Newport rowing team hopes to cruise to regional youth title

Having played a variety of sports throughout her childhood, 16-year-old Kendall Fearnley considers herself an avid sportswoman.

However, the sophomore at Edison High School in Huntington Beach said she hadn’t grown attached to any one sport. That changed this year during her first race with the Newport Sea Base rowing team.

“Crew is the only sport I’ve felt a connection with both physically and mentally,” she said. “It’s a physical challenge and a mental one as well. It really pushes you.”

Kendall is one of 20 Orange County teenagers who will be in Sacramento on Saturday and Sunday to compete in the 2,000-meter sprint regatta as part of the South West Regional Youth Championships. The regatta is put on by U.S. Rowing, the national governing body for the sport.

The top three boats in seven events will advance to the Youth National Championships in Florida in June.

Newport Sea Base rowing, composed of high school teens ranging from freshmen to seniors, was established less than a year ago to fill what appeared to be a void, said head coach James Long-Lerno. Other than the Newport Aquatic Center, it’s difficult to find a place in Newport Beach where high school students can row crew-style.

Newport Sea Base accepts students with skill levels ranging from beginning to advanced. With 25 students, the rowing team is much smaller than competing programs, meaning the athletes receive more one-on-one attention from coaches, Long-Lerno said.

“Our goal is to be a more individualized program,” he said. “Because of that, we’ve been able to give these athletes the attention they need to develop.”

The team has participated in several regattas this year, with multiple boats making the finals. Most recently, the Sea Base raced its eight-rower lightweight boat against the Marina del Rey-based Marina Aquatic Center — which has one of the top lightweight boats in the region — and finished with one win and one loss.

During the same competition, the Newport Beach team beat 10 of the 30 teams that participated.

“It was impressive to have such a small squad and be able to beat so many other teams,” Long-Lerno said.

He said the results show the Sea Base’s lightweight boat has what it takes to compete at the championship regatta this weekend. It is one of several Newport boats entered in the competition.

Jake Green will be one of the rowers in the men’s lightweight 8 category.

The 16-year-old Newport Harbor High School junior, who has been rowing since his freshman year, said his time in the Sea Base program has refined his technique and skill.

“I love the pain of rowing,” he said. “I mean, I hate the pain of doing it, but after, you have this sense of accomplishment, like ‘Wow, I did that without giving up.’”

He said he’s eager to see how the team will measure up against teens from other programs in the lightweight 8 category.

“It’s going to be a very close race,” he said.