RESULTS

CREW RESULTS
ORANGE COAST COLLEGE MEN'S CREW 

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June 5-7, 2008

106th Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Champsionships
Cooper River, Cherry Hill, New Jersey


Coast in IRA Grand Final with Wisconsin, Washington, and Cal.

Click here for up-to-date regatta results.

The Giant Killers are at it again!



Click here to view Powerhouse Timing's
incredible finish line shot of the semifinal!



IRA semifinal (above):  Brown, Washington,
Cornell, and OCC (yellow boat at top).  


Coast (right) a close 2nd to Wisconsin in heat.

May 10-11, 2008

ECAC National Invitational Rowing Championships
Lake Quinsigamond, Worcester, Massachusetts

Click here for up-to-date regatta results.


Coast Varsity leads Marist and Bates in Worcester, Mass.

Novice 8, Heat 1
1.  Orange Coast  6:06.47
2.  University of Michigan "A"  6:13.94
3.  Ithaca College  6:19.15
4.  Hobart College "B"  6:22.48
5.  Rochester Institute of Technology  6:30.98

Novice 8, Grand Final
1.  Orange Coast  6:15.45
2.  Williams  6:23.80
3.  Hobart  6:26.80
4.  Virginia  6:27.53
5.  Trinity  6:32.11
6. Michigan  6:35.32

Varsity 8, Heat 3
1.  Orange Coast  6:08.56
2.  Marist  6:10.62
3.  Bates  6:12.07
4.  Coast Guard  6:18.36
5.  Hamilton  6:31.87
6.  Colby  6:38.19

Varsity 8, Semifinal 1
1.  Orange Coast  5:56.65
2.  Williams  5:58.00
3.  Bates  5:58.35
4.  Virginia  5:59.53
5.  WPI  6:02.65
6.  UC San Diego  6:04.43

Varsity 8, Grand Final
1.  Trinity  5:56.35
2.  Michigan  5:58.18
3.  Orange Coast  5:59.19
4.  Williams  6:07.15
5.  Marist  6:09.20
6.  Bates  6:11.29
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May 3-4, 2008

WIRA Championship Regatta at Lake Natoma, Gold River, CA

Click here for Saturday and Sunday's full regatta results.

2008 WIRA CHAMPIONS!

April 19, 2008

43rd Annual Newport Regatta

Varsity 8
Orange Coast College 5:55.50
UCLA 6:02.11
University of San Diego 6:10.12
UC San Diego 6:11.14
UC Irvine 6:21.85

2nd Varsity 8
UC San Diego 6:10.46
UCLA 6:11.17
Orange Coast College 6:13.93
UC Irvine 6:23.14

Novice 8
Orange Coast College 5:57.28
University of San Diego 6:07.43
UC San Diego 6:11.10
UC Irvine 6:24.50
UCLA 6:27.30

2nd Novice 8
UC San Diego 6:18.90
Orange Coast College 6:25.30
UC Irvine 7:16.20

Novice 4
University of San Diego 6:54.70
Orange Coast College A 7:05.30
Orange Coast College B 7:16.90
Orange Coast College C 7:32.80
UC Irvine 7:41.30

P.A. Palmer Cup Champions

April 12, 2008

UC Irvine and Cal State Long Beach

Novice 8

1. OCC 6:22.4
2. UCI 6:46.2
3. CSULB 6:55.6

Junior Varsity 8

1. OCC 6:34.4
2. UCI 6:39.3

Varsity 8

1. OCC 6:00.7
2. CSULB 6:18.5
3. UCI 6:23.8

2nd Novice 8

1. OCC 6:44.4
2. UCI 7:36.4

 
April 5-6, 2008

35th Annual San Diego Crew Classic

Mission Bay 

Coast Crew varsity celebrates its win in Cal Cup at San Diego Crew Classic.



Saturday, April 5, 2008

Race # 1: Mens Collegiate Varsity Cal Cup 
Heat A American Specialty Health Cup

1. OCC, 5:56.00
2. Minnesota, 6:03.44
3. USD, 6:04.57
4. Washington St., 6:08.44
5. UCI, 6:10.10
6. Loyola, 6:20.25.

Race # 13: Mens Collegiate Novice A 
Heat A Derek Guelker Memorial Cup

1. Washington, 5:54.70
2. Stanford, 6:02.01
3. OCC, 6:07.88
4. Sonoma, 6:25.83
5. Colorado, 6:33.23
6. UCD, 6:33.70
7. Washington St., 6:40.54.

Race # 19: Mens Collegiate JV 
Heat B Sharp Cabrillo Cup

1. Washington, 5:54.7
2. Harvard, 5:57.83
3. UCD A, 6:19.27
4. OCC, 6:22.26
5. Santa Clara, 6:34.92
6. UCI, 6:36.51.

Race # 45: Mens Collegiate Novice B 
Final 

1. OCC, 6:39.60
2. UCSD, 6:44.51
3. UCD, 6:58.95.

Race # 55: Mens Collegiate Novice A 
Petite Final

1. OCC, 6:21.60
2. UCSD, 6:27.98
3. Notre Dame, 6:30.25
4. Sonoma, 6:30.50
5. Santa Clara, 6:31.69
6. UCLA, 6:40.23.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Race # 62: Mens Collegiate JV 
Petite Final 

1. UCLA, 6:09.97
2. UCSD, 6:14.38
3. Santa Clara, 6:20.86
4. OCC, 6:21.44
5. UCD B, 6:22.81
6. UCI, 6:24.81.

Race # 76: Mens Collegiate Varsity Cal Cup 
American Specialty Health Cup
Final

1. OCC, 6:01.80 
2. UCLA, 6:12.05
3. Minnesota, 6:14.52
4. UCD, 6:13.25
5. Lehigh, 6:15.46
6. Santa Clara, 6:16.86.

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March 29-30, 2008

Windermere Pac-10 Challenge Regatta at Redwood Shores

Saturday Morning Races:
1.  Orange Coast 6:13.8                
2.  Oregon State 2V 6:18.8

1.  Cal Frosh 6:21.8                      
2.  Orange Coast Novice 6:51.3 

Saturday Afternoon Races:
1.  Orange Coast Novice 6:44.1    
2.  Gonzaga Novice 6:46.3

1.  Orange Coast 6:28.6                
2.  Cornell 2V 6:41.5
Conditions:  Strong headwind

Sunday Races
1.  Orange Coast Novice 6:27.6
2.  UCLA Novice 7:07.6

1.  Cal Frosh 6:18.2
2.  Orange Coast Varsity 6:24.1
Conditions:  Headwind
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November 11, 2007

Racing toward the Cal Boathouse

OCC Workout @ Cal

The crew has just returned from a forty hour round trip to the bay area.  Tim Hodges, (OCC '72 & Cal '75) met the team Friday morning at 4 am with ten dozen donuts, milk and fruit for the guys.  A special gift from  Tim and a truly heroic effort on his part just to show up at that hour of the day.  Another parent (Jonathan Hall's father) dropped off his son and 10 cases of gator aid for the trip.  A full charter bus with 52 athletes and coaches left the campus at 4:30 am and with less than adequate A/C, we were all glad to arrive at the Cal boathouse around noon.  Cal's Head Coach, Steve Gladstone, gathered the team in the boathouse erg room. He spoke to the athletes about the athletic and academic opportunities at the University of California and the long standing link between Orange Coast College transfers and the Cal program.  After rigging two varsity and three novice eights, we promptly launched for an afternoon workout on the lower estuary.  Coach Gladstone took time out of his schedule to guide the crews down the estuary into the "pit" where Saturdays "head" style racing would take place.  Coast got a good look at the course and a solid work out in.  Friday evening we had a chance to look around campus for a couple hours.  Paul & Marsha Masse (their son Cole is a first year student athlete at Coast) arranged and cooked a fantastic five course dinner for the entire squad at a "Frat House" next to the campus.  What a feast that dinner was "but wait, there's more."  They also provided the team with gator aid, water, banana's and granola bars in the morning for the long workout, then bagels with creme cheese, orange juice and fruit when the crew finished rowing .  "But wait, there's more."  A huge sack lunch was delivered to the bus for the trip home.  No one went hungry this weekend.  A very special thanks, from the entire crew, to Paul & Marsha for their very generous hospitality.

