1985
(Toronto, Canada) I went to my first FISA Masters Regatta. The regatta was still small and informal and the women made up and entered crews on the spot. 1989
(Vichy, France) was my first European FISA Masters. The French organizers
allowed me to enter a 2x on site.1990
(Viareggio, Italy) I organized 3 races for myself, one of which was
cancelled due to extremely high winds and waves.1991
(Miami, USA): In addition to my own 4 races, I put together several
additional crews for rowing friends. We wore white shirts with “USA Composite”.1992
(Cologne, Germany) was the first time the name “Masters
International” was used for entries and racing shirts.From
1992 to 1999 (Cologne/Vienna/Groningen/Bled/Velence(Budapest)/Adelaide/Munich /Seville) I organized only my own 4 races.2000
(Hazewinkel, Belgium) I added several additional crews to my own 4 events upon request from some of the women in
my own crews.2001
EuroMasters (Munich, Germany) I added another 3 entries, again by
request.2001
(Montreal, Canada) I got the brilliant(?!) idea that “it would be great
fun to enter a WH8+ for the first time ever at a FISA Masters Regatta”. Personal
phone calls to the American G and H women yielded an enthusiastic response. And
soon requests came in for additional crews in other boat categories! Also, a young rower from my club needed help in finding partners.
One thing led to another until we ended up with 27 crews: women A-H in
various 2x, 4x, 4+, 8+ and mixed races. The youngest was 30, the oldest 92! This
was also the year that USRowing protested our
use of “Masters International” and “Golden Masters”
(which I wanted to use for the Montreal
entries) so our crews ended up racing under various of combinations of
names, randomly
selected by the regatta organizers.2002
(Racice, Czech Repulic): The success in Montreal lured me into organizing a large contingent of WE-H crews. Myriad problems almost led me to abandon FISA Masters Regattas altogether!!!!2003
(Vichy, France) and 2004 (Hamburg, Germany): A smaller group attended and everything ran almost
smoothly. Both years were very successful.
2005 (Strathclyde, Scotland) escalated quickly into the largest group ever. In addition to our regular crews, a WA8+ and WB8+ was added at the request of
4 young Norwegians. My
apprehension disappeared when cooperation and efficient
teamwork by old and new “members” took care
of the usual as well as some unexpected problems and made this yet another successful regatta. This was the first time that FISA disallowed the use of
“Masters International” in the race program. This
made it hard for
our photographers, supporters and friends to
find us in the race schedule and I had to spend some of my already precious little free time marking their programs.2006 EuroMasters (Munich, Germany) was again a small group with only 13 entries but we had even more problems (mainly with the rental
boats) than in Scotland. Fortunately we had a large support group with many talented helpers.2006 (Princeton, USA):
Although we had a slightly smaller group than
in Strathclyde, we were able to enter more events. Many of our USA
participants from the Toronto and Montreal
FISA Masters returned, quite a few of the European group came and a
large
number of new "members" from all over the USA
joined us. This year we again were listed under "Masters International"
which
made it easy for everybody (especially those
of our group who were unable to attend) to find us in the program and in
the
race results since only the club and the
stroke were listed. This was the only FISA Masters Regatta so far where we won all of our races.2007 (Zagreb, Croatia):
THE largest group ever: 68 rowers (including 4
coxswains) in 39 entries! And half of the group were new "members"!
Unfortunately, unless we can find somebody
willing to be an additional "manager" during regatta week, this is the
absolute
limit . The group will very likely be reduced
to a more manageable size next year.2008 (Trakai, Lithuania):
A much smaller group than in Zagreb with just 35 rowers (including 4 coxswains)2009 (Vienna, Austria): A large
group because quite a few could cox/row with us in only one or two races.2010 EuroMasters (Munich, Germany):
A slightly larger group than at the 2006
EuroMasters but we again had only 13 events (we entered 15 but had to
cancel
2). About half of the group rowed with us
for the first time! Karin as always organized everything but then
had to cancel her trip because the
organizational problems for US Masters and FISA Masters were just
overwhelming. But
she was always available via email in case of
questions/problems. However, the group handled everything just fine,
including
the usual number of hiccups and problems!2010 (St.Catharines, Canada):
With 52 members it was the second largest MI
group but we entered the largest number of crews ever (48!).
Unfortunately,
the race program & results posted the
entries only under abbreviated combo names so it was extremely hard to
see our crews.2011 (Poznan, Poland): A group of 54
(47 women and 7 coxswains) raced in 43 crews (29 women's crews and 14 mixed)2012 (Duisburg, Germany): 51 women and
6 coxswains competed in 42 crews (26 women's events and 16 mixed). This year we included 4 younger
crews: WA4x, WB4x, WA8+ and
WB8+. Unfortunately we were not able to enter any women's J events and
only
had a women's I 4x because several of our
older women did not come for various reasons.2013 (Varese, Italy):
The largest squad
ever (65 women and 4 coxswains) competed in
75 crews (47 women's and 29 mixed) in age categories from A to K. The
group was larger by only one than the one in
Zagreb but raced in 37 more events. It was a very successful regatta
for us!2014 EuroMasters (Munich, Germany): our largest EuroMasters group ever. With 50 group members we entered 41 crews (26 women's and 15 mixed). Competition was extremely tough.2015 (Hazewinkel, Belgium): the group was even larger than in Varese with 75 women and 5 coxswains, who competed in 87 crews (62 women's and 25 mixed) in age categories A-J. Unfortunately, no K crew this year! Competition was another notch higher and we lost several races in under 1 second.
2016 EuroMasters (Munich, Germany): an in-between EuroMasters because some rowers did not want to go to Copenhagen and the organizers want to save the rowing venue from destruction by the city of Munich. Attendance was small but it was a pleasant regatta with nice weather.
2016 (Copenhagen, Denmark): only a small group because most of them had attended EuroMasters. Surprisingly, race conditions were good for this time of year except it was very windy on Sunday. 16 women's crews and 8 mixed crews.
2017 (Bled, Slovenia): 82 members competed in 80 crews. Competition was fierce and the number of overall women's entries had increased dramatically, including in the H-J categories). It was bedlam at the Headquarters tent because many of the crew members did not come prepared, i.e. they did not check the web site and/or crew list so there was no end to the questions asked.2018 EuroMasters (Munich, Germany): 62 members competed in 62 events. Competition was hard and we often came in second by a fraction or a couple of seconds.There were only a handful of 3rd place finishes and the sole 4th place was due to equipment problems.2018 (Sarasota, USA): 44 members competed in 46 events. The smallest group in a long time. Also, it contained quite a few people from the MastersUSA group who normally do not compete at FISA Masters
