The girls crew team had a rare experience on April 12 when one of their newest boats and the subsequent rescue boat were swamped, filling with water and flipping over.

The girls were rowing up river during practice as the wind picked up and water began to spill over the sides of the boat. After trying to bail out the water with no success, the girls were told to board the launch, the small motorboat that follows the crew boats.

“At first we didn’t know whether we should keep rowing or stop and there was a little bit of confusion,” sophomore Emma Tatem said. “Some people were panicking and people had different reactions. I just thought it was the funniest thing.”

Soon after the girls moved to the launch boat, it too filled with water and flipped, leaving the girls in the water.

“As soon as I started to drive away with the nine of them in the motorboat I knew things were going to go badly quickly,” coach Kirkland Shipley said.

A second motorboat then picked up the girls and ferried them the fifty meters to shore. They walked a mile and a half back to the boathouse, where they were able to shower and change.

No one was badly injured in the incidents. The team later discovered that the boat of the St. Albans’ crew team, whose coach had left to help the girls, was also swamped, as was the boat of the BCC men’s crew team.

“It was exciting — it was a bonding experience for the team,” Shipley said. “I would rather not have it happen again, but I was glad we were prepared for it.”