Five Cal and five Coast crews met, just after 7 am Saturday morning, for pre-race instructions.  The ten shells launched and proceeded to the bottom of the "pit" for the first three mile race.  Overall the conditions were good with the tempeature in the 50"s and a moderate wind blowing against an incoming tide.  All crews were started single file about 30 seconds apart.  A rate cap of 26 for the first mile and a half and 28 for the last mile and a half of each race was leveled on all crews.  The starting order was the same for all three races with a Cal boat then a Coast boat etc.  The four varsity boats went first followed by the six novice shells.  The finishing order was consistent for all three races with both of Cal's varsity eights finishing ahead of one OCC varsity eight and then the three Cal novice boats followed by the second OCC varsity eight and then the three OCC novice eights.  The weekend was a great success and congratulations to all who participated and a special thanks to the parents and friends who helped out.

Launching the fleet Saturday morning.

Cal's T. Gary Rogers boathouse.

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2007 Newport Autumn Rowing Festival
Sunday November 4, 2007

 The turn round Sand Island & heading toward NAC.

  The 2007 Newport Autumn Rowing Festival was a great success for the OCC Men. The Men’s Open Eight category had twenty-eight entries. The Coast “A” boat finished the 2.5 mile course in 14:59 to take second place behind Stanford University’s 14:55. The Coast “B” boat finished eleventh in a time of 15:53. You can click on the link www.rowingfestival.com and see all the results from all events. In event #28 the Men's Frosh/Novice Eight, Stanford University won in a time of 15:38 followed by the second place Coast “A” boat with a time of 15:48 and third place Coast “B” with a time of 16:50. Coast “C” was seventh 17:16. Coast “D” was fifteenth after breaking a rigger half way through the race and finished the race with six men rowing in a time of 19:16. There were nineteen entries in this event. Over all the oarsmen felt good about their performance and look forward to traveling to the Bay Area November 9 & 10 to work out with the Golden Bears. These two week ends will give us a good measure of where we stand in our fall training.

 Coast fans view the race course from the bluffs at Castaways.

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Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
May 31 - June 2, 2007

 
The Tuesday after our returning from our trip to New York, Coast’s freshman boat had a meeting with the father of Coast Crew himself, Dave Grant. We met with him to plead our case to race at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships (IRA’s).  Coast had not participated in the IRA in nearly ten years.  After an hour-long meeting with the original Giant Killer himself, our novice team would be traveling to the IRA’s to race in the novice category. Coast would be taking not only a novice 8 but also a novice 4; we trained for an extra three weeks through finals and even into our own summer break, glad to be doing so. Finally we boarded the plane and headed for the Cooper River in New Jersey.  This would be the biggest race we’d ever been in. While there, we continued what our coaches called the “Tour of the Ivys,” seeing both Princeton and U. Penn. We met up with yet another former Coast Oarsman turned coach, Fred Honebein, the newly appointed head coach at Penn. He allowed us to train using their boats and boathouse, which awarded us the chance to see the esteemed Boathouse Row, located in Philadelphia. Thursday finally came and the start of the three-day National championships commenced. In our first heat we raced head to head against Cal Berkley as well as others.  We finished, which allowed us to go straight to the Semi Finals heats and avoid the "Repacharge".   Finally, for the first time in our season, it felt like we’d turned the “cheats” off in a video game and got to play it for real for once, allowing us to see what we were really made of. Our 4 did not fare so well in their heat and were put into the repechage later that day. They did however pull off an amazing second race, sprinting through UCLA after having been declared "no longer a threat"  by the announcers.  Their second place finish placed them back into the semi finals. The next day they were knocked out of the grand final, placing them in the petite final for Saturday’s final races. However they did not back down and raced as hard as they could in their petites earning them a third place in the petites and thus, 10^th overall in the nation. Our novice 8 raced against Harvard, Yale, Washington, Stanford, and Georgetown for their Friday semi-final. Due to steering problems early in the race we fell into 4^th place, one place away from securing our spot in the grand final the next day. Unfortunately by the time we caught Yale with 200 meters left we didn’t have enough in us to sprint it out against them and they pulled ahead by 3 seats. y In our Petite final, we experienced some bad luck as well and ultimately we finished third to Cornell and Northeastern securing our position as the 9^th ranked novice team in the nation. Yes, we were quite disgruntled over this fact; however it’s only more fuel for the fire. We now know what its like to race at such an elite level, as well as what its going to take next year to win a gold medal at the national championships, so until then, 1 2 GO COAST!

Novice Captain:

James Long-Lerno

East Coast Athletic National Invitational Rowing Championships
Whitney Point, New York
May 12 & 13, 2007

 

Finally after months of training both our top novice and second novice boats traveled to New York for the East Coast Athletic Conference championships (ECAC). The trip lasted a week, allowing ample time for our team to acclimate to the three hour time change. This extra time permitted our team the chance to practice and tour Cornell University’s campus. We met with Dan Allen, Cornell’s freshman coach and former Coast coxswain, and he not only gave us a tour of the boathouse but graciously loaned us boats for practice. Coach Allen summed up the day with a speech bolstering our spirits for the weekend races.  He  went into detail about what it would be like to transfer to a great university and the academic and athletic challenges we would face. Finally Saturday race day arrived and our First novice boat, seeded number one, went out to race their heat. We easily secured our place in the grand final by pulling a six minute 2k. We then headed back to our hotel to rest for our grand final later that day only to be told the races were going to be pushed back due to weather conditions… unfortunately those conditions never eased and we were unable to race our final.  Our second novice boat  was scheduled for a final only and didn’t even touch the water. This of course crushed our spirits and all our hopes of winning the championship we’d trained for all year.  As we loaded our boats, heads held low we realized that our misfortune may have lead to a much greater opportunity… the IRA’s.

Novice Captain:
James Long-Lerno 

Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships
Lake Natoma, California
April 29 & 30, 2007

The Orange Coast College men’s and women’s crew traveled to Lake Natoma, Sacramento this past weekend for the WIRA Championships (Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association). The novice team performed great in all boats, medaling in every event they raced. The Novice four as well as the Novice B boat won their events with both poise and determination. The novice four started off the race in second to Gonzaga University but walked through the field to win the event. Our novice B boat held off the competition to also win their event. Afterwards members from both of these boats came together to create the JV boat which placed 3^rd. The novice A boat, for the first time, exercised a complete racing dynamic by incorporating a full sprint into their race plan. They ended up taking first to win their event. Orange Coast was also awarded the WIRA’s Mens Team Points trophy for the first time. The team is very proud of this, as well as with our performance here at Lake Natoma and hope to reproduce these results in two weeks at the ECAC’s in Whitney Point, New York.

Novice Captains,

James Long-Lerno
Erich Hanxleden

Newport Regatta
April 15, 2007

The last two weekends we’ve had our first home races in Newport Beach. The weekend of the 7^th we got to race against UCI and Long Beach State. Both our Women’s and Men’s teams did extremely well winning every event. The following weekend we hosted the Newport Regatta against UCLA, USC, UCSD, USD, and UCI. Our novice A boat did extremely well breaking 6 minutes for our first time turning in a time of 5:53. Our B boat as well as Jv 8 and novice 4 all won their races as well by considerable lengths. Overall OCC earned the most points of all the teams winning the P.A. Palmer Cup. “OCC finished with 28 overall points, easily besting UCLA [12], UC San Diego [10], San Diego [six], USC [four] and UC Irvine [one]” (Newport Daily Pilot). The races were quite fun and we hope to be able to take back the varsity cup next year and sweep the Newport Regatta.

