The Norm Petersen Regatta
- Feb 8, 2020
- open water
- San Francisco Bay
- San Francisco, CA (USA)
- Hosted By: South End Rowing Club
Norm Petersen showed up for his last regatta at age 89 and passed away that same year. That was five years ago. He had been a member for over 50 years, as both a swimmer and a rower. In Past-President Bill Wygant's words, he was a "truly iconic and important person to us as a swimmer, a rower, and more importantly, simply as an absolutely fabulous guy."
This year marks the 5th anniversary since our club lost the namesake for our season-opening regatta at the South End. Norm Peterson has a boat named after him, a regatta named after him, and a documentary made about him. What is your excuse for not registering your name on our list, checking out a boat, and rowing your ass off?
Like Tony Gilbert said when he was rowing commissioner in Norm's final year: "DO IT LIKE NORM!".
For those of you who don't think you know Norm, you probably already do. You may have rowed the double named in his honor. And if anyone has ever judged you as rower by the calluses on your hands, that's a quintessential Norm move. Norm is magical and still very much with us.
You can check out the documentary made by SERC member Kristine Handwerk about him here: