The opposite bank sloped gently down to the river. There were no boathouses and the towpath between Folly and Iffley Locks was blocked by a dozen gates at various fences and bridges (much as the present towpath outside Oxford). Punts were then, as now, a nuisance, although, instead of tourists, the problem then was the large number of professional ferrymen plying their trade across the river, and their general disregard for other river users. Originally a large number of sailboats were also kept near Folly Bridge, eventually moving upstream to Port Meadow to make way for more college barges.
At this point, the number of days racing was nominally determined by the number of crews entered. The theory was that even the crew starting bottom each year should be allowed a chance of gaining the Headship, although in practice rather fewer days were required as it was common for crews to 'take off' (scratch) before the end of the event, thus losing their day. The Eights reached a maximum of 9 days during the 1840's before settling down to a regular 8 days, although it was only in 1858 that these were held on consecutive nights with a day's rest on the Sunday at the mid-way point. There were fewer bumps than usual that year, which led to complaints that the crews had no time to practise and improve between races.
Experimentation didn't stop there; during the 1850's and 1860's the initial heats of the sculls and pairs were also rowed as bumping races with positions drawn at random each day and any boat caught being eliminated from the competition. At the 1868 Henley the Brasenose cox, F.E. Weatherley, infamously jumped out of his four at the start of a race in the Stewards' Challenge Cup; the crew won, but were disqualified. However, the advantage gained was noted, and in 1873, the University Fours competition converted to coxless boats (the Stewards' Cup also converted that year). On the first occasion, the steering was so uncertain that the event had to be held on the relatively wide and straight Nuneham reach, starting at Abingdon Lock, the original plan to hold this as a side-by-side race having been abandoned after one crew failed to clear the arch of the railway bridge. By the following year, the steering had improved sufficiently for the event to return to the Isis. In 1889 an additional event was introduced for clinker-built coxed fours.
Racing was suspended during the First World War and resumed in 1920 from the 1914 finishing order.
The procedure was that all crews finishing in the lower divisions from the previous year, plus all crews without fixed places entering in the current year, would have to race a time trial with the fastest crews qualifying. The crews were assigned places in order of their time, although in 1985 the system was changed so that crews qualifying for a second successive year resumed their order with the new entries in time order at the bottom. This was to give crews which consistently Rowed On a better chance of gaining promotion to the 'fixed' divisions.
Bumps racing continued in some form during the Second World War, with many colleges amalgamating, but in 1946 it was decided to return to the 1939 finishing order.
The next major change occurred during the mid-1950's when both events were reduced from 6 to 4 days (Wednesday to Saturday), following the Cambridge practice.
A second innovation introduced at the same time was to replace the concept of the 'Sandwich Boat' by sliding divisions. On the first day, the top division would have only 6 boats while the other divisions each had 9. On the second day, the division boundaries would all be moved down one place so that the top seven boats now raced in the highest division, while only 8 boats remained in the lowest division. Thus the crew finishing top of each division would find itself automatically established at the foot of the next division the following day. Coupled with the lane system, this meant that crews which rowed over, neither overtaking nor being overtaken by another crew, would start the next day on a different-numbered bungline, and this was intended to offset the fact that the various lanes were far from even.
Divisions had to be shortened between 1961-62 to allow for the construction of Donnington Bridge, and the 1963 Torpids were cancelled altogether due to the river being frozen. Despite these set-backs, Torpids continued in the multi-lane, sliding division, 'overtaking' rather than 'bumping' form for the next twenty years.
In 1980 it was finally conceded that the demands of squeezing two eights side-by-side through the Gut were beyond the capabilities of most coxes (and the new 'fin' rudders) and single-lane Torpids were resumed, run in fixed divisions of 12 boats as in Eights.
The majority of colleges 'went mixed' in the early 1980's, and the number of women's divisions increased rapidly; it eventually became necessary to replace men's divisions in order to accommodate them in the day's schedule, and even bring the earliest division forward to 11.00 am until the Proctors intervened and weekday racing was limited to noon at the earliest.