James Long-Lerno
Novice Co-Captain

OCC VS UCI & CSULB
APRIL 7, 2007

 In my rowing career at Orange Coast I have heard this quote many times, “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”  I have received more experience than most coast rowers could imagine in the last few years.  Today was not a day to gain experience but a day to gain back a little something that we lost in San Diego.  Today we raced UC Irvine and Long Beach State in Newport Beach in what looked to be a near loss for the varsity 8.  The race started out with a very quick start and as we slowly settled into our race cadence we noticed that UC Irvine was not slowing down.  They continued to over stroke us but were not showing much of a gain in position.  At 1,100 meters while passing the Orange Coast boathouse they made a rather large move and pulled head by about 8 seats which is a lead they continued to keep until the tail end of the race.  With 300 meters to go we began to make an incredible move bumping our race candence up about 5-6 beats.  In 15 strokes we took back all 8 seats and were dead even.  After a final push we crossed the finish line about half a deck length in front of UC Irvine.  This was truly an amazing effort by all 9 in our boat and had one person not been giving full measure I don’t think we would have pulled of the win.  Seat racing will continue this week as we head into another one of our bigger events of the year, Newport Regatta.  Good luck to all crews attending.  Go Coast.

Varsity Captain,
Jeff Collett

SAN DIEGO CREW CLASSIC
MARCH 31 - APRIL 1, 2007

This year we headed into the San Diego Crew Classic with high expectations and were left with a firm reminder of how important lane assignment is.  We were entered in the very first race of the entire event early Saturday morning with near perfect conditions in lane one.  Unfortunately we were very early to the line and waited a good 10 minutes before the race actually started.  After a mediocre start we continued into the first 500 about a second down from Lehigh and were dead even with LMU.  One of our biggest flaws in the race was the next 500 where we lost an entire 4 seconds and posted the worst 2nd 500 in the entire event.  Coming into 1,100 meters we pulled a big 20 strokes to get back into the race and continued to battle it out with LMU while slowly inching back Lehigh.  With 300 meters to go we started a sprint which was probably one of our best moves of the year and crossed the finish line about half a deck behind Lehigh.  Placing second in our heat put us in lanes 4-6 in the final the next day (had we placed first we would have had a random assignment to lanes 1-3).  After an extremely relaxing day on Saturday after our race, and watching the DVD of our race over and over again we all came to a conclusion.  For the final on Sunday we were going to try a strategy that is not necessarily the smartest but we figured that it would provide us with some shot at staying in the race.  On Sunday as the boats were aligned, we all prepared for a grueling “fly and die” race, where you go all out in the beginning of a race and hope you sustain the lead.  Half way through the race at the 1,000 meter mark we were up on all crews but our speed was slowly dying.  At about 1,100 meters into the race the water in lane six becomes more turbulent and spreads further and further away from the shore.  This caused a few “crabs” and a very unstable platform to row on (not to mention we had just gone all out in the beginning of the race).  Very quickly all crews pulled away from us and we were left back 12 seconds from the pack by the time we crossed.  Had we been in lanes 1-3 we might have had a better chance at keeping up with the crews and that might have given us just enough of an edge to fight through that last 500.  We are all excited to get another shot at UCLA and UCSD in the coming weeks at Newport Regatta.

Varsity Captain,
Jeff Collett

Coast's novice crew attended the third largest race in the world this
past weekend, the San Diego Crew classic, competing in both Novice A
category and Novice B category.  Both teams had great draws for their
heats placing in lane 1.  Saturdays heat races in the morning went
great for both boats.  The B boat secured their spot in lane one for
their final later that day by a large margin, and the A boat won their
heat by just as much earning them lane two for Sunday's grand final.
The B boat performed just as well in their final late Saturday
afternoon winning the race, again by open water.  On Sunday the A boat had coast's "Giant Killers" name put to the test going up against
Berkeley in lane 1 Northeastern in lane 3 and Stanford out in lane 6.
We had a strong start putting us out in the lead but Cal proved the
stronger crew against the headwind pulling out after 500 meters.  With
about a 500 meters left Cal was multiple boatlengths ahead and the
fight was left for second and third place between us, Northeastern, and
Stanford.  We were able to keep our lead and fight off both teams
getting second with a boatlength over Northeastern and open water on
Stanford.  We were very happy with our results and can only hope to get
fast enough to go to the IRA's and face Cal again.

Novice Captain,
James Long-Lerno

OCC VS GONZAGA, UCSD & WSU
MARCH 16 & 17, 2007

The novices had their first official race a few weeks ago in Spokane,
Washington.  We flew to Washington on Thursday for our Friday races
against both Gonzaga University and Washington State University.
Weather was quite nice considering the lake had just unfrozen the week
prior, and the temperatures were around 40 degrees on race morning.
Both novice boats had great races, getting first by a large amount over
the competition.  Race night we experienced quite the dinner at a
former coast oarsmen turned hunter's house.  The following day we
scrimmaged for practice with both teams again.  The team had a great
time and can't wait to race again in two weeks at the San Diego Crew
Classic.

Novice Captain,
James Long-Lerno

ALUMNI DAY
MARCH 10 & 11, 2007

Alumni night has come and gone which marks the official beginning of our race season.  The oarsmen that shared their experiences with us will not soon be forgotten and we all really gained a lot from hearing about their personal accounts here at the O.C.C. boathouse.  We think this has given us an unbelievable amount of strength and will continue to motivate the entire team to uphold a long standing tradition of fast crews.  Another lesson learned Saturday night was that of friendship and the close bonds you earn from being such a tight knit family.  This sport is all about trust and putting it on the line for your buddies in the boat.  Although every crew is different in age, and slightly different in results for their specific year, one common thing shared by all oarsmen is the brotherhood as a result of long hours of putting it all out there.  We're looking forward to a great race this weekend against Gonzaga and Washington State and are looking for a few more shirts to hang up on the wall. 

Varsity Co-Captains

Jeff Collett & Benton Sparks

 Crew had its annual alumni regatta this past weekend with the graduating years of 1967', 77', 87' and 97' as well as a few returners from recent years.  We had a dinner reception on Saturday evening at our boathouse catered by a delicious local restaurant.  The alumni all told their stories about how rowing at coast affected them as well as what they went on to do.  The night was a great experience for all of us as we shared a great deal our alumni.  Sunday morning we got to race them on a short 700 meter course.  As always the alumni had little tricks to get ahead at the beginning of the race to even the odds.  Our boat experienced a water-balloon attack before starting our race.  Of course, nothing was taken personally and it was all in good fun. Overall the experience was quite memorable and we'll be looking forward to next year’s alumni dinner and races.  This week we travel to Spokane, WA to face the Bulldogs of Gonzaga in what is sure to be an exciting early season dual.  We will also race Washington State while on Silver Lake. 
 

Freshman Co-Captains

James Long-Lerno & Erich Hanxleder

What a great weekend!  The Coast crew arrived early Thursday morning to cloudy, rainy, windy and cold conditions in Worcester Massachusetts.  Those conditions were sustained for the entire five days.  As soon as the crew arrived, the governor of the state of Massachusetts declared a state of emergency do to flooding.  Things could only get better and they did.  The hotel was very nice and the two empacher shells lent to us by Harry Parker and the Harvard crew were fantastic.  All three crews (Varsity, Novice and 2nd Novice) practiced Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.  The workouts were good and the athletes very satisfied with the equipment. The Varsity had 24 colleges and universities entered in four heats Saturday afternoon.  Coast was in the last heat of the day.  After weather delay (a pattern which would be repeated again on Sunday) the Pirates got off to a good start.  Coast challenged Holy Cross and Marist in the early going and had a few seats on Wesleyan.  By the 1000 meter mark the top four crews had pulled away from Bates and Cincinnati.  Just before 1500 meters Coast was down about a length to Holy Cross and Marist and up 5 seats on Wesleyan.  With 500 to go Wesleyan picked up the pace and pulled up to take a 4 seat lead with 200 meters to go.  Coast went up at 150 to go and moved right back to challenge but, came up about one stroke short (.21 seconds) and placed fourth.  The fourth place finish put Coast in the “B” bracket of the Semi’s on Saturday morning (racing for 13 – 24).  The Varsity easily qualified through the Semi’s for the third level final.  Although disappointed in not making the grand final, Coast proceeded to the starting line with a great attitude and complete focus to race the best race possible…and that is exactly what they did.  The crew led from start to finish with a powerful wind-up winning by open water in under 6 minutes over U Mass and the field. 
 
