Hello Everyone, I can't tell you how proud I am to see this club flourishing. It's so satisfying to see this!! Great job everyone! Great web site & photos too. It was difficult times back then when Steve Moe and I were dealing with TRW, Zenon Barbrai who replaced Jim Simms as head coach at UCLA, and the collapse of the South Coast Corinthian YC once we were kicked out of UCLA's boat house by Zenon. I would have never have imagined the Basin D beach would be become a home but really glad it worked out. Anita DeFrance and Jim Simms really were the gate keepers that allowed the club to happen. Steve and I were in the right place at the right time. We simply wanted to row again and there was no opportunity other than Long Beach & that was too far away. It was a desperate move to store the Coffey 8 on the sand, I remember hand sewing rigger covers to protect the oar locks. I still cherish my Crew Classic poster of the club 8 start in 87 and 88. We had some really good rowers but just didn't practice enough, always kept getting 4th. Keep up the great work. I'm back to struggling again with another start up, the Whiskeytown RC in Redding, CA - been working on it for 10 years. Just felt compelled to say HI and if anyone comes to the extreme North I have a double and single for use - plus the club as a decent 4.
Reese (TRW RC president 1985-1988)
Here is Reese describing the photos above:
I’m stroking the 87 boat, and Chuck Pappish is in 7 seat. He was a national team oarsman from Yale, and was the best rower I’ve ever known or probably ever will. All the others rowed in college too, that was great about TRW – with some 30,000 professionals working in Space Park, there were tons of experienced rowers that came out of the woodwork when they heard about the rowing. It was really windy in 87 and we swamped on the way to the starting line & had to pull over and dump out the boat. The 87 boat was all TRW employees. The 88 boat was faster with some real powerhouses, 6 of 8 were TRW employees. I don’t remember strokes (Claud’s) last name but remember he was really good and he and his buddy rowed a pair everyday out of the UCLA boathouse. Chuck and I would eventually beat them at their own game at race in La Bollona Creek, and that is a really sweet memory. At the start of the 88 race the UCLA JV 2nd boat started drifting over into our lane and we all remember Chuck turning his head and yelling at the top of his lungs to “MOVE OVER” and that startled everyone in both boats. We had experienced UCLA coxswains, that was nice. I’ll never forget that yell, how he had the wind to do that. I’ll also never forget how my feet slipped out of my shoes near the end of the race and we dropped from 3rd to 4th in the last 20, still haunts and motivates me today. That’s what happens when you never practice a full-paced 2000. It was never fair at the regattas, we had to compete against at least 2nd JV boats. There weren’t any “clubs.” We never were coached. We rowed pretty darn good for no coaching & we all had a blast. I remember hauling stuff to Sacramento, USC, and Long Beach. I’m sure there are similar stories LARC crews have experienced over the years.
Reese (TRW RC president 1985-1988)
Here is Reese describing the photos above:
I’m stroking the 87 boat, and Chuck Pappish is in 7 seat. He was a national team oarsman from Yale, and was the best rower I’ve ever known or probably ever will. All the others rowed in college too, that was great about TRW – with some 30,000 professionals working in Space Park, there were tons of experienced rowers that came out of the woodwork when they heard about the rowing. It was really windy in 87 and we swamped on the way to the starting line & had to pull over and dump out the boat. The 87 boat was all TRW employees. The 88 boat was faster with some real powerhouses, 6 of 8 were TRW employees. I don’t remember strokes (Claud’s) last name but remember he was really good and he and his buddy rowed a pair everyday out of the UCLA boathouse. Chuck and I would eventually beat them at their own game at race in La Bollona Creek, and that is a really sweet memory. At the start of the 88 race the UCLA JV 2nd boat started drifting over into our lane and we all remember Chuck turning his head and yelling at the top of his lungs to “MOVE OVER” and that startled everyone in both boats. We had experienced UCLA coxswains, that was nice. I’ll never forget that yell, how he had the wind to do that. I’ll also never forget how my feet slipped out of my shoes near the end of the race and we dropped from 3rd to 4th in the last 20, still haunts and motivates me today. That’s what happens when you never practice a full-paced 2000. It was never fair at the regattas, we had to compete against at least 2nd JV boats. There weren’t any “clubs.” We never were coached. We rowed pretty darn good for no coaching & we all had a blast. I remember hauling stuff to Sacramento, USC, and Long Beach. I’m sure there are similar stories LARC crews have experienced over the years.
