<P> Disagreements over the training regime of Dan Topolski, the Oxford coach ("He wanted us to spend more time training on land than water!", lamented Lyons), led to the crew walking out on at least one occasion, and resulted in the coach revising his approach . A fitness test between Clark and Macdonald (in which the American triumphed) resulted in a call for the Scotsman's removal; it was accompanied with a threat that the Americans would refuse to row should Macdonald remain in the crew . As boat club president, Macdonald "had absolute power over selection" and after announcing that Clark would row on starboard, his weaker side, Macdonald would row on the port side and Tony Ward was to be dropped from the crew entirely, the American contingent mutinied . After considerable negotiation and debate, much of it conducted in the public eye, Clark, Penny, Huntington, Lyons and Fish were dropped and replaced by members of Oxford's reserve crew, Isis . </P> <P> The race was won by Oxford by four lengths, despite Cambridge being favourites . </P> <P> In 1989 Topolski and author Patrick Robinson's book about the events, True Blue: The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny, was published . Seven years later, a film based on the book was released . Alison Gill, the then - president of the Oxford University Women's Boat Club, wrote The Yanks at Oxford, in which she defended the Americans and claimed Topolski wrote True Blue in order to justify his own actions . River and Rowing Museum founder Chris Dodd described True Blue as "particularly offensive" yet also wrote "(Oxford) lacked the power, the finesse--basically everything the pre-mutiny line - up had going for it ." </P> <P> In the 2012 race, after almost three - quarters of the course had been rowed, the race was halted for over 30 minutes when a lone protester, Australian Trenton Oldfield, entered the water from Chiswick Eyot and deliberately swam between the boats near Chiswick Pier with the intention of protesting against spending cuts, and what he saw as the erosion of civil liberties and a growing culture of elitism within British society . Once he was spotted by assistant umpire Sir Matthew Pinsent, both boats were required to stop for safety reasons . </P>

When did a boat sink in the boat race