Pirates race hard at Stanford Invitational

REDWOOD SHORES -- Orange Coast College men's crew met some tough competition this past weekend at the Stanford Invitational Regatta, winning four of nine races.  

This regatta's dual race format is divided into three categories, Varsity 8s, 2nd Varsity 8s, and 3rd Varsity 8s.  Now that novices are allowed to row in varsity competitions, many of the IRA, Pac-12, and NCAA competitions are adopting this 1V, 2V, 3V format.  We brought our three fastest boats, our Varsity 8, Novice 8, and a mixed 2nd Varsity/Novice 8.  Our Novice 8 raced their first dual in the 3V category against a strong novice entry from Santa Clara, and then raced in the 2V category for the remaining races.  Conditions were excellent for the morning races, but a strong cross headwind made for difficult conditions on Saturday afternoon.   

Coast crews were involved in two of the closest races of the regatta.  On Saturday morning, the Varsity eight raced neck and neck down the course with UC San Diego and came up half a length short on the final sprint.  Later that afternoon, the Coast Novice eight held off the hard charging USD 2nd Varsity eight to win by a few feet.   

While some races resulted in a few tough losses, the focus of this regatta was to test different lineups and to give the crews a lot of racing in a short amount of time. Overall, it was a good weekend of competition, and each race gave us an opportunity to see where we stood and how we could improve.  The next two weeks we'll be focusing on those lessons in preparation for the WIRA regatta at Lake Natoma near Folsom, CA.   

I would like to express a special thank you for Sheila Harrington for her incredible support of the team while we were up there.  Sheila organized all the breakfasts and lunches for the team, as well as hosted us for Saturday night dinner at her home nearby.  Keeping the team fueled up all weekend is a huge logistical task which Sheila took over, allowing the coaches to focus on the racing.  We are really appreciative for all she did. 

Results:

Chapman Regatta  

Meanwhile, while most of the team was in Northern California, our 2nd Novice 4 competed in the Novice 4 category of the Chapman Regatta, here on Newport Harbor.  Coached by Brett Winfield (OCC '01), they put in a great performance and placed a close second to a strong boat from UC Santa Barbara.  Passing the boathouse, UCSB had a small open water lead, which our novices whittled away, eventually finishing 3 seats behind.  It was a great effort and a job well done by that boat.