DETERIORATING weather conditions forced the cancellation of the final part of the racing on the first day of the 175th Launceston and Henley Regatta on the Tamar River yesterday.
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About 24 events could not be rowed including the open schoolgirl and schoolboy eights, which were the final events scheduled for the day.
"They were called off because it was too windy and dangerous," Regatta president Adam Winzenberg said.
"The conditions were good early in the morning, but the weather started getting pretty ordinary later on and we called the program off about 1pm.
"New marker buoys were used down the course for the first time, which the Launceston and Henley Association had paid for and which will be provided to Rowing Tasmania for use at Lake Barrington and elsewhere."
In early racing, Hutchins School won the open schoolboys coxed four, beating Scotch Oakburn and a second Hutchins crew across the finish line.
Scotch Oakburn took out the under-16 schoolgirl eights beating traditional rival Grammar for the first time in some time, with the St Patricks College crew finishing third.
Several hundred rowers representing eight clubs and about 17 schools are competing in the two-day regatta, which continues today.
The feature race is the Home Reach trophy and it will be rowed this afternoon, weather permitting, with pre-race favourite Launceston Grammar battling two crews from Scotch Oakburn for the title.
"We will also try to re-run the under-14 girls quad sculls on day 2 because we had medallions struck for that race and we want to give the girls a row," Winzenberg said.
Racing starts from 10.30am and the open boys and girls eights are the last two events scheduled for 2.10pm and 2.20pm.