Conditions: exactly four minutes before the start of the first rowing event, the first raindrops fell. The shower was short-lived, luckily, and the rain held off most of the day, and a bit of a tailwind came up, which helped to neutralize the head current, which was not inconsiderable. By evening when the NRF reunion was breaking up, a light but steady rain had set in while crews practiced for tomorrow's races. The rain is expected to be steady through the evening, but should taper off during the morning; fingers crossed.
As is row2k's custom, I'll let the results speak for themselves, and stick to the "news."
Minutes before the start of the event, which kicks off with the Sr. Vet Singles 70+ race, the starter did a quick memorial to Ted Sprague.
In the Champ 2x, Kent Smack and Brett Wilkinson have to be smarting after losing the event on buoy violations on their home course, ouch.
The Gentle Giant entry might have had the most snake-bitten row of the day - four buoy violations, three of them following a full crash into the Eliot Street Bridge, yow.
I think so, yeah, pretty sure, yes. Reunion of the day: person sees Michelle Guerette, says "Hey Michelle, how are you? Are you still rowing?" Good thing she is, or winning the Champ 1x would have been a lot harder.
Technology tricks of the day: the coxswain of a crew that was waiting to return to the docks whipped out a cellphone, called the coach, and said "We're in line to dock at Dock B; could you bring some slings?"
The Kent Mitchell crew that won the 50+ event had a bit of a scare; after running the course, they thought they had the best time based on what was posted - but the posted results showed them as a scratch for failure to register. Anyone who knows Kent knows it is unlikely he forgot to register; the HOCR folks figured it out, and the crew was granted the victory. As a testament to the fairness of the regatta, the winner before the registration was ironed out would have been Team Attager, which included HOCR chief Fred Schoch; well done all around.
Masters and club eights - a lot of folks are taking up rowing late in life, which is truly great to see. We do have to work on the leaning away from the rigger thing, tho, although lots of crews do it equally in every seat, so I suppose it is a wash.
The club single was a burner; eight seconds from 1st to 5th.
Highest bow number of a winner today: bow 29, Univ. of Lousville, women's Club 8.
In the men's Champ 1x, international entries Itzok Cop and Mahe Drysdale mixed it up a bit going into the last turn; in the end it didn't matter, as Drysdale managed a win despite a 10" penalty.
The clash of the day had to be in the Champ 2x, as the Penn AC 2x, silver medalists in Gifu in the light double, clashed, stopped rowing, separated, clashed again, had to reach out and shove the bow of the other boat away (I missed the shot!), and finally disentangled themselves and got going. Oof.
Scratch that; the clash of the day was in the men's Club 1x, as Michael Boucher (I believe it was) took on the Eliot St bridge without success, FLIPPED, was helped back into his boat by the rescue team, and resumed rowing to finish the race.
Coxswain-rower exchange of the day: with about 600 meters to go, a coxswain was about to put the last consequential buoy of the course right under the port rigger, and let the crew know it was coming: "Excellent buoy coming up!" The reply from five-seat: "Nice!" That's more than most can say after 2.5 miles.
The fanclub of the day goes to Reilly Dampeer in the women's Champ 1x; her Eliot Bridge crew had a spotter, an airhorn, a whistle, a sheet sign, and five very "strong" voices.
HOCR 2005 by the numbers:
Boats rowing: 1,584
People rowing: 7.499
Volunteers helping: 1,175
States represented: 41 (including Alaska and Hawaii)
Countries represented: 14
International entries: 206 boats (13% of all entries), 928 athletes
Gender split: 47% women and 53% men
Entries turned away: over 50%
Course length: 3 miles (4,828 meters) upstream
Fastest course time: 13:59 (1997 Champ Eight, USRowing men)
Bridges to row under: 7
Race events: 26 categories, each having women and men
Charity monies raised by entrants: $62,000
Spectators: 250,000 anticipated
Year of first HOCR: 1965 (nearly 100 competitors, all singles)
Age known of oldest rower: 85, Stephen Richardson
Age known of youngest rower: 15, Megan Hooley, who competed with Natalie Eisermann in the youth 2x
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