The Second Novice eight had a field of 9 crews in two heats with the top three boats advancing to the grand final.  The crew pretty much lead from start to finish and won their heat.  The Novice eight had a field of 18 crews in three heats.  The first and second place finishers advance to the final, 3rd & 4th to the petite and 5th & 6th to the third level final.  Coast easily won this heat as well and advanced to the afternoon grand final. 
 
The afternoon finals started with a two and a half hour weather delay with the second novice being sent to the van to wait and then back to the hotel.  Once racing resumed, the second Novice eight got off to a solid start.  The race quickly became a three way duel between Texas, Trinity and Coast.  Coast never gave up the lead and went wire to wire narrowly missing the course and Championship record by less than a second.  The Pirates won by a length in 6:11.58 over Trinity 6:14.67 and Texas 6:15.12.  Michigan, George Washington and U of New Hampshire trailed.  This is the third time that Coast has won a National Championship in rowing and the second time in four years.
 
In the Novice eight final, Trinity proved to be too strong as they slowly moved out on Coast and UCSD to a length lead by the 1000.  With 500m to go the race was for second between OCC and UCSD.  It was an exciting finish with the Pirates coming in less than a second behind San Diego then Michigan and George Washington 6 seconds back and Bates following.
 
For all crews it was an exciting finish to the racing season.  Coast had traveled this season to Cal Berkley and UC Davis to practice.  They raced four times in Newport, traveled to San Diego, Seattle and Worcester for major regattas.  We also purchased a new empacher eight and none of it would have been accomplished without the help of parents, alumni, friends and supporters of Coast Crew.  Everyone at the David A Grant Intercollegiate Rowing Center is grateful for the continued support of the community.
 
GO COAST!

 
Opening Day - Seattle,WA
May 6 , 2006

The Coast crew traveled to Seattle to compete in the Windemere Opening Day Regatta in Seattle Washington.  75 crews competed in 19 events in just about one hour.  Some races were run on two-minute intervals with three races on the course at one time.  Some of the races had six boats entered where after 800 meters only three would fit through the Mountlake Cut.  Coast borrowed two Vespoi eights and oars from the Huskies for the Varsity and Novice eights.  Cloudy weather with moderate wind greeted the four Novice crews.  Coast was off to a good start but was not able to hang on.  Two of the oarsmen were ill and struggled through the course.  The Varsity got off to a good start and knew they needed to hang on to the Huskies in the early going if they were to have any chance.  We were down by a bit of open water by the 1000-meter mark when UW started pull away.  Both crews have had a good race and a once in a lifetime experience.  Bob Ernst and his Husky crews wee very gracious and went out of their way to help us.

Varsity 8+
 
1. UW 2V 6:17.53
 
2. Oregon State 6:26.86
 
3. Orange Coast 6:32.22 
 
Novice 8+
 
1. UW 2F 6:12.53
 
2. Gonzaga 6:32.95
 
3. Oregon State 6:33.55
 
4. Orange Coast 6:37.80
 

 
WIRA Championships
April 29, 2006

Orange Coast College entered five events at the WIRA Championships this year, making the grand finals in four of them.  TheVarsity four had two weeks to prepare for WIRA and moved Warren Van Ryzin from Starboard to Port side.  They had a tough time off the start in their heat race but held their own to finish 5th.  They went on to finish 2nd in their petite final by one second behind Santa Clara.  The Novice four finished 2nd in the heat race and were 5th in the grand final.  The Second Novice Eight had a final only winning by open water over Gonzaga and UCSD.  The Novice Eight won their heat easily and narrowly defeated Gonzaga by one second in the Grand final.  The Varsity Eight won their heat on Saturday by open water over Washington State.  Just before the start of the Sunday final, Coast and WSU collided in the warm-up area taking on water and sustaining minor damage to the Coast boat.  “We were rattled by the collision and bailed the water out of the boat with our socks.”  The crew did not start well and never really challenged the leader Colorado.  All in all it was a great showing for Coast Crew.

Varsity 8+ Heat
 
1. Orange Coast 6:04.6
 
2. Washington State 6:09.1
 
3. UC Irvine 6:14.8  

 Novice 8+ Heat
 
1. Orange Coast 6:17.1
 
2. Long Beach State 6:24.4
 
3. Sonoma State 6:32.4 

 Varsity 4+ Heat
 
1. U of Oregon 6:49.3
 
2. Puget Sound 6:50.9
 
3. UCSB 6:57.0
 
4. Cal Lights 7:08.8
 
5. Orange Coast 7:12.7

 2nd Novice 8+ Final
 
1. Orange Coast 6:02.8
 
2. Gonzaga 6:06.0
 
3. UCSD 6:12.3
 
       
Varsity 8+ Final
 
1. Colorado 5:54.0
 
2. UCSD 5:57.7
 
3. Washington State 6:03.5
 
4. UC Davis 6:03.9
 
5. Orange Coast 6:04.3 

Novice 8+ Final
 
1. Orange Coast 5:52.1
 
2. Gonzaga 5:53.1
 
3. UCSD 5:56.5 

Varsity 4+ Final
 
1. Santa Clara 7:05.1
 
2. Orange Coast 7:06.1
 
3. UC Irvine 7:19.1   

 
Newport Regatta
April 15, 2006

This past weekend, Coast Varsity got its first taste of experience as defined by Coach Larry:  “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”  For the first time this year, we found ourselves down at the start of the race.  Rowing into a firm headwind, Davis had four seats on us by the five hundred meter mark.  We sat on Davis and were down by about five seats as we came past the boathouse.  The same was true for the rest of the race—coming into the last 100 meters; we were down by half a boat.  The sprint was called, but by this time, it wasn’t quite enough.  The Varsity lost by inches.

The Varsity, however, plans to use the experience gained from this past weekend to train harder for the next two weeks for the upcoming WIRA Championships in Sacramento.  It’s going to be a dogfight!

Derek Huffman and Brad Stapleton
Varsity Co-Captains

Go Coast!

Photo from event

Varsity 8+
 
1. UC Davis 6:22.24
 
2. Orange Coast 6:22.46
 
3. UCSD 6:26.27
 
4. UC Irvine 6:35.39
 
5. Long Beach State 6:42.14

Novice 8+
 
1. Orange Coast 6:15
 
2. UC Davis 6:30.77
 
3. Long Beach State 6:47.01
 
4. UC Davis 6:50.32
 
5. UC Irvine 6:55.69

2nd Varsity 8+
 
1. UC Davis 6:37.77
 
2. UCSD 6:43.27
 
3. Orange Coast 6:55.92
 
4. UC Davis B 7:07.24
 
5. UC Irvine 7:23.40
 
2nd Novice 8+
 
1. UCSD 6:57.20
 
2. Orange Coast 7:01.82
 
3. UC Davis 7:13.54
 
4. UC Irvine 7:21.37 

UCI
April 8, 2006

This weekend marked a success for Orange Coast Crew:  A sweeping victory!  The day began with the christening of the Butch Pope, a custom Empacher 8 from Germany.  The Varsity 8 went up against UCI in a dual.  We got off to a quick start and we had a four seat advantage by the settle.  A power ten opened up the lead and we had open water as we rowed past the boathouse.  We went on to win the race by several lengths of open water.  The Junior Varsity 8 had a very successful race.  This was the JV’s first official race besides the Crew Classic.  Going into the race, they were planning on winning by at least 15 seconds to be competitive for later regattas where they would compete against UCSD, UC Davis, and other fast crew.  A confident Pirate crew got off to a quick lead on UCI.  They managed to take seats out of UCI and ended up obtaining their goal:  a victory by 18 seconds.  Both the JV and the Varsity crews look forward to the upcoming Newport Regatta.

