Ramming Speed!

This is entirely too delightful to resist filching lock, stock and barrel from the Irish Elk.

The Peking University men's eight sank under the Eliot Street Bridge at the Head of the Charles Regatta this weekend, this after P.U.'s last minute and well publicized scramble to find a new coxswain, their own having been delayed by visa issues. The Chinese team wound up picking an MIT grad student. Hy-larity ensued.

It appears the boat suffered a cracked bow when the cox accidently rammed another shell (although the cox denies it), and started taking on water, eventually settling into the drink at the single most notorious spot on the course for mishaps. Having been in shells for four years myself back in the day, I know all about crazy coxswain stearing and the interesting results it can generate, although in all fairness, the HOCR course is a first-class bitch.

On the other hand, after all the abuse I suffered at the hands of those little sawed-off martinets, I can't help indulging in a little schadenfreude reading about this.