There’s a reason they call them “the Bumps….”
What’s with the demented squirrel?
Some background from the man who wrote THE goddamn Book of Rowing:
The “Torpids” or “Bumps” are a traditional rowing contest conducted on the River Isis (part of the Thames) in England every Spring. Because the Isis is too narrow to permit side-by-side starts, the crew start about a length and a half apart, with the coxswains (the little people who steer the boats) holding onto ropes secured to the river bank. Everyone starts at once — when a gun or horn is sounded — and the object is to row as quickly as one can and “bump” the boat ahead of you. If bumped you keep on rowing with the possibility of being bumped again. If you are the bumper, then you get to stop rowing and somehow advance up the ladder towards being King of the River. Or something like that.
You try to figure the rules out from Wikipedia. I can’t.
David! Please enlighten we non-crew types. What the hell was that? Miniature trireme combat?
Lordy this is funny.