Derek Huffman
Varsity Co-Captain, 2 Seat

Go Coast!

Photo from event

Varsity 8+
 
1. Orange Coast
 
2. UC Irvine
 

 Novice 8+
 
1. Orange Coast
 
2. Long Beach
 
3. UC Irvine
 
4. Chapman 

JV 8+
 
1. Orange Coast
 
2. UC Irvine

2nd Novice 8+
 
1. Orange Coast
 
2. UC Irvine
 
3. Long Beach 

San Diego Crew Classic
April 1 & 2, 2006

On Saturday, the Coast Varsity 8 (Cox-Elliott Thacker, Benton Sparks, Greg Somers, Brad Stapleton, Adi Cosic, Roman Rukosuyev, Matt Zeiser, Derek Huffman, and Will Griffith) raced in a brand new Empacher in the second heat of the day in the Men's Varsity Cal Cup.  We got off to a fast start, taking
four seats on all crews by the settle.  Loyola and Texas put up a strong fight but we moved to a boat length advantage by the 1000 meter mark. Rowing at a lower stroke rate than the other crews, we managed to hold them off and finish first in the heat with a time of 6:06.50; a full 2.49 seconds faster than Loyola.
Our solid performance gave us confidence going into the Grand Final Race on Sunday.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!  It was another epic race for the Orange Coast College Men's crew team, as winning Saturday's heat had placed the varsity 8 in lane three of the grand final—prime positioning for a fantastic race.  There was the usual Mission Bay chop, along with its accomplice, the ever-present
crosswind, but that didn't stop the Varsity from barely beating Colorado University by .6 seconds—a very narrow margin.  The race was back and forth throughout the whole 2000 meters, with USC, Colorado, Texas, LMU, and UCSD all being serious contenders for top position.  However, come the last 10
strokes, OCC was there, inching back on Colorado for the win, with a time of 6 minutes and 26 seconds.  The crew now looks forward to a dual against UCI and Long Beach next weekend, with the Newport Regatta following soon after.

Derek Huffman and Brad Stapleton
Varsity Co-Captains

Varsity 8+ Heat
 
1. Orange Coast 6:06.50
 
2. Loyola 6:08.99
 
3. Texas 6:09.91


 Novice 8+ Heat
 
1. Cal (A) 6:00.70
 
2. Orange Coast 6:06.55
 
3. UC Davis (A) 6:28.41


 JV 8+ Heat
 
1. Cal (A) 5:53.90
 
2. UC Davis (A) 6:13.90
 
3. UCSD 6:15.80
 
4. Notre Dame 6:17.17
 
5. Orange Coast 6:20.00

 Men’s Open 8+ Heat
 
1. Stanford 6:24.70
 
2. True Aggies 6:39.33
 
3. Lake Merritt 6:42.09
 
4. Orange Coast 6:58.46
 
       
Varsity 8+ Final
 
1. Orange Coast 6:25.30
 
2. Colorado 6:25.93
 
3. USC 6:29.19 

Novice 8+ Final
 
1. Cal (A) 6:08.70
 
2. Stanford 6:14.78
 
3. Orange Coast 6:15.47 

JV 8+ Final
 
1. Notre Dame 6:21.00
 
2. Orange Coast 6:26.20
 
3. Colorado 7:04.45 

Men’s Open 8+ Final
 
1. Cal LW 6:34.60
 
2. SDSU Alum 6:41.06
 
3. UCSD 6:41.59
 
4. Lake Merritt 6:42.43
 
5. Sac State 6:49.47
 
6. Orange Coast 6:55.43

Results from San Diego Crew Classic website

CSULB Race
March 18, 2006

This weekend presented OCC with the opportunity to race Long Beach State.  Under an increasing headwind, Coast got off to a bit of a slow start, but managed to take a seat or two lead over Beach before the settle.  The Pirates were able to pull to more of a lead with a power ten at the 400 meter mark.  OCC took an open water lead over Long Beach by the time we went by the boathouse.  We ended up winning by two lengths, although things never really clicked for us.  This race provided us with some experience and we plan to use the knowledge we acquired from this race to improve for the upcoming San Diego Crew Classic.

Derek Huffman
Varsity Stroke

Varsity 8+
 
1. Orange Coast
 
2. Long Beach
 
3. Orange Coast JV 

Novice 8+
 
1. Orange Coast
 
3. Orange Coast 2N
 
2. Long Beach 

Gonzaga Race
March 11, 2006

Evan Bainbridge
Novice Captain

Varsity 8+
 
Orange Coast 7:06.43
 
Gonzaga 7:09.87

  Novice 8+
 
Gonzaga 7:22.1
 
Orange Coast 7:29.3 

Alumni Day
March 5th 2006

Tradition!  What is it?  It is the very thing that gives us the drive to succeed, to push harder, to go farther and to be better!  During Alumni Weekend here at Orange Coast, we were given a little taste of tradition; an opportunity to hear the stories behind the pictures on the walls.  “Winning is not a sometimes thing, it’s an all time thing.  You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time.  Winning is a habit.”  That habit has been handed down year after year, rower after rower here at Orange Coast.  It is for this reason that we hold our alumni in such high regard, and it is for this reason that we continue to have such a successful program.  The 2006 Alumni Weekend was a blast with quite an astonishing turnout of alumni.  Saturday evening was filled with good food, great stories of old victories, many encouraging words from old oarsmen to new, and of course, many references to the number nine!  Sunday morning races were no less entertaining as the alumni boats battled their way down the course, attempting just about every possible way to attain victory!  And after a rather successful dock sweep that ended with just about everyone in the water, the weekend was over and the team was left with spirits flying leading us into the final week of training before the season’s first race!“Traditions are the guideposts driven deep in our subconscious minds.  The most powerful ones are those we can’t even describe and aren’t even aware of.”-Ellen GoodmanEvan Bainbridge
Novice Captain

Alumni Day had another fantastic turnout, with oarsmen ranging from last year’s varsity to the oarsmen of the 1965-66 crews.  There were many fantastic stories told over dinner, from the crowd-favorite “Nine” speech (now famous around the boathouse) all the way to nail-biting racing stories of victories and defeats alike.  This was only Saturday, however, and the real fun began on Sunday.  There were many races with crews ranging from the 60’s to the 90’s and all the way to 2005’s Varsity A-Boat.  The current Varsity boat barely beat the 2005 crew—only after last year’s crew caught two overheads crabs, severely damaging the morale in the boat and enabling the current oarsmen to walk away with a victory.  However, the alumni of old could not be denied, starting ahead with a 250 meter lead!  The current Varsity tried to take it back, but there just wasn’t enough distance on the course and the alumni from ’96 and ’66 were victors.  Overall, it was another fantastic turnout with a lot of good fun, friendly competition and new memories.Brad Stapleton
Varsity Six Seat

2004 - 2005 Season 

Novice Boats Win WIRA Titles,
Headed to Massachusetts

Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships

WIRA site results

Lake Natoma, California
April 30 & May 1, 2005 

LAKE NATOMA - The Orange Coast College men's crew had both its first and second novice eight crews win their respective races and capture the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Championships in those events, this weekend at Lake Natoma outside of Sacramento.The men's first novice eight won both of its races over the weekend, capturing its heat race with a time of 6:13.0 before winning the final with a time of 6:09.8. The second novice crew was also in top form, taking first place in its final with a time of 6:30.9.Also advancing to their respective finals were the men's pair, who took 4th place in 7:51.6 while the men's varsity four was a 6th place finisher with a time of 7:19.4.On the women's side, the second novice eight put in the best team performance of the day, taking runner-up with a time of 7:37.0. The first novice eight took 6th place in its final, crossing the line in 7:25.8.By virtue of its victory, the first men's novice eight crew will head east to Worcester, Massachusetts and take part in the ECAC Championships on May 7-8 on Lake Quinsigamond. The women's novice eight was also extended an invitation to take part in the championships.

GO COAST!

