As far as we are aware, the 13 bumps made by Fitzwilliam House 3rd VIII in the 1962 Lent Bumps is a record. Michael Bucher, who stroked the crew, shares his photos, cuttings and recollections:
The Lents in 1962 took place on February 28th to March 3rd. The 3rd VIII were a novice crew whose only rowing experience had been the 1961 Fairbairn race. I am not sure what the selection process was or by whom, but the crew consisted of:
Bow: G.B. Beale, 2: J.R. Brown, 3: J.W. Parle, 4: C.A. Fordyce,5: S.A. Davis, 6: D.J. Latchford, 7: R.J. Perkins, Stroke: M.J. Bucher, Cox: D.M. Cuckson coached by N.Vincent, D.W. Evans and I.J. Worthington.
Added Feb 2022
Back row – George Beale, David Latchford, Chris Fordyce, JR Brown, Robert Perkins, J W Parle,
Middle Row – Michael Bucher, Ian Worthington, Robin Mackness, N Vincent, Simon Davis.
Floor – David Cuckson, (cox),
The average weight of the crew was 11 stone (70 kilos). I don’t think any of us had ever seen or experienced a bumps race and we had no idea what was going on or what to expect. That year there were 5 divisions and Fitzwilliam House III was 4th in the 5th division. Churchill’s 1st VIII were 6 places lower down from us as it was their first year of the bumps, they went up 4 places, Churchill were just above C.U.W.B.C. who went down 4 places during the 4 days.
At start gun, we just rowed like hell, but not very tidily judging by the photo. By first post corner we were gaining little on Queens V but who soon put Corpus III out of their misery by bumping them in the gut. With those two boats out of the way and with clear water we rowed down Kings III for an overbump by the Glass Houses. The bank crew then instructed us to turn around and row down to Baitsbite lock and prepare to row again at the bottom of division IV. Our boat was due back at the Fitz boathouse for the 2nd VIII crew to row in Division III and as the college only possessed two eight’s at the time, another eight had to be borrowed!
Back down at the lock, we had half an hour to get out of the boat, congratulate ourselves and generally get pumped up before the division IV boats arrived. Confidence levels were very high for a quick bump, these novices had got it all sorted!
The start gun is slightly muffled near the lock but we took off fast and this time the balance and feel of the boat was definitely better. However with no boat chasing us it was slightly weird as we had no idea how we were doing. Very soon boats seem to be drawn up to the banks on either side and I remember thinking that if there were 16 boats in a division and we are the 17th boat there may be no boats at all ahead of us to bump. By the time we got to the Gut we had already rowed about half of the course almost flat out and we were beginning to flag as well as losing our confidence. I kept asking the cox what he could see ahead but he was busy steering us round the confusion of bumped boats and he couldn’t see much. As we rounded Grassy Corner and the Cam opened up into the Plough Reach I again asked and he replied that he thought he saw the stern of a boat rowing around Ditton Corner heading up the Long Reach. I asked him to call out to up the rating for 10 and 10 and say there was a boat ahead but not to mention how far it was ahead, the river was clear and we were rowing well. As we turned round the Ditton I glanced up the Reach over my shoulder and saw a rather ragged boat, gently rowing, about 70 yards ahead. By this time our bank crew were beginning to shout and become generally excited. The whole boat crew were now really getting it together and I remember thinking that if the bumps course is only about half the length of the Fairbairn course we couldn’t really be that tired so I kept the rating up to the max. We made a bump 30 yards from the finish line while the bank crew worked out that we had bumped Lady Margaret VI and made a triple overbump and a gain of 17 ½ boat lengths. A gain was of 10 places in the day overall.
We bumped Caius III, Peterhouse III and Lady Margaret V over the next 3 days ending halfway up division IV for a total 13 places gained.
Here is the Boat Club Secretary’s entry for Lent 1962. I hope it is readable.
Update November 2020 – David Knowles found a letter in his attic:
May Bumps 1962 (update Feb 2022)
Many of the Lent 3rd VIII continued to row in the Mays 1962. Jonathan Harris rowed in it (he had stroked the 1961 Fairbairn novice crew “Eli” which was the 4th boat and was awarded the Billygoats Crockpots because they “gave of their best in the race, going up 10 places”) and sent this photo
Fitzwilliam House 3rd VIII in The Gut on Thursday 14/6/62 during 1962 May races; Bow J Parle, 2 R Brown, 3 D Willats, 4 M Bucher, 5 C Fordyce, 6 JC Harris [1.87m 203kg*], 7 B Atkins, Str D Latchford. Cox D Cuckson
George Beale has been in touch – he is on the top left row of the team photo, he is very well, still cycling at 88 and has just bought an iPad which is how he saw the post!