Hello Aztec Rowing Alumni and Friends,

Spring racing is well under way and the next event on the schedule is Crew Classic on April 6-7th!

Crew Classic invokes great memories of racing, being with friends and teammates, and making boats go fast. This year will be no different. The Aztecs will be entering three 8’s: a Varsity 8, Junior Varsity 8, and a Novice 8. The athletes are primed and ready to go to row at the big show.

We would like to enlist your help and support to make this Crew Classic the best one yet. On Friday April 5th, we will be having our annual banquet and auction. This will be a fun night of food, meeting current oarsman, seeing old friends and making new ones. Please RSVP here.

The team leadership and the alumni board are working hard to make this a weekend to remember. Here are some key details about the weekend:

• Auction: We will be auctioning off the naming rights to two eights in our fleet. Cement your legacy at your Alma Mater in the best way possible by immortalizing your name in the Aztec Rowing boathouse. We appreciate all of the support from our alumni and want to make auction items worthwhile. For a complete list of auction items, click here (link to list I am putting together
• Racing: The reason we are here! Racing begins the morning of Saturday April 6th with each boat having at least one race, with finals Sunday April 7th. The racing schedule can be found on the Crew Classic site and will be updated with final times as the event approaches.
• Crew Classic BBQ: Along with the racing on Sunday April 7th, we will also be hosting the famous carne and pollo asada BBQ at the team tent.  We’ll be firing the grill up early and plan to start serving food by 11:AM.
• Beekley Foundation Meeting: At 1:30PM, the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation will convene its annual meeting.  Any alumni or supporter is welcome to attend and any member of the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation in good standing is eligible to vote on the issues and run for any office.

This will truly be a weekend to remember, see you on April 5th!

We’re just short of one month from this years H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation Golf Tournament and it’s time to get your registration booked for the event!  This year’s event will be held on Saturday, February 9th at the historic Balboa Park Golf Course in San Diego. Tournament participants will play 18 holes in a Scramble format, and will play alongside current rowers, coxswains and coaches throughout the course.
Golfers can participate for as little as $85/person (in a foursome) and sponsorships start at $89 to sponsor an athlete or coach for the event.  For full details, please visit our EventBrite registration page and claim your spot for this years event!

All net proceeds from the event will go directly to the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundations (http://beekleyrowing.org) Boat Fund which has a current goal to put a new 8 man racing shell in the SDSU boathouse during the 2019 season.
Online registration closes on Sunday, January 27th at midnight!  For more information or questions about any form of sponsorship, contact us at info@beekleyrowing.org

Boat Fund Update

With the Fall season here, it’s time to redouble our effort toward the 10th Anniversary boat fund. The Foundation has raised more than ½ of the $35,000 needed to update the boathouse with a newer racing shell by Crew Classic. Replacing equipment is an ongoing challenge, and keeping the boathouse fresh with new and gently used equipment ensures the current and future success of the team. You can make donations to the boat fund at any time on the Donate section of our website. As is customary, the largest donor or group of donors will have first naming rights.

Special thanks to donors Kris Corley, Ed Baldry, Chris Anderson, Dustin Hinds, Joseph Dodson, and James Osborn for the contributions to the boat fund over the summer! 

RSVP Today! – Alumni Row and Homecoming Tailgate

On October 20th, the team would like to invite our alumni oarsmen and coxswains to join the current aztecs in a mixed row (which is certain to end in a little racing) at the Mission Bay Aquatic Center Boathouse.  Those interested in rowing should reach out to Bernard at info@beekleyrowing.org to reserve a spot. We’ll be meeting at 6:00 AM and plan to be off the water by 8:30 AM to give you plenty of time to rest up and join us at this season’s Homecoming Game for the SDSU Men’s Crew Alumni Tailgate!. 

Is the thought of getting back into a racing shell not quite your speed these days?  No problem! We’ll be grilling hot dogs, burgers, and some smoked meats before the Aztec football team takes on San Jose State at this year’s Homecoming Game.  Plan to head on down to the stadium and join us as early as 3:30 PM in section H3. We’re asking for $5 per person to help offset the cost of the food, water, soda, and utensils.  Please let us know if you plan on attending – and/or would like to provide something – so that we can ensure we have enough to go around. Because current team members are invited, we will not be providing alcohol. But if you so choose you can bring your own adult beverages (and remember that the stadium doesn’t allow glass containers).  This will be a great opportunity to meet the current team and swap war stories with other alumni.

Please send your RSVP or any questions about either event to info@beekleyrowing.org by Friday October 12.