This week end marked the conclusion of the racing season for most of the Coast oarsmen.  Both Coast Novice teams were victorious in their events.  The Second Novice Eight had just a final on Sunday but, it was a barn burner.  Coast got out to an early lead on the field (UC Davis, Santa Clara and UC San Diego) and were up by a little open water when the stroke caught a full crab, stopping the boat and turning it broadside into lane one.  We were fortunate not to collide with UCSD.  The boat got back in their lane and restarted at about 900m into the race.  By this time UC Davis had pulled to a length of open water lead.  Not to be denied, Coast got back on course and drove the rate up to 36 to catch the Aggies.  By 250m to go, Coast had closed the gap and drove the rate up again to 39 to catch and pass Davis in the last 10 strokes.  What a race.The Novice Eight had 15 college and universities in their event.  Coast won their heat by two seconds over Loyola to advance to Sundays final.  Again this proved to be a dogfight with UC San Diego rowing stroke for stroke and seat for seat with the Pirates right down to the wire.  Coast held on to win by 3 seats over UCSD and the field.  UC San Diego will also be racing in Worcester this weekend with Coast and 16 other colleges.  The Varsity Straight Pair had a fantastic heat placing third behind U of Portland and Santa Clara to qualify for Sunday’s final.  James Teeter (stk) and Alberto Mendoza (bow) had been rowing the pair for one week prior to racing.  An injury in the Varsity boat forced Coast to drop out of the JV event and enter a four with and a straight pair.  On Sunday, the pair got off to a shaky start after the strokes oar popped out of the oarlock.  Once the oar was secure and they resumed the race, they moved right back into contention.  While the other crews were having steering problems, Teeter and Mendoza were moving straight down the course and with 750m gone in the race were contending for the lead.  Seattle Pacific got back on course and moved through the field but, it was very close for second through fourth with Coast just missing a medal by .7 seconds.  The Pirates wound up fourth out of nine crews.  A very respectable showing.The Varsity four also had only rowed together in a four for one week.  There were 16 crews in three heats with two top finishers advancing to the finals on Sunday.  The Buc’s finished two seconds behind the University of Colorado to advance to the Grand Final.  The guys had a great race on Sunday but, were just out rowed by the other five schools.  Long Beach State had only rowed in a four all year and was clearly the class of the field, winning by 8.5 seconds over second place University of Oregon.  The crew felt good about their race and no complaints from the coach.The Varsity Eight had been improving all year and they had been competitive in all races they rowed.  The Varsity was seeded seventh out of 17 crews entered.  In the heat on Saturday, the Pirates rowed a “text book race”.  They got off to a good start and settled at 35 strokes per minute.  By 300 meters into the race they ad established themselves as the leader and gradually moved out to a one boat length lead by the 1000 meter mark.  With 500 meters to go, Gonzaga (#1 seed) and Washington State (#6 seed) had begun to move up.  At 300m to go Coast was still in the lead with Gonzaga and WSU rowing stroke for stroke and charging hard.  The Varsity just did not have enough horse power to hang on and finished third which sent them to the Petite Final on Sunday.  The guys had a lot of heart and rowed a great race and there were no regrets by anyone.  Sunday found Coast in lane one with University of Puget Sound in lane two.  Both crews were with in two tenths of one another in the heat races and with no surprise, these two crews battled all the way down the course.  There was never more than two to three seats difference through the entire race with the lead changing hands several times.  Puget Sound would take a ten and then Coast would counter and so forth to the end with Coast coming in three seats behind (1 second).  Coach Moore was very proud of the entire Coast Crew.  “All crew’s raced very well all year and I can honestly say that I am very pleased with the Varsity’s fourth, sixth and eighth place finishes at WIRA.”  He went on to say that on the Varsity level, racing against Junior’s and Senior’s is quite challenging in itself but, to have finished all but one race less than two lengths behind the leader shows that the crew rows well and they know how to compete.”The Novice Eight is on its way to Worcester Mass to race this weekend and we wish them all the best of luck.  Please check this site for the web link to all the results for the WIRA Championships.

Novice Eight

This past weekend marked the most important race to date for the OCC Novice. The WIRA regatta had fifteen colleges and universities entered in the Novice Eight event. The Coast Novice went into the weekend with high expectations for the best outcome possible and those expectations were fulfilled. The hard work that the Novice have put forth since summer paid off with a 1st place win in the qualifying heats and FIRST PLACE IN THE GRAND FINAL on Sunday.  The WIRA regatta race was the hardest all year, with competition coming from all over, and all crews racing to win. All of the Novice are extremely excited about the outcome of this race and we now look forward to the ECAC’s in Worcester, Massachusetts, this coming weekend.  (East Coast Athletic Conference National Invitational Rowing Championships)Brad Stapleton
Novice Co-Captain
Go Coast!

NEWPORT REGATTA

APRIL 16, 2005
Varsity Eight

More good news from the OCC Men’s Crew!  It was good weather and good racing in Saturday’s Newport Regatta.  Starting at about 7:30am, all crews put out a great effort and it’s safe to say that we all had a lot of fun.The varsity eight came in a hard fought 3rd place finish over local rivals USC and UCLA among other crews.  Crews that have given us trouble from day one were overcome in a very close race.  3rd place might not seem so great to some, but it was big power struggle between us and USC, and we are proud to say that we came out ahead.  In the final, USC got ahead and stayed ahead of us while we slowly caught up to them through the whole race until the very end.  With only 300 meters to go, we decided that we were not going to lose to USC, and managed to pull ahead and beat them by 1 or 2 seats.This is a momentum that we hope to carry on through the rest of the season.  Saturday’s racing gave us high spirits and left us anxious to buckle down and finish strong.

Grand Final

UC Davis           6:00.4
UC San Diego    6:04.3
OCC                   6: 07.1
USC                    6:07.6
UCLA                 6:12.4
UCSB                  6:17.1

Petite Final

Santa Clara         6:11.2
UCI                     6:12.7
LMU                   6:18.3
SDSU                  6:20.0

Varsity Eight

Gel. It’s something no Coach can teach and no boat can explain how it happens, it just does. Something is going on down at the David A. Grant Boathouse and people are noticing. With the recent Varsity 4th place petite final finish at the Crew Classic the guys got together and knew they underperformed, that they needed to ask more of themselves and could do better. And better we did. Our first conquest was UCI, Coast came out on top defeating UCI with an 8 second victory. This weekend at the Newport Regatta the Coast Varsity oarsman accomplished more. With some of the top crews from along the west coast including UC Davis, UCSD, UCLA, USC and others the boys knew it would be a good race. Qualifying was our first step in the right direction. In the final our Oarsman went after it. Davis had a strong start and never looked back facing challenges from UCSD. But the real race was for third. USC was up more than 8 seats on Coast in the second 500, while UCLA had a strong 3rd 500. But the Rob Jordan boat would not go away. “Gel”ing together for the last strokes of the race and pulling away past UCLA and USC. Coast Varsity posted a proud 3rd place finish this weekend by not letting any boats  row through us in the last third of the race. We look forward to another good race at the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships (WIRA) in 2 weeks on Lake Natoma in Sacramento, CA.Elliot Hayes
7 Seat
ASOCC President

JV Eight

The JV Eight had just a six boat final on Saturday morning.  All six crews got off to a great start and the first 500m was closely contested.  UC Davis began to pull away from the field in the second 500m with UC San Diego close behind.  UCLA Coast and UCI were fighting for that third spot.  UCLA pulled ahead of Coast and UCI going by the boathouse.  Coast and UCI were separated by only a seat or two.  The Pirates rowed hard in the last 250m of the race but, could not catch UCLA while holding off a strong performance by the Anteaters and with the USC Trojans trailing the field.

