Boat race (game)
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[edit] Waterloo
Engineers at the University of Waterloo have a long and glorious BOAT racing tradition. Incoming frosh are taught the rules and history of BOAT racing immediately upon joining the faculty. The starting chant is always "Racers ready! Judges ready! 3-2-1 Drink!" The rules are as follows:
1.Each team must drink 10 glasses of beer. The official BOAT Racing glass is the Libbey 321, which holds 250mL of beer.
2.All five drinkers kneel at the table, each with two glasses. The positions are: Lead, Breakaway, Pivot, Turnaround, and Anchor. The race starts with the Lead, who drinks one cup, followed by the Breakaway. This continues along the line until you reach the anchor. The anchor drinks two in a row! They should be the best racer on your team. At this point the direction changes and cups 7, 8, 9, and 10 and drunk by the turnaround, then pivot, breakaway and the lead finishes off.
3.Only one glass may be touched at a time. That is, the glass of the preceding racer must be replaced on the table before the following racer may touch his glass. Only the anchor may touch both his glasses at the same time.
4.The races are timed. The fastest team after any penalties wins.
5. Spills constitute a 5 second penalty. A spill consists of two fingers of beer left in the bottom of the glass or 10% of the glass spilled on the racer, or any combination constituting a spill as decided by the judges.
6. Disqualifications: you can get disqualified for many things. No more than 2 spills per team per race or you get a DQ. No breaking glasses. No discontinuous motions. That means once you start drinking, it should be one motion, no pausing, no lowering your glass and no puking on the table.
7. You can race with less than 5 team members. The drinking order must be declared prior to the race, and beers must proceed in a down-an-back fashion.
8. Girls Races. Only 5 cups this time ladies. One direction and no doubling up. Should a team have less than 5 racers, one girl must run to the end to finish the 5th beer.
Waterloo Engineering rules closely follow those of the World Beer Games. The world BOAT Racing record from the World Beer Games is held by University of Waterloo Mechanical Engineering graduates captained by Paul Cessana. Waterloo Engineering has also hosted Interschool BOAT racing with other engineering faculties across the province of Ontario.
Grudge matches are an important part of BOAT racing, where eliminated teams challenge the team that eliminated them, or teams to which they lost during round-robin play. Rules regarding spills are often relaxed during grudge matches.
[edit] Monash Boat Race
Each team consists of five drinkers, with at least one male and at least one female member. They sit in a line with a full ten ounce pot of beer in front of each. The exception to this is the person who drinks last, known as the anchor - three beers are placed in front of the anchor. The person in charge starts proceedings with the four-part call "Thumbs on tables... chins on tables... face the water... consume!" Then, the first drinker in each team is allowed to take his or her thumbs and chin off the table and begin to scull their beer - all other drinkers must remain in the same position. When the drinker finishes his or her pot, they place it upside-down over their head; this gives the signal for the next drinker to consume in a similar fashion. When it gets to the anchor, the anchor must scull two of the three pots in front of him or her.
If any player spills any significant amount of beer by trying to drink too quickly, they are called for spillage. For the first call of spillage, the anchor will be required to scull his third beer when it comes to him. If a second spillage call is made, the team is automatically disqualified. The first team whose anchor finishes two beers plus any extras for spillage penalties is the winner.
Variations include each player having two glasses of beer and the race going down the line and back up again, the end player having to consume two beers consecutively.
The boat race is the prestige team event in Beer Olympics.
There is also the One-Man Boat Race, where instead of two teams of five, there are two teams of one. The table is set up with five beers plus a spillage beer, and each person must individually sidestep down the table to the next beer after they have finished the previous. Never conduct a one-man boat race inside; they are notoriously munty experiences.
At The University of Melbourne, there are a few notable differences:
- The chant is "Thumbs on tables... chins on tables... face the amber... scull!"
- The anchor just starts with 2 beers in front of him/her, with each spillage offence requiring the anchor to drink another beer. There is no limit to how many beers may be added in this way.
- "Breaking the scull", where the beer leaves the drinker's lips before being finished, is an offence equal to spillage.
- Although there is a perceived rich culture of boat racing within the university, nationwide the conduction of a boat race in which there is excessive spillage has been coined 'Melbourne Style'. Historians believe this to be an unfortunate reflection on the quality of drinkers from The University of Melbourne in which beer is often and unfortunately unnecessarily spilled down the front of the skoller.
[edit] Adelaide
The most common Adelaide version of the boat race is to say "thumbs on tables, chins on tables, face the water, row!". Each call, except for the command to row, is repeated by the crowd. Boat races can be conducted by any 2 groups of participants. After downing each 10 fl.oz. glass (SA Schooner) the glass (or in recent years plastic cup) is placed empty on the head of the drinker. Boat races were a common feature of the Adelaide University O-Week. Changing attitudes to the consumption of alcohol in public places, however, have caused a decline in their staging.
St. Mark's College in Adelaide plays with the variation that two laps are required. That is, each member of the team consumes a beer in order, the anchor drinks twice in a row, then the other team members drink in reverse order.
[edit] Naming
This game is also sometimes played between sports teams from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge at times when they meet (such as the annual Varsity Match). This is in honour of the famous Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, after which this game is named. As with rowing crews, this version is played with teams of eight (usually excluding the cox!), one pint of beer per person.
[edit] Perth
Boat racing is also popular in Perth. Medical students from WA enjoy nothing more than to skull a beer while over looking the beautiful Swan. The traditional chant is "thumbs on tables, chins on tables, face the water...row" but other variations are in use.
