Rowers take to Oakland’s Lake Merritt for regional championship

Don Tanhauser considers himself a relative newbie to the sport of rowing, which he started after taking a summer community college program during his first attempt at retirement seven years ago.

At 82, Tanhauser was one of the oldest participants in the U.S. Rowing Southwest Regionals Masters Championships on Sunday at Oakland’s Lake Merritt, which drew some 675 competitors from 33 different clubs around the Southwest region of the country.

Tanhauser tried his hand at golf, but found himself drawn to the water. “You’re out there with nature and it just feels good,” said Tanhauser of Moorpark (Ventura County), who rows with the Lake Casitas Rowing Association. “You feel a sense of accomplishment moving through the water.”

Crews get their boats into the water before their race during the U.S. Rowing 2016 Southwest Masters Regional Championships held on Lake Merritt in Oakland. Crews get their boats into the water before their race during the U.S. Rowing 2016 Southwest Masters Regional Championships held on Lake Merritt in Oakland. Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Rowers take to Oakland’s Lake Merritt for regional championship 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

Participants and spectators watched the racers glide along the placid water on the seven-lane, 1,000-meter course as coxswains, responsible for steering the boat, shouted out commands to their crews.

About 88 races were to be held throughout the day, leaving from the start line at the Sailboat House every five minutes. Rowers could compete in solo vessels as well as doubles, quads, pairs, fours and eights.

The top finishers from the regional event, which has been held at Lake Merritt several times over the years, qualify for the National Masters Championship in Massachusetts in August.

“We like it here because the Bay Area is a hotbed of rowing in the Southwest. Lake Merritt is a pretty nice course,” said Paul Wilkins, Southwest programs coordinator for U.S. Rowing and coach of the University of Southern California’s men’s crew. “Lake Merritt really rallies around the regatta.”

Rowers competing in the “masters” level can range from those in their 20s to their 80s, with many of the older rowers having rowed in their youth.

“People want to stay young by going back to the sport they did in college,” said Mark Batch, coach of the Marin Rowing Association, who has been rowing since he took up the sport at UCLA in 1985.

He also cited the popularity of Daniel James Brown’s 2013 book, “The Boys in the Boat,” which tells the story of the U.S. rowing team that won the gold medal over Germany during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, as helping to spur interest in the sport.

For Judy Udove of Oakland, the camaraderie of her fellow rowers, exercise and competition is what gets her on the water at 5:30 a.m. every Monday and Friday.

“It’s really excellent for your entire body,” said Udove, 73, a research scientist with the Lake Merritt Rowing Club, which hosted the event.

While some rowers have years of experience, others said they didn’t know the difference between sweep rowing and sculling before they picked up the sport.

“Sea Base has taught me everything from the beginning until what I know now,” said Mindee Allchorn, 49, a member of the Newport Sea Base Rowing team, who started rowing less than a year ago. “Once you’re in the boat, you get addicted to how it feels.”

Allchorn and her teammates won a gold medal in the women’s eight and a silver in the four-person novice event.

Her teammate Barbara Plon, a 68-year-old retired schoolteacher who started rowing three years ago, said the team is planning to go to the World Rowing Masters Regatta in Copenhagen in September.

“When I saw people in their 80s doing this, I thought if they can do this, I can do it,” she said. “I could do this for the next 20 years.”

Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @vcolliver