WOW sent two quads to the 2025 Crew Classic in San Diego for 3 days of racing (March 28-30). Each boat raced 2,000 meters on Friday and Saturday (heats and finals) and also participated in a 500-meter dash on Sunday.
This was a big deal for us because we have not raced in Crew Classic in five years and so our training has mostly been geared towards shorter races of 1,000 meters. We also had not raced this course in small boats. We learned a lot about navigating quads in rough water with strong currents and crosswinds on a lightly buoyed course as did many other teams. We are very proud of our teammate Elisa Lee, who is such a natural bow that these conditions only affected her when other teams’ boats got in her lane. WOW came in second and third in the Petite Final for the 2000-meter race on Saturday. On Sunday, both of WOW’s boats showed they had overcome the challenges of the course by dominating the 500-meter Foundation Challenge Draft and crossed the finish line first and second with only 4 seconds between them! This was a truly exciting race for spectators and rowers alike as WOW, which was in both outside lanes (Outside Smoke!), gradually took the field and held it. While another boat won the race with their handicap, it is still fun to watch the drone footage of the race and to hear the announcer call “and it looks like we have Newport and Newport” in the lead. It was a great day to conclude a fun regatta.
It was fun to travel with the NAC Juniors! A special ‘shoutout’ to Jordan and Cierra for trailering our boats and to the NAC Juniors for carrying our quads to the staging area as well as derigging our brand new Vespoli 8+, sponsored by Elder and Spencer, which was on display during Crew Classic and delivered to NAC on Sunday.