News for the Week of Monday, June 11

Your stupid Catch editor forgot to take a camera to the Derby Sweeps and Sculls on Saturday, but here's the roundup minus cute pictures of us:

First of all, the water was beautiful for most of the day: flat, no wind, and perfect racing conditions. OK, so there was a little rain -- but in general, as it was warm enough, but not too warm, what's a little rain? Conditions led to a number of exciting finishes, which were visible right on the beach, thanks to the course being resituated a little bit from last year's design. Launches were, as usual, uncomplicated by docks; watching people walk boats into the water has some interesting moments -- like the people who apparently forgot slings, and so rigged their double right on the water. Never seen that before. Or the coxswain who thought he was in a shallow enough spot to get out, and so plunged down, down, down, holding his cox box over his head. Good thinking!

Both of these events would have been worth a picture, but I'll spare you the thousand words anyway. Next time.

All in all, things seemed to be going well by the time your editor left at 2:00. Results are not yet up on Row2K, perhaps reflecting some computer problems we had earlier in the day, but when they are we will post a direct link here. Few of us raced Saturday, but lots of people pitched in to help. Thanks to everyone who made the regatta happen, particularly Carroll Brooke, who seemed to be in charge of keeping us all organized if the email traffic is an accurate indicator; and Lisa Brailey, who got a good volunteer force together.

Mark your calendars for Saturday October 6, the Head of the Housatonic. This is a bigger race for us, a huge fund raiser that helps keep *your* dues as manageable as they are, and we will need a turnout from the whole club to make it work as well as it has in the past. You will be hearing from the volunteers coordinator by the end of the month, so *please* respond to your email to avoid harassing phone calls at your home and place of business! Also, if you don't volunteer, you don't get to have the good time horsing around all day and telling jokes. And the memories....ahh, the memories.

On the same day that we were running our regatta, down in New London, Yale was beating Harvard in the Big Race for the first time in -- (drum roll) -- seven years. The Associated Press reports today: "YALE ENDS HARVARD’S DOMINANCE. Yale won the 142nd Harvard-Yale Regatta yesterday in New London, Conn., snapping the Crimson’s seven-year winning streak with the closest finish in 93 years. The Bulldogs finished the four-mile men’s heavyweight crew race in 19:57.5, a half-second in front of Harvard. Yale trailed by nearly two boat lengths with about a half-mile remaining." Does anyone who does not row get it what kind of effort those last two sentences represent? Such as the equivalent of Curlin moving up nineteen places to beat Street Sence in the Preakness? Oh well. And the 2V's won by a more comfortable margin: you can see the times of all three men's races here at Row2K.

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Upcoming regatta news:

Rumor has it that a women's four is going to Canadian Henley, August 7-12: our memory is that the master's races are on the final day, but there is lots of great international racing on the previous four days as well. If anyone else is interested, let Audrey know: some coach from up the river will be driving our trailer. As we at the Catch understand it, this regatta is a blast. The site, Martindale Pond in St. Catherine's Ontario, is particularly lovely, and it is near Toronto, a truly fun city where your American dollars go very far. Although not as far as they used to go before the war, which is probably good for Canada at least.

Other regattas the New Haven Rowing Club often attends as a group are listed below, with the date of the regatta first and the entry deadline in parentheses: several of these closing dates are coming up in the next two weeks so get organized. A note: apparently there are transportation issues, so these will also have to be addressed in a timely manner.

Independence Day Regatta, Philadelphia, June 21-July 1 (June 21)
Festival Regatta, Lowell MA, July 7 (June 23)
Cromwell Cup, Boston MA, July 8 (July 2)
Sweeps and Sculls, Providence RI, July 21 (July 17)
Diamond State Regatta, Middletown, DE, Jully 29 (July 15)
Carnegie Lake Regatta, Princeton NJ, August 26 (August 19)