The Orcas Island Rowing Association traveled to Mill Bay, British Columbia, for the 44th Annual Brentwood Regatta.

Brentwood affords tiny OIRA the opportunity to compete against 33 of the best teams from western Canada and the Northwest United States comprising of more than 1,600 athletes and coaches.

This three-day regatta is the last event before OIRA competes at the USRowing Northwest Junior Regional Championship held in late May in Vancouver, Wash. Top finishers at the Northwest Junior Championships qualify for USRowing Junior National Championships in Tennessee held in June.

OIRA competed in men’s and women’s singles, doubles and quads at Brentwood in what Coach Tina Brown called “great prep work for Regionals.”

“We rowed against the best teams in the Northwest and Canada and we know what we have to work on,” she said.

OIRA also picked up their new WinTec quad rowing shell at the regatta that the team has spent the last few years raising funds. According the Brown, the new shell, named the “Al Ulbrickson Jr.” will hit Cascade Lake for practice this week.