UC Davis        6:09.3
UC San Diego 6:15.8
UCLA             No Time
OCC
UCI
USC
 
NOVICE EIGHT



This weekend was the Newport Regatta, the last home race of the season. Conditions were pristine, with a very light breeze, warm sun, and large crowd. In the first heat, the Novice A placed third, rowing hard enough to secure a spot in the final later that day.  Ten College crews had entered forcing two heats of four with the top three finishers moving on the Grand Final.  Two hours later, after hitting the water again, the Novice A raced the Grand Final against UCLA, LMU, UCSD, UC Davis, and UCI. It was a hard race, with all crews within seats of each other.  The Coast Novice finished first, after slugging it out with all crews in the last 300 meters of the race. Now, the Novice look forward to the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships in two weeks at Lake Natoma in Rancho Cordova Ca.  This will be the biggest challenge yet for the Novice team. Having had a successful season so far, the Novice have been invited to the East Coast Athletic Conference National Invitational Rowing Championships in Worcester Mass.  Pat Gleason and the Crew will be flying east on May 4, 2005 and returning May 9th.

GO COAST!

OCC         6:04.1
UCSD       6:07.2
UC Davis  6:08.3
UCLA       6:09.9
UCI           6:13.0
LMU         6:15.1

The Newport Regatta was a strong showing for Coasts novice crew. With both the A and B boats taking their events in a strong fashion and sending a message that at WIRA Coast will not be easily defeated. The first novice boat had a strong qualifying race, easily placing them in the final later that morning. The second novice had a very strong race with only a final and no qualifying heat. The boat decided to race the event at a higher stroke rate than in its previous races. The second novice came off with a bad start leaving it two seats down to Davis, but the boat had an extremely strong settle taking us from two seats behind to a boat length ahead and then holding on to that lead until the 1500 meter mark where a final push pulled us out to an open water lead finishing 6.7 seconds ahead of Davis. The First Novice boat final was a strong showing for Coast and after jumping to an early lead by the 500 meter mark; Coast then battled a strong UCSD boat to the 1500 meter mark. A strong effort in the final 500 pulled Coast to open water on the field and hammered home the dominance of Coasts novice oarsmen.

By Geoff Pietrok novice co captain
Please visit our photo gallery for photos of the Newport Regatta.

OCC VS UCI VS CSULB
APRIL 9, 2005

 
VARSITY EIGHT

The OCC Men’s Varsity crew had a small change of pace this last Saturday; we actually won.  The previous races in this season have been hard fought and were rowed to the best of our ability.  But in the dual race against UCI this last Saturday, we managed to get ahead and stay ahead.It was a rather hard race.  The weather conditions were not that favorable with a stiff headwind that blew straight down the channel.  That slowed our time considerably.  ( OCC 6:39 def UCI 6:47)  In order to battle the wind up the course, we had to put in temporary oar spacers that extend the leverage of the oar a couple of centimeters and therefore lighten the load.All teams on the Men’s crew swept every event that day.  It was very successful, but most importantly, we all had a lot of fun.

JV Eight

With a Stiff wind continuing to blow from the west, the JV eight got off to a good start and settled a low rate of 31 strokes per minute.  It turned out to be a long race (OCC 7:19 def UCI 7:46) but, OCC was never challenged down the course.  The Newport Regatta is scheduled for Saturday April 16th with racing beginning at 7:30 am.  There will be heats and finals in both the Varsity Eight and Novice Eight events.  Thirteen colleges and Universities will be competing.Sam Proctor
Varsity Co-Captain

NOVICE EIGHT & FOUR RACE

This weekend brought about another race for the Novice A, against UCI, CSULB, and Chapman. Conditions were not entirely ideal, with moderate to strong winds and lots of choppy water in the harbor, but the Novice Men endured, rowing their way to a victory against all crews. It was a hard race, with a crab at the start slowing down the OCC novice, and a persistent UCI crew holding a boat length of lead up to the 1,000 meter mark. However, this didn't demoralize the OCC novice, who held on and pulled through to walk by the UCI eight in the next 1,000 meters for a hard-earned victory.  (OCC 6:42 def UCI 6:50, OCC ‘B’ 7:00, CSULB 7:22, Chapman 8:01)The Novice eight broke down into two fours after the eights race and raced two other OCC fours plus Chapman, CSULB and UCI in a seven boat Novice four event.  Conditions remained choppy.  (OCC ‘A’ 8:08 def OCC ‘B’ 8:14, CSULB 8:37, OCC ‘C’ 8:46, Chapman 8:56, UCI 8:58, OCC ‘D’ 9:01)
Brad Stapleton
Novice Co-Captain

San Diego Crew Classic
April 2 & 3 2005

 
Varsity Eight

The OCC Varsity crew returned to the San Diego Crew Classic as the reigning champions for the Men’s Cal Cup.  Unfortunately, the Cup did not return home with us this year.  Although, we went down to the Crew Classic expecting a good outcome, morale was high and we were prepared to give it all we had, things just didn’t go our way.The weather was good but slightly windy with the Varsity racing both the heat and the petite final in a cross breeze.  In the first race of the day, 7:30am on Saturday, we crossed the finish line 3rd to Gonzaga (1st) and Colorado (2nd) with a time of 6:23.94.  In Sunday’s petite final at 11:20, we finished a disappointing 4th behind UCSD, WSU, and UCLA with a time of 6:15.33.   We came off the water very disappointed but knowing that we were just going to have to work that much harder if we wanted to redeem ourselves at the WIRA Championships.  Coach Larry Moore, as always, was very supportive and is confident that there is much we can still learn.All in all, the Crew Classic was one more notch of experience in the racing belt of the OCC crew and we look forward to races to come.  Sam Proctor
Varsity Co-Captain

JV Eight

The JV Eight had a great heat race on Saturday.  There were fourteen crews entered in two heats.  Coast was in the second heat with Northeastern, Penn, Minnesota, USC, UCI and SDSU.  All crews got off cleanly and gradually Penn and Northeastern pulled away from the field.  The race was for the third and final qualifying spot.  Coast Minn. USC and UCI were stroke for stroke coming into the last 250m of the race with just about 3.5 seconds separating these four crews at the finish.  Coast was able to hang on and finish about .4 second ahead of Minnesota with USC, UCI and SDSU trailing in that order.Sunday’s Grand final found OCC over powered and out rowed by the field.  Cal Berkeley A won in a time of 5:58.1 with Northeastern, Cal B, Penn, Stanford and Coast following.Find all the times of the heats and finals at www.crewclassic.com and click on 2005 race results.Saturday April 9th we will be racing UCI and Long Beach in Newport and the following Saturday April 16th we will be hosting the Newport Regatta with one of the largest field ever.  Twelve Colleges and Universities will be involved.  There will be heats in the Varsity and Novices eights  as well as Petite and Grand Finals.

Novice Eight

This weekend marked the first true test for the Novice A Boat.  Over the course of three days at the San Diego Crew Classic, the Novice A Boat took to the water with more zeal and intensity then ever before. We were ready for a strong performance against upwards of 20 different crews. After practicing for an hour on Mission Bay on Friday, the Novice retired to bed early, readying for Saturday’s first heat. After a sound sleep, the crew arrived at Mission Bay on Saturday morning ready to race in the third heat. With the main competition coming from Stanford, Washington State, and our fellow oarsmen in the Novice B boat, the Novice A took off from the starting line and didn’t look back.  Coast won the heat in a time of six minutes and thirty seconds. This guaranteed the Novice A a spot in Sunday’s Grand Final.  The Grand Final had the top two place finishers from all three heats. Sunday arrived quickly, and the Novice A took to the water once again. We had great conditions and a strong warm-up making the prospects of doing well in the Final promising. The competition included the Berkeley A and B boats, LMU, Stanford, and UCSD. As soon as the race began, the Cal A boat jumped to a large lead, leaving the Novice A to battle for second place with the Cal B boat. The Novice A held the 2nd place position by 2 seats or so for the first half of the race but, it was not to last, as a crab caught by the OCC novice gave Cal B a half a boat lead. However, the eight oarsmen did not break, nor did we give up any more seats to the other crews in the race. Also, the crab  had snapped the backstay of one of the riggers, which became jammed in the water, creating drag that hindered the ability of the Novice to walk back on Cal B. After many more power 10’s and immense efforts by all nine members of the boat, the OCC Novice A crossed the finish line in third place. It was a great race, all things considered, and the Novice will learn from this experience and take these lessons into the upcoming regatta against UCI and CSULB this coming weekend. Go Coast!
Brad Stapleton
Novice Co-Captain

Second Novice Eight

The San Diego Crew Classic was a great learning experience for the second novice boat.  Going into the race, most of the oarsmen were not yet comfortable with rowing a 2k at the intensity needed to be successful. We suffered a tuff loss in our heat toWashington State and UCI.  Both crews walked through us in the last five hundred meters and sent us to the third level final 6 hours later. Our boat raced well and finished fourth, just fractions of a second behind third place USD.  After that, the entire boat is now ready to step up to the next level and perform well in out two home races.