 Aztecs Fall Race Schedule

10/27 – Head of the American, Lake Natoma, Sacramento, CA
11/11- Fall Classic, Mission Bay, San Diego, CA
11/24 – Newport Chase, Newport Beach, CA (select crews)
11/25 – Head of the Harbor, Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (select crews)

 Future Beekley Foundation Events

• Early February 2019 – Beekley Rowing Foundation Golf Tournament
  • Last year’s event was a bunch of fun and we’re looking to improve upon it this year.  We’ll be working to finalize a location and exact date in the coming couple of months, but wanted to get this in people’s minds now!
• April 6-7 2019 – San Diego Crew Classic
  • The team will be racing all throughout the weekend
  • We’ll be hosting our usual Sunday BBQ and Annual meeting of the Board for the Foundation.
  • For the first time in several years, we’ll be fielding a boat or two of Aztec Alumni

We were happy to see so many of you at Crew Classic this year!  We were also excited to have both the Varsity 8 and Novice 8 racing in finals on Sunday.  The Varsity 8 pretty handily took out Long Beach in their heat, and secured a 6th place finish in the Petite Final on Sunday.  The Novice 8 took 2nd in their heat – behind only Cal – which landed them in the Grand Finals on Sunday, where they narrowly missed the podium by finishing 4th overall.  In addition to the boats making the Sunday finals, the team was also able to field a 2nd Varsity 8 that raced on Saturday to round out their showing at the event. With two 8’s of athletes on Varsity, and almost a full second eight of novices, the team is continuing to use their numbers to drive inter-squad competition as they prepare for WIRAs.

As the Sunday Finals drew to a close, we once again fired up a 6-foot grill to cook and serve over 60 pounds of Carne and Pollo Asada for our annual team, alumni, and family BBQ.  As with all of our previous years of hosting the event, the team was very grateful to meet and greet the alumni in attendance, and nobody walked away hungry!
After all of the BBQ had been cooked, all of the Alumni in attendance gathered at the tent to kick off the 10th Anniversary Annual Meeting of the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation.  This year we highlighted the successful events of the past year, then took a stroll down memory lane to remember some of the major successes we’ve had over our first decade. While an official copy of the meeting minutes will be available on the Beekley Rowing website, we wanted to introduce you to your new Board of Directors for the coming year.

• President → Andy Olson.  Andy originally started the foundation 10 years ago, re-joined the board as President last year, and has happily accepted the job for another year.
• Vice President → Bernard Aparicio.  Bernard accepted the VP role after serving the board last year in one of our At Large positions where he proved to be a very passionate and valuable asset.
• Secretary → Brandt Watson.  Brandt also spent last year serving the Board in an At Large position where his efforts promoting the team and events on Social Media made him an obvious choice to fill the role of Secretary.
• Treasurer → Steve Lewis.  Steve returns for his third year as Treasurer and remains as passionate as ever about supporting the goals of the alumni and the board.
• At-Large → Matt Stewart.  Matt participated in several events and helped the Board prepare the Boat Fund and Membership mailer this year and is looking forward to officially serving in the coming year.
• At-Large → Haakon Christoffer Jonsmyr. Chris is finishing up his final year as team Commodore and will be transitioning to an At Large role to continue helping the team in the coming year.

A special thanks to Dan Smith who stepped down this year after serving as the Foundation’s secretary for the last 9 years. He is by far the longest serving officer the Board has seen and has certainly been the glue that has connected the Board through the years.

The newly elected Board will be continuing last year’s focus of reconnecting the alumni and the team through communication and events.  Additionally, the Board is dedicated to do the work necessary to raise the funds needed to put an updated 8-man racing shell in the boathouse during the upcoming season.  Many alumni have already generously contributed, so we’re off to a great start in building the fund.  At this point, we are working with the team and coaches to find the desired boat and get a final price so that we can accomplish this goal.

If you missed Crew Classic and are looking for the next alumni event, you’re in luck.  Have you been itching to get back in a racing shell on beautiful Mission Bay? Well here’s your chance! On Saturday May 5th at 7:30 am, come down and relive the glory days as you join with fellow alumni to give the current Aztec oarsmen a run for their money. We are looking to put together several eights with former rowers and coxswains from every era. A $20 buy-in gets you a seat, first come, first served (fitness not required). If you would like to participate, contact us (info@beekleyrowing.org) or a member of the board and we will reserve your seat.  After the rowing, the team will be celebrating the end of their year “Cinco de Mayo” style with a taco cart run by the family of a fallow alumni.  Any participants or spectators interested in sticking around for the food are being asked to contribute $10 to offset the cost. So come down and show your support for SDSU Men’s Crew as the athletes prepare for ACRAs (American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships in Gainesville, GA).

Please contact us if you have any questions!
Go Aztecs!

Everyone at the Beekley Rowing Foundation wants to wish you a Happy New Year!  The rowers on the team have been out on the water for the last month and they have been working hard every day.

This month, we have quite a bit to report.  Please let us know if you have any questions about the team, or any topics we should cover, let us know!  (Expect a formal agenda sent out next month)

* Team Update
* Team Schedule
* Boat Dedications
* Foundation News
* Old Trophies
* Crew Classic

———

Team Update

The SDSU Crew team has steadily been growing in size the last few years.  Last year, the team finished the season with one Varsity 8, a Varsity 4 & a Novice 8.  Now that school has started at SDSU, we’re pleased to see that there are 2 full varsity 8s, and three novice 8s rowing every day at practice.  Many of these rowers are lightweights, so expect to see the rebirth of our successful lightweight program!

