March Goes Out Like a Lion

The last weekend of March and first big weekend of racing saw a lot of gnarly weather sweep the east coast from Florida to New England. Here is a peek at Saturday morning in Georgia.

A few regattas canceled preemptively, and I believe in all cases did not suffer the 'we should not have canceled' regret upon checking conditions on the day.

Because eventually you end up with this

A couple others got in what they could, including the Doc Hosea Invite, which blasted out all heats before having to cancel.

The US women had intended to run a home course NSR on Sunday, but moved it to Saturday morning; with the big west winds on Sunday, Mercer would likely have been unlaunchable if not unrowable.

Four Seasons in 2000 Meters

It might have been Kevin Sauer's race description that captured the craziness that can be March racing:

Race description of a career

UCF shared the proof, with this all seasons photo series:

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Stakeboat people often go out unprepared for the conditions, but not this time:

Get cozy on the stakeboat

Hitchcock Meets Finding Nemo

Meanwhile, the NSR got epic conditions for the finals on Friday, but not before a few days of windy-ish conditions, complete with the women's single plowing through a pelican pod mid-race in the semis.

Best comment on the post: 'mine, mine, mine, mine, mine'

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Crew Classic Classics

The Crew Classic served up some classic moments, including a protest about the discontinued SDSU program, road tripping Dutch rowers traveling with a 100-year-old club blazer that had been lost for many years and was just recently found, the Crab of the Week, and someone having a bit too much fun fun fun in the California sun.

SDSU alumnae protested the cutting of their program

ASR Nereus coxswain Abe Bosma wearing the 100-year-old lost-then-found blazer

Too much fun fun fun

Also, to answer a question we have heard a few times this weekend, the Stanford women's eight that won the Cal Cup was a 3V-ish crew; the rest of the squad was scrimmaging Oregon State on Lake Natoma.

Breaking Bells

Finally, the Loyola MD men had so many PRs they broke bells.

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The row2k Top Results of the Week

• Tenn/UVA & UCF/UNC Double Dual AM Session Collegiate Women
• Navy vs Princeton EARC LW Men
• Brown, Ohio State at Princeton Collegiate Women
• USRowing NSR 1 Finals

Bits from the Week Not to Miss:

• The list of declared entries for the 2022 IRA, which includes a D3 Championship for the first time
• Our reports from the NSR & Speed Order: heats, reps, semis, finals and next steps
• And a small collection of aerial race course photos from the flight to Sarasota

row2k impressions went well into seven figures on Monday, and while we have had bigger days, it's another solid indicator that racing is back. Thanks for checking out our stuff!

That's it for this week - see you on the racecourse in a few days!