The Mathews High School and Mobjack rowers hosted teams from Gloucester, Great Bridge, Christchurch and the Williamsburg Boat Club on Saturday in the first of a series of four spring regattas at Williams Wharf.

With the ongoing construction of the long-awaited boathouse, which has limited the event space previously available, this year’s regattas will be quite different, according to MHS/Mobjack crew coach and regatta director Tim Ulsaker.

Increasing the usual three annual spring regattas to four was initiated to keep the size of regattas smaller and to expand offerings for rowing and racing opportunities, he said. In addition, next year, on the first Saturday in May, Williams Wharf will start hosting a regional qualifying regatta for the State Rowing Championship which is held annually the second Saturday in May at the Sandy Run Regional Park in Occoquan.

As competitive junior rowing has evolved, more crews from across the country are made up of youth from a general area know...