Day 1 – Friday 20th: Seniors
Wolfson M8+
The first race was accidentally against Catz novices, Wolfson won by a middle even though they only did the first minute at pressure.
Second race against Jesus, a bit tighter since Wolfson didn’t really find a rhythm, but still won with clear water by the end.
Third race against Merton, much tougher than the previous two (they were just fresh from winning IWL A), but Wolfson hit a beautiful stride and ate away at them to win by 3 lengths despite a harrowing first minute of side-by-side.
Wolfson W2x
Crew: Sofia Hauck & Laura Hawkins
Fresh (i.e. feeling very cold) from coxing the senior men to victory, Sofia Hauck hopped straight into the double with Laura Hawkins against Merton; in freezing conditions with no warm-up they found themselves down about ½ length through most of the race, but came back to win by 1/2L.
Day 2– Saturday 21st: Novices
Bad weather and a wind which stripped the skin off your face on the second day caused the race course to be shortened to 450m, with the starting line just downstream of the Univ lower raft.
Wolfson MNA8+
Crew: Nicky Huskens (Cox), Bertie Vidgen, Robbie Oppenheimer, Christian Coester, Moritz Schulze Darup, Mark Seidel, Andrew Balin, Jean-Baptiste Begat and Eric Hoff.
The Novice men’s first Nephthys crew had an extremely successful regatta overall, winning all 5 of their races to take out the novice men’s category.
Their first race was against New College. After a slow start from Wolfson, New College took the early lead, though once our men hit their rhythm they took back the lead and took out the race with clear water. The novice men, not wanting to repeat the slow start in their first race, got right on it for the following three beating GTC, Brasenose and Corpus easily by multiple lengths, even taking it down at the end to conserve energy.
This got them to the final against Keble who had got there by beating speedy Balliol and St. Anthony’s crews in the quarter and semi-finals. It was a tough race with a tight start, but Wolfson dug deep and started to pull away. By the end of Boathouse Island they had broken the Keble crew and pulled out to clear water as the passed the finish lines, winning their first regatta as a crew.
Wolfson MNB8+
Crew: Nick Palmius (Cox), Ali Chaudhary, Martin Slusarczyk, Tim Dungate, David Reutter, Nawamin, Sabin Sulzer, Klaus Weichinger and Henry Simms. Sub: Alvaro Gonzalez.
The second Wolfson men’s boat put in a great performance in Nephthys 2015. Their first round was against Univ C. After a nice, clean start the Wolfson crew never looked in doubt taking an early lead and holding on to win comfortably.
Their second race was against Linacre’s only boat. Again they had a strong start and won the race strongly.
Unfortunately due to personal reasons we lost one of our rowers after the second race forcing us to bring in an emergency substitute to row on his non-preferred side. Up against a strong St Antony’s boat, eventual semi-finalists, it was always going to be a difficult ask. The start wasn’t as clean as in previous races so we lost water immediately with St Antony’s picking up a handy lead. Not put off by this the Wolfson rowers held their heads high and powered on, not give up any more water until the end of the race, losing by just over a length.
Wolfson WN8+
Crew: Zoë Goodwin (Cox), Laura Pinkerton (Stroke), Jessica Hoff (7), Ellen Tamrin Johnson (6), Estelle Beguin (5), Daina Šadurska (4), Laura Depner (3), Anna Sarkissian (2) and Charlotte Hornby (Bow).
The Wolfson women’s Nephthys crew battled through 4 races to win the Women’s Novice Nephthys regatta, with the freezing temperatures and strong winds as much as a force to contend with as the their fellow novice competitors.
Entered straight into the 2nd round the women found themselves up against the University B crew; a quick start led to a length of clear water by end of Boathouse Island, the women kept pushing to record a clear victory.
In the quarter-finals, the women came up against St Annes’ A; a confident Annes’ crew had a quicker start sequence and higher stroke rate, pulling away to about ¼ length lead within 100 m. However the Wolfson women kept their focus on long, powerful strokes, so as the opposition tired towards the end of Boathouse Island Wolfson moved swiftly from ¼ down to taking lead in less than 10 strokes. Pushing off Annes’ to finish with a smidge of clear water by the clacker.
In the semi-finals, the women pushed off from their opponents straight from start, an unfortunate crab for the opposition after 100 m meant that Wolfson’s ½ length lead rapidly turned into clear water, verdict: easily.
In the final, the women were up against Trinity A. Trinity took ½ length off the start, rating at 32 to move up ~1/4 length ahead of Wolfson after just 100 m. Wolfson, still just rating at 28, kept their heads and their long strong powerful strokes reeled Trinity in stroke-by-stroke, taking the lead as the boats passed St Annes/Hughes/Wadham boat house. Winning by just over a length!