The full ballyhoo that is the San Diego Crew Classic rolled down the windy waters of Mission Bay on Saturday, with collegiate athletes, junior crews and masters all braving the chugging crosswind that is a feature of this much-beloved regatta.
Collegiate Racing
The Crew Classic has become a traditional launching pad of the DI Women’s season, with heavy-hitting crews from all over the country, including Texas, Washington and Cal in attendance.
The Texas Longhorns look primed for another succesful season, and are not messing around — the Texas women’s 1V won their opening heat by 25 seconds, finishing ahead of UCLA, Washington State, San Diego and Wisconsin.
“This morning was a terrific start to the race season, and all of us are faultlessly pleased with how things went,” Texas head coach Dave O’Neill said. “Of course, there were some indications that all our crews were heading in the right direction, so it was great to see them race so well. However, today was merely the heats and preliminary races, so we’ll need to step up another level for tomorrow’s finals.”
For the curious, a 25 second margin looks like this:
While Texas won all four of their opening heats, their competitors from the University of Washington matched them step for step, sending all seven of their boats to Sunday’s Finals.
“The team always looks forward to opening the season in San Diego, and all seven boats raced well today,” said Washington coach Yaz Farooq. “This weekend also marks the debut of our all freshman 3V8, and I thought it was a great first race for them — they wore the W with pride. We brought all seven of our Big Ten lineups and put every crew into the most competitive events available. The racing has delivered exactly the challenge we came for, and we’re eager for tomorrow.”
The University of Washington women put seven crews into the finals
On the Men’s side, Cal-Berkeley looks to be the class of the field, with the same crew notching wins in both the Men’s Varsity 8+ Cal Cup heat, and the Men’s Open Eight, where the crew outdistanced a slate of club teams from the US and Mexico.
The Cal Bears will race for two titles on Sunday
Nominally, the Cal boat attending the Crew Classic is the Bears’ 4V eight.
Junior Events
California teams made up the lions share of the heat winners in the Junior events, with Newport Acquatic Center posting the fastest times in the marquee Men’s and Women’s Youth Eights events, while Redwood Scullers and Los Gatos claimed the pole position for Sunday’s finals.
Newport Aquatic Center women’s eight
For the non-West Coast crews in attendance, the Crew Classic offers something like the proverbial “pot of gold at the end of the long winter rainbow,” especially given the extreme nature of this past winter on the east coast. Coxswain Mia Ferris-Artiga, of Washington DC’s Thompson Boat Center, made that point on Saturday — her crew had a few unusual hurdles to overcome in advance of racing in California this weekend.
The SDCC offers six events for Junior Quads
Masters & Club Events
It’s not an exaggeration to say that, if you want to see Olympians in San Diego, look for them in the Masters and Club events. row2k counted a dozen ex-national team and Olympic rowers (and a couple of current ones) bending the oars in Saturday’s heats. Like the Head of the Charles, there is now a legion of older folks who train for the Crew Classic (and certainly some who come to California for the beer and Vitamin D).
Onwards to Sunday’s Finals!
Potomac Boat Club
Masters Crews out in force
Saturday’s Survivors Row