ZLAC Rowing Clubwanted to “just get out of MBRA and bring rowing back home,” as some members
suggested, it would have to acquire additional
equipment, enlarge the boathouse, and hire a
coach and rigger, among other things.
ZLAC took a preliminary step towards
establishing its own junior rowing program
with its establishment of the ZLAC Young
Women’s Rowing Association in 1984. It was
intended to draw young women from all over
San Diego into the sport and to give the club
a new tax status. Three years later, however,
it was dissolved. The club still needed the
organizational leadership, facilities, and
equipment that such a program required.^65
Competitive rowing at the masters level
began in 1986. Michalek convinced a group
of ZLACs from Crew XI, all over the age of
twenty-seven, to put together a boat. At the
same time, her twin sister Susan Barnes began
rowing with a group in Seattle coached by
Dick Erickson. Together, they convinced the
San Diego Crew Classic to allow the two
groups to race against one another.^66 After
that, masters women competed in the U.S.
Women’s Rowing Championships, the Head
of the Charles, the Women’s Henley Regatta,
ZLAC juniors participate in a mixed-sex “Learn to Row” on the old barge, 1988. Courtesy ZLAC Rowing Club, Ltd.
In 1990, ZLAC won first prize in the Audi
Women’s Masters Eight, Age 33+, at the San
Diego Crew Classic. Pictured are Nancy
Durham and Kathy Spiegel. Courtesy of
ZLAC Rowing Club, Ltd.