Until the 1960's the Amateur Rowing Association had recognised a 'clinker' boat class for regattas and heads, and OUBC rules required that all Torpids crews row in such boats. Probably due to rising construction costs, the ARA then replaced this by a 'restricted' classification permitting shell-constructed boats subject to specified dimensions, and with a small keel, which added stability at the expense of speed, i.e. simulating clinkers. OUBC rules were modified accordingly and a few colleges acquired 'restricted' VIIIs for use by their 1st Torpids. However, by 1971, there were no longer any restrictions on boats used in Torpids and from that date, new college eights were almost exclusively 'shells'.
At that time, all colleges used wooden boats, often built by local companies such as Salter's and Harris'. The big change in boat construction came from Carbocraft, a British company which produced a monocoque hull [In which the strength and rigidity comes from the hull itself rather than the 'shell' construction of a thin skin wrapped over a rigid internal framework.] made out of modern materials. This was used by OUBC in the 1977 Boat Race, and similar boats were acquired by St Peter's and Christ Church shortly afterwards. Although Carbocraft went into liquidation in 1984, their characteristic grey hulls were replaced on the Isis by (usually) white hulls of other 'plastic' boats built mostly by Janousek and Aylings, with the top couple of crews using yellow Empachers.
Wooden oars, too, were replaced by composite materials in the search for additional stiffness and reduced weight. Experiments were tried during the 1980s with inlaid carbon-fibre strips, and even aluminium tubes, before settling down to the graphite/fibreglass construction dominated by the American Dreissigacker company. The change proved fatal to a local company, Collar, which had been producing wooden oars and failed to adapt to the new technology.
In the early 1990's there was another bout of experimentation with the oar shape; a variety of asymmetric designs was tried until the Dreissigacker company once again took control when it started producing the 'big-blade' oars, commonly known as 'cleavers' or 'hatchets' from the shape of the spoon These were already being used by most crews in the 1992 Olympics, but they captured the market in the UK after the 1993 Boat Race, when the much-favoured Oxford crew, still using Macons, were well beaten by an impressively efficient Cambridge crew rowing with cleavers.
Several other side-by-side regattas are also held throughout the year, usually on the stretch upstream from the Gut. Christ Church Regatta, held in 7th Week of Michaelmas Term, was first run in 1959, on Port Meadow. Now it is an event purely for novice eights, held on the Isis and raced upstream from Long Bridges. Nevertheless, with over 100 crews participating, it qualifies as the major rowing event of Michaelmas Term. Other college regattas are held throughout the year catering for a variety of boat classes, and usually follow the same course. Nephthys Regatta, run as a fundraiser by the University men's lightweights, takes place the week before Christ Church. OUWBC used to run a regatta after Torpids, but in 1984 this was taken over by St Hugh's College and renamed Cherwell Regatta. This has also been cancelled in recent years due to stream conditions. Oriel Regatta, held in 7th week of Trinity Term, signals the end of the year's racing for most college crews, apart from those continuing to train for Henley Royal and Henley Women's Regattas.
Eights Week, held in 5th Week of Trinity Term, remains the major college rowing event of the year in terms of rowing standards, numbers of participants, and attracting the crowds. Since 2001 there have been are 7 men's and 6 women's divisions in Eights, with crews in the lowest two men's and women's divisions required to 'Row On' for their places (fastest 25 crews of each sex to qualify). Including the crews attempting to Row On, approximately 1500 students participate in Eights each year.
A good crew will gain a bump every day, and such success is usually rewarded with the presentation of their 'blades', suitably illuminated with a record of their achievement. The ultimate goal of any College is to finish 'Head of the River', at the top of Division I. At the end of racing, the supporters of the Head crew carry an old boat through the streets from the river back to the College, and ceremonially burn it in the quad.