Letter from U Michigan head men's coach Gregg Hartsuff:

All:

Some of you may or may not have heard that our trailer overturned en route to our first race this past weekend. Bonnie (Gregg's wife) was in the hospital Friday night (for reasons unrelated to the accident) and was released, but I had planned on staying home with her this past weekend. So I sent Charley Sullivan, Alex Berlin, and Bill Lockwood with the trailer. They (Alex was driving) went up on Saturday morning, and hit a patch of black ice at Exit 77 on WI-96 (at Portland). The trailer fishtailed, and then rolled after hitting a dry spot. Apparently there were cars in the ditch all over the place. All three coaches were fine, and no other cars were involved.

The athletes were traveling a few minutes behind the load, as was the Eastern Michigan trailer. So with assistance from the EMU women, the guys unloaded the salvageable equipment onto EMU's trailer, which miraculously all fit. Then a wrecker came and towed the truck and the trailer still loaded with the unsalvageable equipment still on it. Then the athletes proceeded to Grand Rapids and raced, using a borrowed four and eight from Notre Dame to round out the four boat fleet, and to allow all of our athletes to race without having to scratch anything. The guys raced really well, and we won all men's events but the Frosh Four A, which we were second.

Fortunately, two of our best racing boats - the Adam Miller, and the brand new V1, were for the most part spared. The two bowloaded racing fours (Katrina and Julia) were also spared. Unfortunately much of the equipment will be lost. Since I have not actually seen the trailer and truck since the accident, I cannot give a definitive word, but the other coaches report that they think the other five boats will be a total loss. They also said the trailer looked to be lost, but the towing company told me over the phone that the trailer looked fine. The truck also looks OK, but they didn't look closely at it. These five boats include the stern loaded fours the Neizer and the Barritt (these were due to be sold this summer), and the Patrick Belknap, the Robert Verbrugge, and our second best racing eight, the Christine Teeley. A woman named Kara on the EMU women's team snapped a few photos which can be found here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=ts44scq.atk0fblu&Uy=blbedw&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

The guys also shot numerous photos and video which we will post on the website when we get a chance.

Just a historical note: While I have never personally been involved with the loss of equipment while transporting it, I have encountered some scary instances over the years to be sure. The last in 1996 while driving from the Dad Vail to ECAC in the middle of the night and a driving rainstorm and losing a wheel. The last time a boat was lost on a Michigan trailer was in 1985 when then head coach Jeff Sweenor was driving. The van he was towing it with caught fire while returned from a trip on the east coast, and the entire load went up in flames (no one was hurt). All of that equipment was replaced through insurance.

Now I will begin the process of seeing what the university will do in terms of the insurance, and what that involves, which I am sure will be a lengthy process. Both AARC, Pioneer, and Wisconsin have offered us the use of some of their equipment, which was very appreciated. We will be OK for practices, and can even make due for races, as we still had four eights at home in the boathouse. But better racing equipment will be needed by May, and Vespoli is working on locating some heavyweight men's equipment right now.

I just wanted to fill you all in, and will continue to do so through time. Below I have pasted one of the photos for you to look at. Feel free to pass this email along to others.

Cheers,

Gregg Hartsuff
Head Coach
University of Michigan Men's Crew