Head of the Lake – Seattle 2014

9 November 2014Petra J ‘16 & Jessica N ‘16; Photos by Brian Carr

Over the midterm break, several senior crews bussed down to Seattle to compete in the Head of the Lake Regatta—the biggest head race west of the Mississippi. Over the course of the term, the rowers have worked through long erg pieces, rough water and never-ending fine-tuning improvements in preparation for this big event. When our crews got down to the University of Washington boathouse for a practice row, “things had gone too smoothly” as Mrs. Sage put it. Sure enough, our girls’ coxed quad found that the wrong riggers were placed on the trailer. Borrowing Vic City’s oars so that we could practice despite our conundrum, we headed out to join the other Brentwood boats to view the course for the following day. On race day two girls and two boys crews raced their hardest, despite the wavering conditions. Both girls’ crews had strong finishes: the double placed fourth and the coxed quad grabbed a close fifth. The boys’ crews also had respectable showings, with the double coming seventh and the eight coming eighth. In a head race, each boat starts several seconds behind one another, with the goal of catching the crews in front, and not allowing the crews behind to gain. Just under halfway into the race, we had to pass through the cut, a small passage with cement walls on both sides. With the wake from all the passing boats bouncing off the cut walls, it was the roughest part of the course, but hearing the crowd cheering for Brentwood was enough to give us the last boost of energy to help finish our last race of the Fall off strongly. Petra J ‘16 & Jessica N ‘16

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