The Harbor Report: Rowing into champion status
While moving around the harbor the other day, I noticed all the different college alumni flags flying from homes and boats and the different stickers on cars passing by.
I started to wonder: What is our harbor’s home team, the team we can all get behind and take pride in?
Later, while driving over Pacific Coast Highway and onto Lido Peninsula, I looked down the harbor and noticed the Orange Coast College crew team working out on its eight-man rowing shells. Right then I said that’s our team.
The first intercollegiate event held in the United States was a rowing race between Yale and Harvard on Lake Winnipesaukee, in New Hampshire. The tradition is still held on the Thames River in New London, Conn.
The OCC men’s crew team, founded in 1953, is the only community college crew team in the country. Review the team’s history, and two names — Dave Grant and Jim “Jorgo” Jorgensen — jump out. Both have a long history with the school and our harbor.
OCC’s crew team won its first Freshman National Championships in 1980 and has gone on to win five more. In 1985, the team traveled to China to compete and has produced seven Olympic medal winners along with three world champions. OCC also has an outstanding women’s crew team, which will be another story in the future.
Paul Prioleau has been the head coach of the OCC men’s program since 2011, and I had a chance to catch up with him for an interview over the phone. The men’s team consists of 52 members — 46 oarsman and six coxswain. Eighteen members of the team are second-year rowers, with nine having had experience before starting their first year. Most kids start rowing as freshmen in college.
To try out for the team, you have to be a full-time student at OCC with at least a 2.0 grade point average. The ideal height of an oarsman is 6-foot-4 and weight is 195 pounds. Because the sport is based on physical endurance, triathletes and people who have competed in swimming or water polo are the most sought-after by the coaches.
Of course, there is always room for a “Rudy.” That’s the person who has harbored dreams of rowing at OCC, and nothing is going to keep him from the dream. In fact, last year’s team had two members under 6 feet — 5-foot-8 and 5-foot-9, respectively. This time of year, practice is Mondays through Saturdays from 6 to 8:30 a.m., along with an afternoon workout each day.
“Crew requires a high amount of dedication and commitment,” Prioleau said. “It’s a lot of hard work, and the satisfaction you get is working hard at teamwork and camaraderie as a team. It teaches kids how to work hard and be persistent.”
The local regattas in Newport Harbor start March 14 with a dual match with UC Irvine and continue March 21 with a dual with UCLA. On April 12, Chapman University will host a regatta, and on May 9, the 49th annual Newport Regatta will take place. All regattas start at 7 a.m. and are raced down the North Lido Channel.
I asked Prioleau what’s fun about being a crew coach, and this is what he said: “You get a huge amount of satisfaction from watching the students with little direction at the time. You grab them and bring them down to the boat house, and they get hooked on the sport. They really turn to driven, dedicated students, athletes and they suddenly get a new purpose in life.”
He explained that parents often tell him, “We have never seen our kid get up voluntarily out of bed before 7 a.m., and now he is getting his homework done and getting to bed by 9:30 p.m. because he has crew in the morning at 5:30 a.m. How did you do that?”
OCC’s team name is the Pirates. When reviewing the history of the team, I noticed the term “Pirates System.” I asked the coach what that stands for. “Hard work and persistence is rewarded,” he said. “We live and die for the team.”
You can follow our harbor’s team on Facebook under OCC Crew and visit its website, occpirateathletics.com.
The school has been blessed with donors and is always looking for further donations. In fact, there is a rather unique opportunity to supply the school with a new electric coach boat. How cool that would be to see your family name zip up and down the harbor for the next 20 years.
I have attached the team’s roster on my blog site at lenboseyachts.blogspot.com along with a couple other donation ideas. I also wanted to give a big shout-out to Jorgensen, my OCC sailing team coach, who gave me my first break on the harbor.
Sea ya.
LEN BOSE is an experienced boater, yacht broker and boating columnist.