North Bay Rowing Club and SSU Presence at Huge San Diego Regatta

The San Diego Crew Classic is a prestigious race, and the North Bay Rowing Club has never sent a master's crew before.

Until this year, when Colene Mace, a veteran rower, managed to pull together a sharp group of women to race the 2,000-meter course. 

Their race on Saturday, Event #53, for which the Crew Classic website shows a  4:00 pm start, is a heat with four crews, the three fastest of which will  advance the final on Sunday. NBRC drew the favored inside lane, closest to  the beach, for the Saturday heat. Next to them in Lane 2 will be Newport AC,  then Los Gatos, and Martha's Moms on the outside.

The race immediately following this one is the second of two heats for WM8+ E,  Event 54, scheduled at 4:10 pm. This is the other group of four crews  competing for a berth in the 6-boat final. Crews listed are Lake Union,  Marin, ZLAC (they borrowed our boat to race or Wine Country event last year),  and Masters Coach, supposedly a team of ringers gathered from around the US.

The Sunday Final, the winning crew of which will hold the Kearny Johnston  Memorial Cup, is scheduled for a 3:00 pm start. This is Event #114, the  penultimate event of the regatta. You'll want to tune in for this race for sure! Then wish them all a safe drive home.

SSU crew has a women's 8+ as well - Lane 5 in a 7-boat heat: Event 17, at 8:50 am Saturday. With 13 crews involved altogether, there is a Petite Final on Sunday at 8:50 AM, and Grand Final at 11:50 am. Seawolf  howl, anyone?

There is one more local connection to celebrate: NBRC masters member Dave Hayes, who for years has rowed the Tues/Thurs 6-am Men's Four with Colene Mace coxing, is the Chief Referee at the San Diego Crew Classic. Given the stature  of this regatta, this is a very big deal! Hayes is in charge of everything happening on the water.