Fisher Hall's annual Fisher Regatta attracted a strong crowd Saturday as many students turned out to watch their peers sail - or swim - across Saint Mary's Lake.The regatta drew 32 boats, with a roughly even field of men's and women's teams. In a head-to-head competition, teams paddled across the lake in makeshift boats comprised of anything from wood to rubber to bicycles. Teams varied from two to 10 people, although the majority had three to four paddlers. Siegfried and O'Neill faced off in the men's final, with O'Neill emerging victorious. Two Welsh Family boats made it to the women's final.Fisher's own boat did well, reaching the semifinals before losing a close race to Siegfried.Like Bookstore Basketball, regatta teams ranged from the serious to the carefree. Most of the races were extremely close, but several boats did not make it across the lake and a few sank the moment they were put in the water."Quite a few people ended up swimming to the other side," said Michael Coogan, one of Fisher's six commissioners for the event.Many boats were particularly original. St. Ed's team secured a bicycle on top of its boat, assembled so that the paddles would move when someone peddled the bike. But it sunk before they could get moving.The Regatta was a product of several weeks of preparation by the residents of Fisher. The Regatta vied against several other events, both on and off campus, but the commissioners were very pleased by the turnout.Bufalino estimated that attendance was similar to or better than past regattas. This year marked 18 years of the Fisher Regatta."With so many things going on, we had a pretty good draw," Bufalino said.
