Enough happened this week that the Recap is full to the brim, not unlike most of the bodies of water we visited this weekend as part of the 'rain2k' coverage. We had a few "May Championships" tacked on to the end of April, the US National Team NSR racing that we reported on here, and heaps of photos from coast to coast, so we are just going to have to skip over the fact the practically everyone did a Wes Anderson video last week--Nashville Juniors, UMass, Tufts, PBC, Wesleyan, and even the Deutschland Achter--and get right to it.

Speaking of rain2k...

Yeah yeah, it was sunny at WIRA for the lucky photog who pulled that cushy assignment, but nearly everywhere else? Wader time:

The epic and slow-moving rain that lingered over much of the mid-Atlantic and New England drenched refs to include this guy on Friday in Philly, drenched the Penn coaches just trying to run some spring time racing, brought out adorable matching raincoats and the umbrellas out in force at the MARC Championship (to include an Elmo 'brella, fittingly enough for the Occoquan), and kept all but this one brave--and fully foul-weather-geared--parent under the cover of the finish line tent at Carnegie.

By the end of the weekend, we were hip-deep in world-beating times from folks racing on the rivers like the Schuylkill and Susquehanna--the flow must flow!--and up to our chins in trash bags:

And clearly the uniform rule is not in effect when even Cornell's Big Red is sporting green gear:

Rain gear won out over race gear in a lot of places, including this Advanced Community Rowing girls double at the Cooper Cup. Ironically, the uber-organized VASRA folks tweeted (er, mastodon-ed?) a day early that the Al Urquia Regatta would waive the uniform rule, only to be rewarded with the only sunny skies we spotted anywhere in our east coast galleries.

One place the uniform rule was enforced was out at WIRA, much to this guy's chagrin, who was totally planning to race uni down in his heat until he got scolded at the start.

Who Doesn't 'Heart' the Medal Dock?

The Rutgers 1V sure does; they nabbed the bronze at Women's Sprints behind Brown and Syracuse.

Or Catching A Fish...

Fairfield Prep picked up passenger at practice last week:

Pretty clear winner for Catch of the Week. "We were practicing an 5 stroke start and the striped bass just jumped on to me!" said Brendan Barrett, the lucky, er, fisherman: "We thought someone crabbed so we stopped rowing and we were all shocked to see a fish in my seat."

...But Feeding the Fish Can Be Rough

Unless of course, you can laugh about it at the medals ceremony, like this guy and his Orange Coast teammates did.

You Know It Ain't Good When...

Your 3 man has this look on his face mid-race:

...and it wasn't: this was the first photo of a 3 boat pile up sequence that you can see in full starting here.

Overheard from the middle of the boat that veered hard right and caused the kurfuffle: "Damn bro, we were doing so well!"

Wearing It Well

Even if we don't count all the rain hats--and there were a lot, like the ones sported by the Occoquan staff--it was a week for head gear, and we spotted some sweet lids, from cowboy look at WIRA:

To a very fitting hat for a wet day on the Cooper at Garden States:

While the crews in the crash sequence above were playing Frogger, one rower went all in:

We also spotted a coxswain who takes his job very seriously, by wearing a captain's hat--which, by the way, was not the strangest accessory we saw in the stern of an eight this weekend, right Eeyore?

And Wearing Well, Not Much

We really don't have any explanation for this one, but it is a bold look to be sure.

The Shoulders Say It All

Motivational slogans galore on the shoulders of quite a few women's crews at the Occoquan this weekend:

Meanwhile, the guys--of course--just went with the "let's paint our faces" approach.

The Bids are Coming, The Bids Are Coming

Some of the first NCAA and IRA bids got snapped up this past weekend, with Wellesley Crew, last year's NCAA D3 Champions, punching another ticket at the NEWMAC, and Washington College earning their way back to the Big Show at the MARC.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WAC Women's Rowing (@washcollwrow)

On the Men's side, Adrian College earned the first IRA D3 bid of the year, and the first in program history with what Head Coach Sam Pratt called the crew's "first complete race of the year."

There are lots more bids to be settled in the slew of conference championships over the next two weeks, but Adrian's fellow IRA competitors should be on notice: they may have already clinched the honors for "best looking tow vehicle" in the IRA Boatyard.

And Trophies are Traveling

Safety first, even for the hardware:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lehigh Rowing (@lehighrowing)

Still More Twins

In a double this week:

Texting coaches to confirm that siblings are indeed twins has become a weekly part of the Recap workflow, so meet Alice and Grace Padula, the twins who keep the coaches guessing which is which at the Whitemarsh Boat Club.

Make Room for Goslings

There was a whole gaggle's worth, as you can see here, and if they stayed this cute, maybe we wouldn't need all those Rowing Hacks for Anti-Goose Buckets and Goose Guys--or have to worry about them out on the race course, like this fly-by.

The Dreaded Double Lobstah

You need to swipe to the fifth photo in @scullingfool's IG post, but the Harvard Lights caught a two-fer in the last 250 meters of the H-Y-P Varsity race--and this first pic will tell you how close the race was to that point:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Igor Belakovskiy (@scullingfool)

It stayed close, too, apart from the Crimson's misadventure, all the way to a finish-line-cam-verified win for Princeton.

Looking Better, Going Faster

This bow man here, who was a row2k Recap star last year with this bold look and the attention it garnered, leveled up both his haircut and his finish at WIRAs:

Also at WIRA, Mr "No-Mow-May" was also back from that same Recap a year ago and ready for the month ahead with his sweet 'stache.

Asking Again: Who Did It Better?

The School-Spirit Edition. Was it this Santa Clara logo hair?

or the Biggest Bruin Fan?

And Lastly, Guess what Week It Is

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by College Club Comp Women’s Racing (@collegecompwomensracing)

If it is time to paint the Cut, then Opening Day can't be far away--or another full weekend of racing. Maybe we'll see you out there.