CORRECTION APPENDED SEE BOTTOMScott Wiener '08, who steers the men's crew team's boat as its cockswain, started down the toughest maneuver on the three-mile course of last Saturday's 43rd annual Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston, a turn under the Eliot Bridge where the boat of an eight-man crew from China's Peking University crashed and sank last year.

"The problem with the bridge is that the river is going one way, and the bridge is facing at an angle to the river such that you have to make a 90-degree [turn] within the period of 30 to 40 feet, and that's kind of difficult for a boat," Wiener said.

But Wiener wasn't intimidated by the challenge, steering the crew team's boat clear of any trouble under the bridge.

"I cut it really short, and it was basically a perfect turn," he said.

Brandeis' boat went on to finish 29th of 45 boats in the Club Fours Men race with a time of 18 minutes and 45.189 seconds, defeating 11 more teams than in last year's race. In the Club Fours Women race, Brandeis was 22nd of 32 boats in 21:03.334.

Big Foot Moving Boat Club won the Club Fours Men race with a time of 16:41.751, while the Don Rowing Club won the Club Fours Women race in 19:10.746.

The Head of the Charles is the world's largest two-day rowing event, with more than 7,500 athletes from around the world competing in 55 different races, according to the regatta's Web site. Brandeis sent both men's and women's boats to the event this year after sending either just the men's team or just the women's team in each of the four previous years.

"This is our focus for the fall season, everything is leading up to this," crew team coach John Sisk said. "You have the best crews certainly in the United States, but also from places like Great Britain, Italy and Germany."

In the marathon-style race, each boat in the field starts rowing approximately 15 seconds after the previous one. Brandeis' men's boat, consisting of Wiener, Brett Wu '08, Ben Pernick '09, Dan Boldyrev '09 and Stan Pashkovski '08, began 41st of the 45 boats in the field, three spots after the Wentworth Institute of Technology, with whom they share a boathouse for daily practices at Lasell College in Newton, Mass.

Wiener said one of the team's goals was to catch Wentworth, and by the last thousand meters of the race, Brandeis accomplished just that.

Wiener was also impressed that the team was able to initially stay ahead of Harvard University, one of New England's top crew teams.

"I look behind me, and Harvard had a boat at No. 45, and I said 'It's kind of weird guys, but we are holding off Harvard. I never thought I would say that,'" Wiener said. "That gave [out team] a lot of motivation."

On the women's side, the squad did not begin the race smoothly. Ilana Galil '10 explained that she was confused because the team had to row at full racing speed just to get to its starting position for the race.

"A lot of my adrenaline was gone already by the time we started," she said. "Then, when we were starting the race, they told us to bring it back down to a paddle with no pressure at all."

Still, Galil said that the women's boat, consisting of herself, Sara Brandenburg '09, Ilana Zieff '10 and Hilary Hamer '11, was able to rebound because of the constant fan support it received.

Sisk said he was pleased with both teams' performances against such a high level of competition.

"Competing against much bigger squads, we were going pretty well," Sisk said. "It was a fantastic showing."

Editor's Note: Sara Brandenburg '09 is a photography editor of the Justice.

Correction: The article originally stated that Weiner, Pernick, Wu, and Boldyrev were the four members of the men's team's boat. The boat also included Stan Pashkovski '08.