Long Beach, Calif. — In Southern California it doesn't rain, it pours. And on Saturday at the Pancake Regatta, the skies poured enough to turn Marine Stadium into a proving ground. With buckets of rain falling, UCLA Men's Rowing faced conditions that tested preparation, mental toughness, and team identity.

What followed was less a regatta and more of a character exam, one that the Bruins passed with unmistakable resolve reflected by coxswain Will Parker. "There's nothing more miserable than being wet and cold—maybe except for being wet, cold, and stuck in the middle of a body of water. But there's nothing better than being with a hardworking, united group working for something bigger than themselves."

Athletes arrived bundled in trash bags, ponchos, and whatever improvised gear they could scrounge up. They unloaded the trailer in driving rain, rigged boats under a few umbrellas, and launched, drenched before ever touching the water.

After racing ended, they returned to the UCLA Boathouse and repeated the whole process—unloading in sheets of cold rain and re-rigging the boats so the fleet would be ready for Tuesday morning practice. No complaining. No shortcuts. No excuses. Just work.

Despite the weather, a loyal group of alumni, parents, and supporters made the trip. Team Mom Lis Ryan and her husband Ted took great care of the crew and delivered 20 large pizzas that were instantly devoured.

The Bruins also welcomed their tent-less Trojan rivals into their team shelter—a small gesture on a miserable day that reflected the best of this sport's community.

Although the racecourse itself held up, the results did not. Widespread issues with bow markers and identification led the CSULB coaching staff to issue an unusually candid letter to participating teams: with one-third of boats lacking markers, another third unreadable at the finish, and coxswains unable to confirm numbers, the timing system could not produce accurate race results.

The organizers took full responsibility and outlined several procedural improvements for 2026.

The lack of official results was disappointing, but in its own way, fitting. On a day defined by chaos, clarity came from somewhere else entirely. The novices, after their very first regatta in what amounted to a monsoon, understand the culture, goals, expectations of UCLA Men's Rowing.

The novice eight event, untimed with no official results by design, presented its own challenges. OCC was clearly the class of the novice field, and their varsity looked similarly polished. But the first-year rowers across the field are still learning to row and several crews moved by sixes to stay aligned and moving forward, yet to learn the basics of balance and cohesion.

The young Bruins arrived in Long Beach barely two months into their rowing careers, most still learning the fundamentals, many still working toward rowing all eight together, all of them new to the unpredictable world of racing. The open skies turned their first test into a scene out of a survival course. What emerged from the storm was a clear message.

This novice class believes its ceiling is national-championship high.

Novice rower Bartosz Rauch framed the day perfectly. "Today was a day of exceeding expectations. No one expected the first race to happen in pouring rain, nor that we would hold our own after only a month on the water." But Bartosz didn't stop at celebrating survival. He went straight to ambition. "Being a Bruin means competing for a national championship, and until then we still have our best race ahead of us."

Two months in. First regatta ever. And the target he's talking about is ACRA gold.

If Bartosz set the ambition, fellow novice Suviir Dhalla articulated the pathway: "Success in rowing, as in life, comes from holding ourselves to a higher standard than anyone else expects… I have my sights set on winning ACRA in exactly six months." And then the mindset shift that defines champions. "We don't rise to our goals, we fall to our daily habits. If winning is what we want, then today should remind us to strengthen those habits."

Not many novices talk like that. Even fewer say it after their first regatta, soaked to the bone.

For novice coxswain Corrinne Kaisch, the day was chaotic but formative and energizing. "Today my very first regatta was soaking wet but exciting. The team and I are motivated to get right back to work. Go Bruins!"

Coach Weston Cole summed up the coaching staff's assessment. "The novice crews did well to battle the conditions and get their first racing experience in the books. Coach Tal Lindsey and I are stoked with the group we have and looking forward to getting back to work this week."

It's early, very early, but this class has the mindset of a crew planning its spring around the national championship course in Oak Ridge.

The Pancake Regatta didn't deliver times, instead, the experience delivered truth. The varsity is deep and strong. The novices are tough, ambitious, and thinking on a national scale. The UCLA Boathouse culture, rooted in grit, humility, and work ethic, is alive and unmistakable.

A cold, wet November morning gave UCLA Rowing more feedback about its identity than any stopwatch could.

The Bruins return to action this Saturday at the UCLA Boathouse for the NOVAR (novice/varsity) intrasquad racing day.

Friends of UCLA Men's Rowing are welcome. 7:00 AM Start — Bring or borrow a bike and follow the crews along the Ballona Creek bike path.