Dad Vail Regatta organizers are choosing to go back to the Cooper River in 2024

Organizers with the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta made no secret about how pleased they were with holding what is billed as the largest collegiate regatta on the Cooper River in May.

They were so pleased, in fact, that they’ve decided to hold it there again in 2024.

John Leonard, secretary for the regatta, sent a notice to coaches Thursday confirming next year’s race would be at the venue in Camden County.

“The Dad Vail Regatta Organizing Committee (DVROC) has decided that the 2024 Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta will be staged on the Cooper River Racecourse in Pennsauken, N.J., on May 10-May11. I wish you all a happy and healthy summer and the best of luck with your rowing programs for the ‘23-’24 season. We hope to see you at the Cooper next May!” he wrote.

Dad Vail officials could not be reached immediately about the decision. But they told The Inquirer after the recent regatta in May that they felt the event, long associated with Philadelphia, was a success on the Cooper River.

“We conducted a survey with the schools that attended, and they gave us very good feedback,” Jim Hanna, president of the organizing committee, told The Inquirer in early June. “We were overwhelmed by positive comments, but as always, there are some things to improve upon.”

The race had been held each year since 1952 on the Schuylkill. Organizers decided to move it in 2023 because the course had not been dredged.

Dredging has been a huge issue for the rowing community in Philadelphia in recent years because the Schuylkill had become shallow in places, leaving the racing lanes uneven. A dredge of the river in front of Boathouse Row has been completed after the U.S. Army Corps had to dismiss one contractor and find another. A dredge of the racecourse, which is farther upriver from Boathouse Row, is expected within weeks.

Jeff Greenfield, head of the river restoration committee for the Schuylkill Navy, an association of rowing clubs, said in an email that the Independence Day Regatta is being held this weekend on the Schuylkill.

The Independence Day Regatta “is back to its full three-day schedule with over a thousand boats competing this weekend, the largest IDR ever,” Greenfield said.

In May, the Schuylkill course hosted the largest Stotesbury Cup Regatta in years. It is the country’s largest regatta for high school rowers. The venue is set to host the 40th Bayada Regatta for athletes with physical disabilities from around the world in August.

Greenfield said Michels, the contractor for the national course dredge, had set up equipment this week. The Army Corps, which is managing the project, told the Schuylkill Navy that the first dredging of the national course in 60 years would start within the next two weeks.

“While we appreciate the Dad Vail Regatta’s announcement on Thursday to stay at the Cooper River next year, we believe there is an important story to be told about all this activity on the Schuylkill and the amazing partnerships and impact of dredging project to date and what will now be shortly underway,” Greenfield said.