Washington sweeps at Windermere Cup

The most dramatic moment in the featured Windermere Cup men's race came on the way to the starting line, not during the race.

Pit stops might be commonplace in NASCAR racing, but they are rare in rowing. But the Washington varsity had to make one Saturday when a pin holding an oarlock broke while the crew was doing warmup drills on the way to the starting line.

The nation's top-ranked crew retreated to the shellhouse and got a different boat. They got to the starting line four minutes behind schedule but the race was delayed. That's where the unpredictability ended. The Huskies led wire to wire, defeating Poland's under-23 national team and Navy.

The undefeated Huskies covered the 2,000-meter, yacht-lined gauntlet leading from Lake Washington into the Montlake Cut in 5 minutes, 49.31 seconds. The Polish crew was second in 5:56.48 and Navy was third in 6:00.59.

The Huskies women's varsity also prevailed on the drizzly, overcast morning, winning for the first time in four weeks. The UW women were clocked in 6:35.17, easily defeating Navy (6:50.17) and the University of Melbourne (6:52.38).

The Windermere Cup races completed an 18-race card in the Opening Day Regatta that precedes the annual yacht parade through the Montlake Cut. The wet, chilly weather reduced the crowd this year but rowing conditions were excellent.

"The water was flatter than a tortilla," cracked UW women's coach Bob Ernst.

Blaise Didier was the rower in the Huskies men's varsity boat whose oarlock broke when the boat was on its way to the starting line.

"That happened to me once in high school," he said.

Coxswain Katelin Snyder said, "We were about halfway out and were practicing our starts. We did a three-quarter pressure start and he snapped the metal pin. I said to him, 'It was supposed to be three-quarter pressure; what are you doing?' We booked it back to the shellhouse, took out the Empacher [boat] and went right to the starting line. It was hard, too, because we were kind of nervous."

The incident occurred while the Huskies were rowing a Pocock boat named after late Windermere executive Terry Haberbush. The Huskies are undefeated in their Empacher shell, the "Chuck Holtz" they acquired last year, but were rowing the Pocock boat as a "thank you" to Windermere and all three crews in the race would have had the same equipment.

Washington men's coach Michael Callahan said he was pleased with the poise his crew, which includes three sophomores, demonstrated after the unexpected equipment problem.

"We tell them, 'Don't expect everything to be perfect,' " he said.

The Huskies varsity rowed with pink instead of purple W's on their jerseys to support the fight against breast cancer. Callahan suggested the color change because his friend Kim Allison, wife of his former UW and national teammate Ryan Allison, has been diagnosed with the disease. The Mercer Island woman is a breast-cancer specialist at the University of Washington Medical Center across the street from the athletic complex. She is a 33-year-old mother of two and attended the race.

The victory by the UW women snapped a streak of three consecutive dual-regatta losses to Washington State, Oregon State and California after a surprising victory in the San Diego Crew Classic.

"They are getting better," Ernst said. "We're getting it sorted out. The surprising victory at San Diego was a sign that we've got some good athletes."

Stroke Kayleigh Mack, a sophomore from Roosevelt High School, said, "We've gotten better. ... It's feeling really good."

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com