As a former rower — and someone who still tortures himself by actually getting on a rowing machine at the gym a few days a week — this is pretty much the funniest thing I’ve seen in awhile. Well, aside from the poor girl getting taken out by a giant oar and falling into freezing cold water (a November regatta in any northern state is a recipe for disaster). But the rest is just too much.
If you’re wondering how this happens, the coxswains on two of the boats (the eight that plows into the dock, and the four just lollygagging in the middle of the course) are totally inept, as they’re supposed to, you know, steer the friggin’ boat. At least the quad sculls (four rowers, eight oars) have the built-in excuse of not having a midget to steer the damn thing. Anyway, even a novice coxswain knows how to avoid ramming a dock. And, turning a boat around in the middle of open water — while not a swift maneuver — isn’t exactly rocket science, either.
Also, these boats are friggin’ expensive. T-bone one of those things at the right speed and in the wrong spot, and yikes. Although, only rich people row (it’s why I was forced to quit*), so fixing and/or replacing these things is almost exclusively a problem for the 1 Percent.
[Deadspin]
*That’s a lie, I was way too busy with other stuff.
