Solid effort by Pirates at Newport Regatta

NEWPORT BEACH -- It was a postcard-type of morning down at Newport Harbor for the 60th-annual Newport Regatta on Sunday as the Orange Coast College men's crew took on the best four-year programs in the area.

In the end, the Pirates earned a second-place showing for the overall team points total with 22 points, edged by UCLA (28 points) for the top overall squad among all of the races that took place.

Coast earned three first-place finishes out of the six races, earning team trophies in the Second Novice 8 race, the Novice 8 race, and the highly-anticipated Varsity 8 race.

In the Second Novice 8, it was a two-boat showdown as the Pirates went boat-to-boat with rival UCLA. Coast came out strong in the opening portion of the 2,000-meter race and by the time the boats approached the OCC Boathouse, the Pirates had an open-water advantage, which they kept all the way to the finish line. Coast took the Norman E. Watson Cup with a winning time of 6 minutes, 34.4 seconds, while the Bruins came in 15 seconds back with a time of 6:49.45.

In the Novice 8, Coast went up against UCLA, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and San Diego State, but in the end, it was once again the Pirates and Bruins battling for the fastest time as well as the Larry M. Moore Cup. Coast carried boat-length lead on the Bruins at the Boathouse and never let UCLA get close to the lead, winning the race by over five seconds with a time of 6:05.02, followed by the Bruins (6:10.63) and Long Beach State (6:38.44).

In the final race of the morning, the Varsity 8, both the Pirates and Bruins have been neck and neck with each other throughout the 2025 season and coach Cam Brown gave the rowers sound advice for Sunday's race. 

"UCLA likes to go out strong and fast so I told the guys that if we can withstand that early push, we had the endurance to catch them and pass them," Brown said. "I told the guys that when you see the Boathouse, start playing the 'Rocky' theme song in your heads and go hard."

The race went exactly as scripted as the Bruins grabbed the early lead, but the Pirates stayed within a boat length. For the final 750 meters, Coast caught up, then, edged the Bruins at the Boathouse and rowed a blistering time of 5:44.45, just over 2 seconds faster than the Bruins' time of 5:46.82 to win the James C. Jorgensen Cup. UC Irvine was a distant third at 6:03.5, followed by UCSB (6:04.6), LBSU (6:16.03) and SDSU (6:50.26).

Coast battled hard in the Second Varsity 8 race (Robert B. Moore Cup) against the Bruins, with UCLA earning a 5-second win over Coast (6:03.62) with a time of 5:58.35.

After a race-free weekend, the Pirates will be preparing for the Crew Classic down in San Diego, which takes place March 29-30, beginning at 7 a.m.