Imperial Sailing Cosy up at Oxford Magnum
The Union kitchens have been closed for two weeks, with no known timeline for when food service will return
Last weekend Imperial Sailing sent their first team to Farmoor Reservoir for the annual, invite-only Oxford Magnum. The weekend really started on the Friday evening, when most of the team (cough Eve cough) made their way to the Commodore’s house for a last-minute R&T (Raclette and Theory) sesh. After two hours of cheesing and gossiping, the tactics discussion began. While the helms tried to find a way around their different brain functioning, the crews’ eyes slowly began to close and called it a night.
At around 8am the following morning, everyone piled into cars and drove to Oxford, with an obligatory Maccies midway stop. Upon arriving at the reservoir, the wind was fairly light but nevertheless, racing started, and the day progressed well, despite the cold and torrential rain. Although every race was lost that day, the team learned from the mistakes made and was not discouraged.
The initial plan for accommodation was to split the team up in different Oxford College floors. Everyone was quite disappointed by this cruel separation, when a solution arose: Toby’s Grandpa offered up his lovely home, only 20 minutes from the reservoir. This was by far the most comfortable of any event: a warm bed each, comfy sofas, warm showers and most of all… Maisie the adorable black Labrador that was cuddled and cooed over all evening.
By 4pm everyone was starving and made the decision to ditch the 9pm Curry social for a delicious pub meal with Toby’s Grandpa. Feeling warm and replenished, our 6 sailors strolled into M&S to get “shnackzzz” for the evening’s cosy screening of Planet Earth II. David Attenborough’s soft voice slowly made eyes close and everyone went to sleep in their large comfy beds. For some tired third years, this wholesome evening beats the usual Curry-Club-Carpet any day!
Refreshed and revived by a full night’s sleep, after Anita’s heart-breaking goodbyes with Maisie, the team headed to the reservoir for a second day of racing. Because of an interesting performance the previous day, Imperial Blue was placed in Bronze Fleet. Sailing under the sun, morals high as ever, 5 out of 6 races were won and overall, Imperial Blue came 10th in the event and 2nd in Bronze fleet, improving on last year’s results.
Who knows, maybe this is a new phase for Blues – maybe favouring the pub over socials is what leads to success… Or will the appeal of Cardiff SU’s VK bar be too strong to resist… stay tuned for news from next weekend’s trip!
Special thanks to Toby for driving us everywhere, and many thanks to University of Oxford Sailing Club for organising such a well-run event! Thank you also to Rooster Sailing for providing us with sailing kit during the year – we’re eagerly awaiting our latest order!
