Henley Royal Regatta: Pirates, “definitely ready to race”

Steve Virgen

ENGLAND - Orange Coast College crew coach Dave Grant said the

Pirates did not travel to England for site seeing and photographs, but

they went to race in the Henley Royal Regatta. And, race they will.

The OCC crew, which qualified for the field of 32 in the Temple

Challenge Cup last week, will race against the University of Bristol

(England) today at 9:30 a.m on the Thames River, in the

single-elimination tournament format.

“There’s no plans for anything other than what we’re going for. To

race,” Grant said before he and the Pirates left for England.

In an e-mail message sent to the Daily Pilot Tuesday, Grant wrote: The

crew is healthy; practices on the Thames have gone very well and the crew

is definitely ready to race!

OCC coxswain Sierra Caldwell, and Stuart Blair, Chris Pope, Matt

Hietbrink, Gints Salaks, Brian Scheele, Jesse Waldowski, Alan Twigg and

Mike Krueger, are the only community college crew in the U.S. and they

will go up against the likes of crew powerhouses Harvard, Yale and

Colgate.

The Pirates are in the round-of-32 format and race two-on-two, until

there are two crews remaining. The races include a 2,300-meter course.