Battle of the Bay

in

men's novice 4+ boat gets final instructions from coach men's novice four+ men's lightweight four+ on the water men's varsity four
Photos courtesy of Dave Dean

Saturday's Battle of the Bay featured the Oakland Strokes hosting crews from Berkeley High School, Saint Ignatius High School and the Marin Rowing Association. Parents, families and rowers from each squad cheered their boats, singing out their side's chant to inspire their athletes as they rowed to the finish line. "Juice the Jackets. Juice, juice the Jackets... ."

The day started with two remarkable races. The BHS women's lightweight 4+ "walked" - i.e., gained - a boat length and a half against their host's crew in what seemed like the last forty meters to take first place by 2.3 seconds. It was quite a sprint, exactly what the crew had practiced all week. Next, the Marin men's novice 8+ righted its course with only a few hundred meters to go and sped past their opponent just at the finish line. Not far behind, the BHS boat took a strong third behind those two clubs.

In other highlights, the men's Varsity 4+ and (varsity) lightweight 4+ each took second place in their races, the lightweights falling to an open-weight boat. The lightweight 4+ B boat, having first rowed as a group on Thursday, looked good in taking a fourth place finish in that race.

It's not easy for the high school teams to keep up with the bigger club squads, especially early in the season. BHS rowers raced hard all day long. "Row, mighty Jackets!"

'Battle of the Bay' Picasa web photo gallery...
Eric Carlson's SmugMug gallery...
Race results from row2k.com: part I...   part II...

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