ON THE WATER -- Skimming the surface

Alex Coolman

You could never hold this race in the summer, when the bay is choked

with boats and the water looks like a floating parking lot.

But in the cold air of November, the Newport Autumn Rowing Festival

has all the room it needs.

The festival, which took place Sunday, is one of the major rowing

events in California for high school and college-age competitors. More

than 1,300 athletes attended, traveling from UC Berkeley, Stanford

University and elsewhere.

It’s an event that’s been going on since the late 1970s, said Bill Whitford, director of the Newport Aquatic Center, and it’s one that

brings out some of the best things in rowing life.

For one thing, Whitford said, the course showcases the beauty of the

bay. The 2.7-mile race, which is like a drag strip for everything from

eight-person boats to single-person scullers, runs from the Lido Isle

bridge to the aquatic center.

“There’s not many venues that work well for this type of rowing,”

Whitford said -- and not many that look this good.

Not surprisingly, the race attracts some serious competition.

Though there are classes for novice rowers who have spent less than a

year studying the sport, more competitive groups see the highest caliber

rowers in the state matching talents.

“We look at this as a very meaningful gauge of where the team is at,”

said Craig Amerkhanian, the head men’s rowing coach at Stanford. “It’s

really one of the best fall races in the world.”

Stanford’s team is fairly new, and Amerkhanian said he was excited

about giving his athletes the chance to see what serious rowing is about.

“This is their first time to see a team like [UC Berkeley], or even be

in an intercollegiate competition,” he said.

For that matter, Whitford said, the rowing festival can also be an

exciting time for the moms and dads of the competitors.

“There’s a lot of parents who have never seen their kids row,” he

said. “They go, ‘I didn’t know you guys go backward!”’