Geoff Pietrok
Novice Co-Captain   

NOVICE OCC VS UCLA, MARCH 19, 2005

NOVICE

With inclement weather causing a last minute change in race sites, the Bruins came down to Newport early Saturday to race against the Pirate Crews.   With a slight wind blowing and a light drizzle falling, the Novice took to the water with high hopes and plenty of anticipation for what the race would hold. Despite a shaky start at the beginning of the race and being down a half a boat length for the first 1000 meters of the race, the Novice didn't give up, slowly walking on the Bruins, and then passing them for an open water lead in the last 200 meters of the race, winning the duel.  It was a hard row and UCLA was a tough opponent.  The race was a dogfight for every seat. Now, with two races under our belts, the Novice are looking forward to two tuff weeks of training.  The upcoming San Diego Crew Classic will be a true test of our ability.  We plan on continuing to improve our strength and technique for this important race.

OCC        6:12.5
UCLA      6:18.4

SECOND NOVICE

The Second Novice got off to a good start and settled well.  By 500 meters, OCC had the race under control.  The Buc’s had pulled out to an open water lead well before passing the 1000 meter mark.  With cheers from both Bruin and Coast supporters helping to move the crew’s, the Pirates had moved out to a two boat open water lead at the boathouse.  OCC continued to move away from UCLA, finishing about 6 lengths ahead.  The next race for the Second Novice Eight will be at the San Diego Crew Classic where they will compete in the Novice Eight event with 17 other Collegiate Novice Crews.

OCC      6:31.9
UCLA    6:54.6

Brad Stapleton
Novice Co-Captain
Check the photo gallery for pictures of the event

GO COAST!

OCC VS GONZAGA VARSITY EIGHT
March 11-12, 2005

Welcome to Spokane, Washington!  The outdoor lovers paradise!  This past weekend of racing took place just outside the city at Medical Lake.  The races were fast, fun, and once again, another great experience to look back on.  The whole crew was excited at the chance to go up and dual race Gonzaga on Friday, and endure some rough weather for Saturdays regatta.Fridays 2000m dual race had OCC v. Gonzaga in the Varsity event which went to Gonzaga, and the OCC JV and Novice against the Gonzaga Novice which finished OCC Novice 1st, Gonzaga Novice 2nd, OCC JV 3rd.Saturday brought different luck by way of some very strong wind blowing South down the course, creating choppy and difficult conditions.  The crews racing included OCC, Gonzaga, University of British Columbia, and Washington State.  The events consisted of three timed pieces: a 4’30”, a 3’, and a 2’.  The Varsity started at approximately 9:00am and the three-minute piece was won by OCC, the other pieces gave one to Gonzaga, and one to Washington State.  In the JV event, starting at about 10:00am, OCC did not finish due to breakage when they collided with the Washington State and Gonzaga crews.  Conditions worsened over the course of the morning and unfortunately led to the cancellation of the Novice event.All in all it was a great weekend, and it gave us a taste of the racing to come.  We now know that we need to expect great things of ourselves, before we can expect great things to happen.We would like to thank Dr. Cary Simonds (OCC Crew 68’) for letting the team into his amazing home and for catering lunch on such sort notice.   We all greatly appreciate your hospitality and you are an inspiration to all of us.  The possibilities are endless.Pictures of the weekend are in the Gonzaga 2005 photo gallery.

Varsity 8+

Gonzaga      6:01.5
OCC           6:04.0

Sam Proctor
Chris Hernandez
Varsity Co-Captains

OCC NOVICE VS GONZAGA
MARCH 11, 2005 SPOKANE WASH.

This weekend was the most exciting yet for the Novice Crew, being our first real race and first road trip for the team. Everyone entered the weekend excited and prepared for this first race, and nobody really knew what to expect. On a sunny, chilly, and pristine Friday morning, the Novice Eight went against our own JV Eight and the Gonzaga Novice A Eight. After a fast start, the Novice Boat stayed a half a boat length up on Gonzaga, and never gave up those seats for the duration of the race. Despite a valiant attempt by Gonzaga and the JV boat in the last 500 meters, the novice were able to cling on to their lead and come out on top with a victory. This was the first real race for the Novice Eight, and we are all excited with the results, and everyone's hopes are high in anticipation for what the rest of the year holds.

OCC         6:06.7
Gonzaga    6:08.7
OCC JV    6:17.0

Next Saturday March 19, 2005 the Pirates return to Balona Creek in Marina Del Rey for the first time this decade to take on the UCLA Bruins. Racing begins at 8 am.
GO COAST!

Brad Stapleton
Novice Co-Captain

NEWPORT ATUMN ROWING FESTIVAL
Sunday, November 7, 2004



NEWPORT AUTUMN ROWING FESTIVAL
NOVICE EIGHTS

The novice men’s program got off to a great start on Sunday November 7th. They were able to launch four eights for the 10 am race. Many excellent crews were in attendance from up and down the coast. Our boys did quite well finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 10th with 19 entries in the event. Results can be viewed at www.rowingfestival.com The next event is the Newport Sprints Dec 4th . This is an inform sprint format of about 1200 meters. NAC, UCI, USC and OCC will “Sprint” three times up and down the North Lido Channel. Two finishes at the OCC boat house and one start. 

Co-Captain Samuel Proctor


The first race of the fall season began at 6:30am when rowers started trickling into the boathouse.  The rain followed soon after and maintained a light drizzle throughout the first half of the day.  For the Varsity, the first race came at 8:00 a.m. with three eights entered in the Men’s Open 8+ event.  We finished with the “B”, “A”, and “C” boats placing 7th, 8th,, and 15th respectively.  The second and last race for the Varsity was the Men’s Open 4+ event.  With four four’s entered, the “A”, “C”, “B”, and “D” placed 3rd, 12th, 17th, and 21st respectively.Inspired by Coach Larry Moore, the theme for the day was to work hard but also have fun.  To make things interesting, Larry had invited former Olympic sculler Xeno Muller and some OCC alumni to race with us in hopes that some of their experience would rub off.  We finished the day having gained experience and insight on future races.  Overall, we had a pretty good time racing around on a cloudy Sunday morning.

Samuel Proctor

Capt.

   Results from the 2003-2004 Racing Season 

Newport Regatta
April 25, 2004

Orange Coast College won the Palmer Cup Points trophy again this year by an overwhelming margin.   With first place finishes in the Varsity, 2 nd Varsity and 2 nd Novice Eight races, 2 nd place in the Novice Eight and Novice Four and a 4 th place finish in the Varsity Four events, OCC Crew retained the Palmer Cup.

Race Results
 Race Results

 NOVICE FOUR  VARSITY FOUR  SECOND NOVICE EIGHT  NOVICE EIGHT 
1   CSULB    7:02.0  1   USD         7:05.91   OCC          6.20.5  1   USC           6.29.6
2   OCC         7:14.42   CSULB     7.11.42   UCI           6.48.2 2   OCC          6.32.9
3   USD         7: 20.23   UCSB A   7.20.13   UCLA       7.06.9 3   UCI            6.40.4 
4   UCSB       7:50.3 4   OCC         7.33.8 4   UCSD        6.44.7
5   UCSB B   7.53.5 5   UCLA  &nbs