Spring starting line shenanigans are in full effect now, especially at those regattas getting a lotta sun and enough "not wind" to get the racing in.

Let's Recap:

Fist Bump Fiesta

The fist bump game was on at the Knecht Cup, and the enthusiasm may well have been down to teams finally getting to race on Sunday after spending Saturday cooped up in hotel rooms after racing was cancelled.

Swipe through for some of our faves:

We even caught one fist bump reflected in the sunglasses of this UConn bow seat:

And these LaSalle guys took the whole concept up a notch:

Flips...Not Just For Kids

Turns out masters can turtle, too:

(and it took so long to get this guy sorted that the next race came down before the course was fully clear, which meant the shell was nearly in the way of this sculler--whose boat just happens to be named...Flipper!)

Flips...Not Just For Singles

Yep, it's a trick you can even try in a four:

...though we don't recommend it--and these folks did manage to salvage their set and start the race without an added swim.

Hmm, Looks Familiar

We spotted heaps of great bow names camped out at the Cooper start line, but this one sure looked familiar:

This boat popped up in one of our best names of the summer features, and we looked into its back story when another "Outta Gum" boat turned up at the Charles. The name is a deep cut from 'Rowdy Roddy' Piper, and it's a good one.

Race Day Dogs

Sometimes, it is hard to tell who college kids are more excited to see visiting from home: their parents or their dogs.

Coxing Crib Notes

Just a little light reading in these two crews:

And the notebook isn't a bad idea: you need to write pretty small if you want all that info on your hand:

Hand-Held Bow Numbers?

And not having a full notebook can keep your hands free to hold other stuff, and your bow number sure can't blow off in the wind with this approach:

...but not sure it can really do its job at the finish line, even if the coxswain holding it is in a bow loader.

wild2k

Good weekend for eagles, coast-to-coast. From Dexter Lake:

...to Lake Carnegie:

Where we also spotted a fox this time out

(which is almost as good as the Seattle raccoon we forgot to mention last week)

Next Level Stakeboating

If we ever run a column on Rowing Hacks for stakeboaters, this genius idea is on the top of the list: wear cheap, waterproof dishwashing gloves to keep the really important tools of stakeboating--the hands--warm and dry.

The gloves were not the only innovative bit of start-dock management we saw: the aligner was also having the stake boaters put a foot in the air to acknowledge hearing aligning commands over the radio. Smart!

Team Flex

Nothing like throwing a pre-start flex for the camera:

And we are guessing there is a high likelihood that we photographed these guys doing the same back when they were juniors.

5 Seat Gives the Go-Ahead

In this crew, 5 seat gave the all's-good-let's-go signal

Hey, if your engine room's ready, you should be good to go.

Tire Art

When you are pulling what we hear is thousands of tires out of the river in Philly with the dredging, why not make some art?

(we're not exaggerating about the tire count: check it out in this tally Vesper Boat Club sent in as a Photo of the Day last August)

Coxin' to Strokin' x2

In one Knecht Cup race, two strokes who lined up side by side had both coxed crews earlier in the day. That doesn't happen too often, and someone even yelled, 'Yo, two guys who went from coxswain to stroke in the same race!'

Photo evidence here:

And here is the other guy, in stroke seat mode.

Bridge Life Adds Banners

Hitting the bar for best cheering from the Mass Ave Bridge now requires signage:

And bedsheet banners actually work really well in a Basin headwind, which hold them against the bridge for easy reading by the rowers, *if* you are looking out of the boat.

Defiance, Indeed

Locking on backwards?

Guess you get inspired to do things a little differently when your shell is named "Defiance"...

Start Line Ice-Breakers

The Pitt men were asking people in the next lanes what their favorite songs were.

Good way to spend a little "get to know you" time before the flag drops. Can't wait to see what these guys come up with next time we catch them at the line.

Stay tuned.