Harvard doing some last minute prep a few days before HOCR

Finally got out after the wind, the rain, the Elton John and the photo editing.

Undine's Luke Rein defended bow #1 in style, almost went sub 18 in the club single.

Those HOCR sunrises and mirror flat water are(happy now, John? :)) sorely missed around here.

Waterworks at the Bellagio

The Strip at night

And a strip of the Strip while departing.

Looking over the strip during the day on Saturday

The excitement is palpable!

And this guy didn't disappoint

Always wanted to see Sir Elton in concert.

Greg, making it rain last Friday

Wait, this isn't Boston!

First I plotted the course of the Great Eight

Then I plotted the course of the Cal Eight

Then I decided I wanted to see how they would stack up against each other. Advantage (to no one's surprise): Erin!

Club singles launching at dawn on Sunday

And fall has now arrived.

Champ fours proceeding towards Anderson in close quarters.

Sunrise brewing over the Charles course on Sunday morning.

Having a silver medal is definitely a first world problem. But finishing second twice, and by less than 10 seconds each time. That's some consistency. Presenting the people most of us feel very little sympathy for. :)


Tina and Alexis finished second by about a second in the Masters Double, and, as previously documented were 2nd in the mixed eight, by .5 on raw time, and by 7 seconds on handicap (to different boats). Though somewhat magnified in her case, my wife and I both had the same problem--the crew starting directly ahead of us beat us by second.


John Graves managed to finish second by a little over and a little under 3 seconds in the Champ Single and the Champ Eight. To add insult to injury, their time was about 28 seconds faster than the previous course record in the Champ Eight.


Jamie Koven finished 2nd in the masters single, and second in the mixed double with his daughter. You may say--well, he should have entered the parent/child double, maybe they would have won? As it turns out, they would have been second in that, too. Before you cry too hard for him, do remember that he was 1st in the World in both the eight (1994) and the single (1997), a feat which very few (if any??) athletes have matched.

On a day when 11 crews beat the course record set by the US Men at my first HOCR (in pure spectator mode at the time), and 12 went under 14 minutes, the Cal men were at the top of the class.

Mike Floyd with a kiss off the bow going through Weeks, with almost no disruption to the crew. The man is coxing genius. Also, the only crew in the top 4 that had no Olympians on board, as opposed to at least three in the other crews. Not bad for a bunch of local yokels. Pretty sure that was mostly the six seat, plus Mike's steering.

Despite some of the crew members getting sick, the current bronze medalist in the single having to sit out due to the illness, and having to call on a local doctor to fill in, the women of the Great Eight became the first crew to go under 15 minutes, and crushed the old course record by almost 40 seconds. Good thing Gevvie got that Wednesday night practice in.

Well, first and foremost, eight is pretty great. Congratulations to Gevvie on setting the record for the most Championship Singles titles! 8 out of 10 wins is pretty amazing in any event, but soooo much more so in the premier sculling event.

Pete and Sean had to work pretty hard for #3, but they got the job done.

Hash had a slightly more comfortable margin. Not bad for a guy who just got back from his honeymoon!

Meat

Wagon!!!

Oh yeah, like there was any doubt about this quintet getting the job done.

Greg took Jim and Russ's best shot, but pulled away for the win.

Shannon dominated her race, as usual.

Congrats to Justin and Erik for defending their title by one the smallest possible margins.

Mo and Lily took the Champ Double in style

And finally, Michi Schmid chased John Graves all the way down the course, and took the win by three seconds.

CBC is ready to host the party

Late afternoon crowds by the finish line

Behind the scenes at registration

And a fairly nice sunset on Thursday night

The 2017 Scullers Great Eight

Germany's Annekatrin Thiele, 2012 Silver and 2016 Gold medallist in the women's quad, 10th Women's Single 2017 Worlds.

Austria's Magdalena Lobnig, Olympian, 2017 Bronze Medallist Women's Single.

Ireland's Sanita Puspure, two time Olympian, 4th Women's Single 2017 Worlds

Switzerland's Jeannine Gmelin, Olympian, 2017 World Champion, Women's Single

Canada's Carling Zeeman, Olympian, 6th 2017 Worlds in the Women's Single

Lithuania's Ieva Adomaviciute, 4th Women's Double, 2017 Worlds

The Netherland's Lisa Scheenaard, 5th, Women's Single, 2017 Worlds.

America's own Felice Mueller, Olympian, 7th, Women's Single 2017 Worlds

The brains of the operation, Erin Driscoll, three time winner of the Championship Eight event (I believe).

Yep, definitely no limits here.

Solid blade work

On both sides

Just here for a small local regatta


Flying the colors at Weeks

Finishing strong

Thanks to Gregg and Lisa for driving

And Ed for the company. Last year, he was in the photoshoot, since he ended up rowing Thursday morning, while he was in between his USRowing and Row2K gigs.