What did you miss? Well, mostly lots from Sarasota, where is sure seemed like the whole US rowing universe showed up for Youth Nationals, from U15 scullers all the way up to coaches from probably every college with the exception of those two that were busy with "The Race."

We'll get to all that--and with 7074 images over 71 row2k galleries--there is plenty of Sarasota stuff, we promise, but a few other things did happen:

The Beavers Went Biking

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Clark Got to Henley

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Where, yes, the Boat Tents are up!

Bruno Got a Nap In

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Also in Henley, of course, as the Brown crews de-jet-lagged. The Bruno Women are over there, along with a heap of US crews doing Henley Women's or Henley Royal, if not both--and should be a fun show-down betwixt them and the Cal or UW Women should the draw pit them against each other.

George Got A Coaching Assist

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Some Salt Got Rubbed In in a Sweep

Yale set an upstream course record in the V8 and swept the Harvard-Yale race for the first time in 26 years this weekend, ending the 2022 collegiate racing season - which also means we have the last cMax rankings of the year; thanks again to Chris Maxwell and Andrew Kirk for their dogged tracking of results and of course for all the math.

That's what's known as rubbing salt into the wound ?? pic.twitter.com/nn09OpvPRE

- Daniel Spring (@fatsculler) June 13, 2022

And, while we are passing through New London here, there was definitely a bit of cognitive dissonance if you took a second to contrast this take on the proceedings ("R-E-S-P-E-C-T") with this one.

Some Trials Were Won

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Specifically the U19 and U23 open to trial events, which ran right on the heels of Youth Nations and qualified 21 crews for the combined U19/U23 Worlds coming up in July at Lake Varese.

And The Americans Are Back In the Ring, En Masse

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Racing at the Poznan World Cup starts Thursday evening, local time.

Now, For Why You Are Really Here...

Youth Nationals mayhem and merriment! After all, with strong headwinds, then some treacherous tailwind chop, passing storms, and the occasional hissing gator--all mixed with 778 crews downright thrilled to be there no matter what Sarasota threw at them--there had to be some, right?

Sure was:

Sculling with Three Sculls Came In Handy

And again, and again, and again, whew!

And if you think these small boats had trouble lining up amongst all the infrastructure that surrounds the Sarasota start line, you know that getting and keeping your point in a big boat got really challenging in the big boats -- all thanks to a hard, direct cross and not much time to practice getting locked on to a pretty complex structure.

At least one crew got hung up in the wires altogether:

And this scene played out over and over; in some races, in every lane:

Overall, though, all these kids held it together pretty well in what had to be the weirdest start line experience ever--down to one ref promising: "We are giving gold stars to the teams that lock on first"--and then just got right down to business.

As Did, Secret Hand Signals?

And Some Patient Race Planning

The Friday D Final lining up in this sequence endured the worst winds of the weekend, resulting in an over 10' race...owww

The track looked ominous, to say the least.

On the Whole: Good Vibes at the Start

Mostly though, the kids were alright, and having fun. In fact, five strokes into one race one yelled, "I love you boys - let's do this!"

Even when some pre-race jitters caused some, um stomach problems in at least a couple races: we definitely overheard this bit of pre-race chatter up there: "I threw up, like a lot. I'm all good now. I guess the nerves are gone at least."

Pretty Easy to Spot the Toe

In bow, for sure, here...

...and this was definitely in stern:

And the Dude in Charge

Stroke: all business while his crew goofed around, but this crew got to the medal stand, so backed it up for sure. (And to be fair, the stroke sort of started it, and for sure the coxswain was also locked in).

And the Smart Folks

...in the cheap seats.

Getting on the island was pricy, and the "finish line package" even more so, but these folks figured out the other side is, well, free.

And the Guy Who Needs a Bigger Bell

Bird of a Different Feather

Just continuing to expand the menagerie of wild2k pics (though we were bummed the gators stayed sneaky this week).

Some Strong Boat Name Games

One more: 2020 definitely felt like this.

Next Year: More Sunscreen

Note to self...

Rumors & Hearsay from the Week that Was

• Girl's Got Game: amongst the thousands of kids racing was the daughter of NBA owner Mark Cuban, who was reportedly on hand - one sighting had Cuban headed to the hotel gym at 11:30pm, possibly either to avoid attention, or because that is what you have to do if you want to run a few companies and a sports team, be on TV, and still see your kid race past for 150 meters or so.
• It's Happened Before: An intrepid row2k reporter parked at one compound but ended up reporting at another this weekend, stranded in need of a launch ride back while everyone was busy celebrating - though it beats being out on a delayed trials starting dock in the dark with no one answering cellphones because they are on their way home.

The row2k Top Results of the Week

• Check out the winners of the U19 & U23 Trials, which included at least one second generation National Teamer: Marina Aquatic Center's Shannon Kearney, who won the U19 Pair with partner Rachel Lande. Her mom? 3-time US Olympian Amy Fuller Kearney.

Check out these items you may have missed this past week:

• The Most Viewed Photo of the Week -- and, well, long story.
• row2k's full YNats coverage in the galleries, and our two reports: Small Boats & Quads, and Eights & Fours.
• our "man in the launch" account of Yale's big sweep of The Race(s)
• and the most read news link this past week? That's oarsome! Cutting George Clooney down to size... the 6ft 4in female rower getting actors on his latest film all shipshape Spoiler 1: George is not 6'4...Spoiler 2: The Boys in the Boat actors are not quite up to snuff, rowing-wise