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Opinion: The San Diego Crew Classic is among the best regattas. Here’s the story of its co-founder.

Patricia Stose Wyatt
Patricia Stose Wyatt
(The San Diego Crew Classic )

Having raced, worked and attended every Crew Classic since that first year I started rowing, I am truly grateful for the vision of its founders.

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Mitchell is the senior director of philanthropy for Point Loma Nazarene University and was the first director of development for the San Diego Crew Classic for 15 years. She is a two-time Olympian and an Olympic silver medalist. She lives in Point Loma.

“Remember who you are and what you represent.”

These words from Patty Stose Wyatt made quite an impression on my skinny, 14-year-old self when I first climbed into a rowing shell at ZLAC Rowing Club in Pacific Beach in 1974. Little did I know that this middle-aged woman, of average height, with the short haircut, would become one of the most influential people in my life.

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Fifty years after its first staging, The San Diego Crew Classic — considered the premier spring rowing regatta in the United States — begins Friday.

March 24, 2023

Patty was born in 1920 in Point Loma. Her parents encouraged curiosity and independence in their girls and Patty grew up swimming and sailing boats. She exhibited strong characteristics of tenacity and resilience. Those qualities were put to the test when her first husband was killed in the last year of World War II while she was seven months pregnant. Later, she married Frank Wyatt, a marine surveyor. Her children — Duke Robinson, and Frank, Laurie and Donald Wyatt — were the center of her life.

For a public figure, Patty was very private. She was fiercely loyal and created a faithful following of volunteers on a variety of projects. Perhaps one of her greatest superpowers was her ability to see the talent in others even if they couldn’t see it themselves.

In that summer of ’74, Patty was already a fixture at ZLAC Rowing Club. Rowing competition for women until that time was not about how fast you rowed over a set course, but how synchronized you were. Think drill team.

By the mid-1960s, Patty had organized ZLAC’s first competitive crew that actually raced other women’s crews in California. These regattas were small and not well-run. It was astonishing to her that such a noble sport had such mismanaged competitions. It was through these ventures that Patty started planning the elements of what would make a great regatta.

In the early 1970s, she proposed her vision of a serious regatta to civic leaders. She relied heavily on the clout of the likes of Joe Jessop Sr., Anderson Borthwick, Del Beekley and other members of the then all-men’s San Diego Rowing Club to make the dream a reality.

She co-founded the San Diego Crew Classic in 1973 and insisted that the regatta would be well-organized and on time. She also decided to have it in early April so that it would be one of the first rowing regattas to start the spring racing season. Back in 1973, her strategy was to put the event on the map by securing crews from University of Washington and the Naval Academy to compete. By 1975, she had attracted the attention of crews from Harvard and Yale, and the regatta continued to grow.

Her reputation in rowing circles was confirmed when she was asked to run the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics rowing and canoe/kayak regattas, which were held at Lake Casitas in Ventura County. Patty was the first woman ever to be assigned a directorship of an Olympic event!

Patty always seemed to be scouting ahead for me, paving the way for my success. Not only did our ZLAC junior crew win the National Women’s Rowing Association junior title for those 18 years old and younger in Princeton, but I also competed as a coxswain in the 1984 Olympics for the U.S. women’s team. For the next 15 years, I worked at the Crew Classic as its first development director and established ongoing sponsors who wanted to promote the values of teamwork, commitment and character that are the hallmarks of the sport.

Sadly, Patty passed away on April 22, 1999.

Having raced, worked and attended every Crew Classic since that first year I started rowing, I am truly grateful for the vision of its founders. I think Patty would love the fact that today rowing is one of the fastest-growing sports among women over 50. I will forever be indebted to ZLAC and particularly Patty for forging the path that led to my sports success and career. The San Diego Crew Classic has become internationally recognized as one of the finest regattas in the world.

Patty’s favorite closing words in every situation were “carry on.” Thanks to Patty, that is exactly what the Crew Classic has done for the past 50 years.

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