The last--massive--race weekend of the spring did not disappoint, even if we didn't spot Elmo or the hippo--but we did catch these highlights:

Good Boat Name for a Champ

Translation for 2-time Y1x champ Devan Godfrey's ride, Bis Spater? "See ya later!"

How it Started, How it Went

From Winners...

To Swimmers...

To be fair, these guys did tell row2k for our report that they have not been in the pair all that often, and the quick dip might have been a good call since they had the A Final of the Youth Eight just 90 minutes later.

Speaking of Winners

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And D3 champ Wellesley made the trip, too.

What is this, the Cooper River?

Hold on Sec, Gotta Cheer

When your teammates race by during your medal ceremony, you gotta stop the show.

Best Mullet of the Regatta

Best Flip of the Regatta

After the finish, mid-stroke, with a perfect "what is happening" face to boot.

More McQueen

Spotted at the Harvard-Yale Race...even the college kids are Lightning fans. It tracks well; the first Cars movie came out in 2006, when these rowers were on either side of kindergarten.

New Rowing Hack?

Tying a string from your hat to rigger so there is no way you can lose that lid? Cool Hack, kid.

Reminder to Square Up?

We're not certain what this raceday tat graffiti means, but we are reading it as Square Up - did we get it right?

Regatta Goals

This bow seat commented on the row2k Insta "GOAL ACCOMPLISHED" after we posted this pic:

Of course getting on row2k was Goal #1 and winning was maybe a bonus...and well, now that you've made the Recap, too, there might be no more worlds left to conquer...

This crew, btw, was taking no chances on which pose might "catch the camera"--see the whole sequence here--and per Goal #2, they did win the gold medal in the U17 4x, to boot.

No Going Back Now

Sorry fans of NOT standing up to celebrate: lost the battle, lost the war, if this week was any indication, whew:

Maybe just count yourself lucky that the 'dab and dive' didn't reappear this year...

Fun with Trophies

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Pretty Sure These Guys are Related

The Harrisons, making winning sculling medals a family tradition.

Dubs Up

We saw some pretty strong hand signal games at the start:

And many teams had elaborate starting line handshakes, including having a different one for every combination of pairs; this one ended in a snap:

These Two Go Way Back

Turns out there was a lot more behind this hug that just celebrating their second 2V8 win in a row: this coxswain and stroke are life-long friends whose moms were college roommates.

Coxswain Murphy Stearns and stroke seat Will McMahon first met as infants thanks to their moms, who were randomly assigned to be roommates at Northwestern and stayed close through the decades since. When Will's family moved to California, he started rowing at Marin and then Murphy, who had started coxing around the same time at North Bay Rowing, followed him to the Marin and they wound up together in the same, very fast crew. The photos below, sent in by Kristin McMahon, one of the two very proud moms, show Murphy and Will through the years.

Color-coded Launches are the Best

Easy to tell who is rooting for who at The Race.

Double Bucket FTW

At the risk of triggering the rigging police (or trolls as it may be) who feel pretty strongly about multiple buckets as we found out on an Instagram post a few weeks back, this double bucket won a medal.

This week in wild2k

There were no eagles but plenty of nature along the Sarasota banks and lower altitude skyways:

Nice Recovery, Champ

Catch a crab while celebrating and get it back right away? Nice save!

Canisius in Color

And we think we saw a dad with same hair color, which we are guessing is 'Austin Powers Orange'--groovy!

And, Speaking of Austin Powers...

Pretty good boat name here:

and the "Best Name Done in Tape" Award goes to...

Tho maybe this one is a bit too easy to deface; whole different ballgame without the S, whew.

Podium Posing is In

Sure "Sign" Its Over, #1

Spotted at the Airport, in case anyone is looking for it (and we might even know which flight it was on).

(Our photographers need some time in that lane after this spring, woah; just look at this stack)

Sure Sign It's Over, #2

Instas of trailers headed home, natch.

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