Regattas This Weekend

The South finally swings back into action on Saturday at Georgia Tech's John Hunter Regatta on Melton Hill Lake. The regatta includes a five boat light four race and a three boat light eight race. The light four event includes Auburn, Chattanooga, Clemson RA, and two Georgia boats. With the exception of Chattanooga, these boats met at SERCS, and the two UGA boats won comfortably. We'll see if this will simply be an UGA race or if the other crews have increased their speed enough to give the Bulldogs a run for their money. In the light eight Georgia, Auburn, and Virginia Tech square off. I don't recall any of these crews racing a light eight this season so this race should be wide open.

Wisconsin kicks its season into gear as it's scheduled to race in the Indiana Championships. This is mostly a Wisco-Notre Dame-Indiana heavyweight affair, but since it's on the lightweight schedule it looks like the Badgers will get a few races in (I'd pay money to see them knock off a Notre Dame heavyweight boat). I would call the start of the Badgers' season, "highly anticipated." Going after their fourth straight national championship with some senior losses and a new coach will make for one exciting run by Wisco. It's not that I don't think they'll be in the hunt, in fact, just the opposite - I'm anxious to see how they do it this time. Will they peak differently, will they row differently, will they race differently? Will the new era continue the old?

With Wisconsin and MIT racing this weekend, all of the top ten schools will have opened their seasons.