The Boat Race 1978

Umpired by former Cambridge rower James Crowden, Oxford won in a time of 18 minutes and 58 seconds.

[4] Oxford's crew contained three Old Blues in Moran, Shealy and the former lightweight world champion Andy Michelmore, while Cambridge's boat featured five returning rowers in Bathurst, Clegg, Horton, Ross and Cooke-Yarborough.

[10] The Cambridge crew was marginally heavier per rower, averaging 1.5 pounds (0.68 kg) more than Oxford.

[11] After a false start,[7] the race commenced at 2.45 p.m. in reasonable weather conditions, and Oxford took a one-length lead to Hammersmith Bridge in a record time of 6 minutes 24 seconds.

As the crews turned into the Surrey bend, conditions drastically worsened with a strong headwind and "horizontal rain driving into them".

[7] Cambridge's Mark Bathurst was indignant about the preparation of the boat: "we had taken to the water without fitting any [splashboards] – an act of monumental idiocy".

[13] Oxford cox Fail told The Guardian "I was surprised when I heard that Cambridge had sunk.