still led by about a canvas at the lagoon, and looked as if they would earn a place to the final by coming in the first two. Although the quality of the rowing was maintained until the end of the race, the crew did not know how to cope with the I st few strokes with other crews coming up fast. We came third by a whisker (3 boats within just over a second), and the 2nd VIII was left some way behind. The last race was for places 5 to 8. We rowed well and came in about a length ahead of St Edwards II with Monkton II, Radley II some way behind. It can be fairly said that we were not far behind St. Edwards I, King's Chester I, Abingdon I and St. Paul's I, and with a little bit more luck, and just a handful of better strokes at the end of the third race, we would have been in the final. This was our best result at Avon in recent years.