——-

Team Schedule

The schedule isn’t 100% set yet for the season, however we know that SDSU has entered into the following races.  We will keep you up to date with the changes

* The Gruenberg Cup:  February 23, 2013 – SDSU will take on Long Beach State & USC in the first edition of the Gruenberg Cup.  (Yes, this event is named after former SDSU rower Josh Gruenberg)

* Desert Sprints:  March 9, 2013 – SDSU travels to Tempe, Arizona to take on ASU

* Parker Cup: March 16, 2013 – SDSU faces traditional rivals LMU & UCI for the Parker Cup in Misson Bay

* The San Diego Crew Classic: April 6 & 7 – SDSU will enter a varsity 8, two novice 8s and lightweight 8 against schools from across the nation.

* WIRA: April 28, 2013 – SDSU travels to Sacramento to race the majority of the crews on the west coast

* ACRA Championship: May 26, 2013 – SDSU hopes to qualify for the ACRA championships in Georgia once again.  (This race is now considered the club sports teams’ National Championship)

————-

Boat Dedications

This year, at the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation meeting, we will be dedicating 3 new shells that have been donated to the SDSU Crew Team!

* The Eric Barge
This brand new Resolute Eight was purchased by Josh Gruenberg and is being named after former rower Eric Barge. Eric rowed during the mid-1980s for SDSU, and has been a supporter of the team ever since. When he is not seen watching the Aztecs on the water, he can often be seen at SDSU football games. The varsity guys will be the first team to ever row in this shell, and it is the most state of the art shell available.

* TBD
Scott Petry used his connections to the Cal rowing program to purchase two lightly used Vespoli 8s.  These two new shells are significantly faster than anything the team currently rows in, and was manufactured with the latest technologies.  It is my understanding that the names are being kept secret until their unveiling over Crew Classic weekend

* The Emilia William
A few years ago, the SDSU Crew Team had amassed a $5,000 debt on a boat they had purchased.  When the team was unable to pay off that final payment, Chris Carlson stepped up and helped the team pay off that shell.  The boat had not been named, and the team has affectionally referred to it with a variety of names, including “The Black Boat” and “No Name”.  The team is happy to announce that this shell will be formally named “The Emilia William”, which is named after his two kids!  We will not be doing an official christening, as this shell is 10 years old, however, we wanted to recognize Chris and his family here.

—————

Foundation News

*  Earlier this year, we ran a fundraising campaign to raise money to help update the team’s equipment.  Thanks to everyone who donated, as rowers from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s all kicked in to help.  The team now has 3 new 8 man shells, several new sets of oars, 5 new “cox-boxes” (speakers to allow the coxswain to be heard by all 8 rowers in the boat) and we were able to fix a bunch of broken (or nearly broken) components on our boats.

*  The foundation also raised enough money to purchase two more “4” man shells from Cal.  There are some logistic hurdles (within the Cal program) to get these shells purchased, but we look forward to making an announcement on when these shells will arrive soon!

——

Old Trophies

Since the foundation has started, we’ve been working with the team to make sure that the traditions established by the team continue forward in time.  There are several old trophies that haven’t been seen around the program in many years.  If you have one of these old trophies, please let us know (info@beekleyrowing.org) so that we can arrange for it to be returned to the team.

——

Crew Classic 2013

This year, the San Diego Crew classic takes place on the weekend of April 6 & 7.  This is one of the most exciting events on the rowing calendar.

H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation Annual Meeting

* The H. Del Beekley Foundation Annual Meeting is taking place in the evening of April 6.  We are still looking for a place to hold the meeting.  At this annual meeting, we will discuss the state of the foundation, the state of the team, we set goals for the upcoming year, and the meeting culminates with the election of the next set of officers.  If you have anything specific you would like to see
addressed at the meeting, send an email to info@beekleyrowing.org.

Alumni Boat(s)

* Once again, the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation will be sponsoring at least one alumni boat.  We currently have an entry in the Alumni category, which pits alumni from different crew teams against one another.  Also, if enough people are interested, we could enter another boat into a “Masters” category.  Rowing in the event costs $100/person, which includes your H. Del Beekley dues, enterance to crew classic and food at the Crew Classic.  (Those who have donated at the Coach’s Club level ($730/year) who wish to row are able to row for free)

* For those who are not willing to put in the training for a 2000 meter race, but would be interested in getting back into a shell, we are exploring the possibility of an alumni row, where a group of rowers will head out for a non-competitive row one morning or evening. Let us know if you are interested in participating in this event. (info@beekleyrowing.org)

Alumni Tent

* The past 7 or 8 years the SDSU Alumni tent has fed hundreds of hungry rowers, alumni and family members.  This year will be no different as we will be cooking up Carne & Pollo Asada burritos for your enjoyment.  Dan Smith and Andy Olson will be there volunteering to cook, but with the team size having grown from year to year, we may need some more volunteers to help us cook/cut/serve. If you’d be interested in helping us out, let us know by sending an email to info@beekleyrowing.org