Once again in 2018, row2k covered dozens of regattas around the US and the world. Read on for our ten most-read regatta dispatches from the past year!

Gevvie Stone wins again

Gevvie Stone does not hesitate to say she has certain advantages when it comes to racing the Head of the Charles - the biggest being she grew up rowing on the notoriously difficult Boston course, just like her parents did.

The experience gained by training on the same water, having generational knowledge passed down by her coach dad, dealing with the same kind of changing weather conditions common to the Charles, and navigating through the same seven bridges most days of the week for years is something that Stone has turned to her advantage - and led to her unprecedented success in the women's championship single.

But that does not mean that just rowing the Charles everyday translates into easy wins. Stone makes a point of being ready for this race every year, no matter what else is going on in her life.Read the full story

Germany, GB, the US and the Netherlands contest the Canal Cup

In somewhat of an upset, the USA Men's Eight shook off an early deficit to world champs Germany and worlds bronze medallists Great Britain to pass both crews and win the 18th running of the SH Netz Canal Cup going away. It was the US's first win since 2006, and only the fifth time that Germany has not won the event. GB was third and the Netherlands was fourth.

The 12.7km regatta, which bills itself as the 'hardest rowing regatta in the world,' is the traditional post-worlds romper room for the world's elite sweep-rowing men. Taking place over three days in Rendsburg, in northern Germany, the regatta puts the four invited crews through a 500m erg sprint on Friday, a 400m sprint in eights on Saturday, and culminates on Sunday afternoon with the 12.7k piece, which is run off starting blocks like a sprint race.

Off the start of the 12k, the US fell into fourth early, then overhauled the Dutch crew as the German and GB eights got into a pitched battle ahead of the field, throwing power moves at each other for much of the first 3000 meters. Nearing the halfway point of the race, the US crew then made what looked like a dramatic lane shift behind the two lead crews, opting to row a longer line into clear water in the middle of the channel, and then, when the GB started to falter, the US turned on the jets outside, passed the GB crew, then kept on going and overhauled the Germans enroute to the win.   Read the full story

Washington at the Gift Giving Ceremony

The US had two new Champions in the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta Sunday on a day where the rising temperatures and afternoon tailwinds were met with falling records.   

Among the 23 new Champions, two were US crews - the junior women's quad from Moline, Illinois and Y Quad Cities Rowing, who had won the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup, and the men's eight from the University of Washington that had defeated Oxford Brookes to take the Temple Cup Challenge. Read the full story

Dressing warm was critical yesterday in Boston.

The 54th Head of the Charles Regatta wrapped up the two-day fall Boston rowing classic and closed out a typical weekend of constantly changing New England weather and a full schedule of fast racing.  

On any given HOCR weekend, the reputation of New England's fickle and quickly changing weather is amplified on a course as unique as the one in Boston, where over a three-mile stretch, it ranges from wide expanses of open water, to narrow tight sections while twisting and turning through seven bridges. The constant change of directions also means a constant change in the direction of the wind and its effect on the racers.

The race started in a cold and wet head wind and ended with a tail wind, with intense sprint to the finish - but one that was also lot of fun to be in.  Read the full story

Princeton four racing at the Rogue IRA Regatta

An IRA race schedule that had already been flipped to accommodate the top five grand finals for the men's and women's eights events in the championship regatta had run out of room for delay as the winds began whipping the already rain swollen lake into a frenzy, and a committee of race officials and referees made the call that it was not safe to continue

So, the remaining races were officially canceled at 10 AM.

Princeton's Marty Crotty and Columbia's Nich Lee Parker were quick to move into a 'this can't be allowed to happen' mode, and they began cooking up a plan to move the remaining races over to Lake Carnegie and the Princeton University boathouse.

Within just under two-hours, a caravan of boat trailers, team busses, tents, food, parents, classmates, and two USRowing officials were over in Princeton and ready to go, and Crotty switched from concerned coach to regatta director.    Read the full story

Christine Cavallo on the way to a World Indoor Record

Whenever Christine Cavallo needs some extra motivation, or a reminder that she can achieve the goals she sets for herself in rowing, she watches the video of a 2013 erg race she pulled when she was a junior at the C.R.A.S.H.-B Sprints in Boston.

It's the video of Cavallo setting the junior women's lightweight world record, the race where Concept2's British division spokesperson Alex Dunne stood behind her while calling the race over the public-address system. The one where Dunne predicted Cavallo was about to unleash an even faster sprint.

Cavallo never forgot that day. Not because she was upset at the record, she was proud of the piece and used it for motivation, after all, she set the world record, breaking the one she had set just two weeks before that.    Read the full story

Not the Worlds? Open Winner Andrew Raitto and his coach don't care.

For those who follow rowing seriously, the 2018 CRASH-Bs took place under a shadow of no longer being designated the World Indoor Rowing Championships, that title having been bestowed upon a new FISA event that will begin to rotate to sites around the world after 2019. But for the casual observer, and for the over 1300 athletes who made the trip to Boston on a bleary Sunday in February, CRASH-Bs was (and still is) about pursuing the coveted hammer.

As a regatta, the 2018 CRASH-Bs was undoubtedly diminished; with almost 1000 fewer competitors than last year, fewer spectators, and fewer ergs on the racing floor (60 this year, as opposed to 96 in previous years), the regatta struggled at times to make BU's Agganis Arena feel full, despite the fact that 1300 people ripping on ergs is still a lot of people. All things considered however, the racing was once again as fierce as you might expect.  Read the full story

Steve Gennao rowed in the Temple seven seat

Steve Gennaro was hoping his Temple University eight would get a chance to race the Yale University crew his older brother Mike was coaching. He got his wish on the first day of racing on Wednesday at the Henley Royal Regatta.   

Steve rows seven seat in the Temple University eight, and he wanted a shot at his brother's crew. Some of it was a brother thing. Steve is the youngest of three Gennaro boys who all grew up rowing on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. Read the full story

Montclair Mounties racing in the Wednesday heats

Of the 19 US crews that raced in the UK on the 4th of July, 11 advanced into the next round, and of the nine that were eliminated, two were eliminated by other US crews.

On a perfect and a bit toasty early summer day in the UK, the first day of Henley racing was met by crowds that lined the banks of the river and fans that paddled out for a close look in row boats and inner tubes.   Read the full story

Bulldog heavyweight eight goes back-to-back

An unconventional day of finals were highlighted by wins for Yale, Columbia, and Stanford in the three varsity eight events at Mercer Lake, NJ.   

The varsity eight final is normally the final race of an IRA Regatta. But with weather conditions forcing schedule changes all three days and conditions going from fog, to rain, to wind, the Sunday schedule was flipped to ensure that the forecasted building wind would not derail the grand finals. Read the full story