Dennis Hendrickson stood on Ross’s Landing Thursday morning as volunteers and delivery trucks hummed around the riverfront preparing for this weekend’s Head of the Hooch.
As the volunteers coordinator for the event and a rowing enthusiast who has been attending the Head of the Hooch since before it moved here in 2005, he felt confident predicting the future.
“This will all be filled with people this weekend,” Hendrickson said, arm outstretched toward the sloping hillside that leads to the Hooch’s finish line in the Tennessee River.
More than 2,200 boats, filled by nearly 7,000 competitors from 27 states and four countries are flooding downtown this weekend for what is known as the last of the great fall regattas.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 11/5/15. John Stuermer helps a truck transporting racing shells park in preparation for this weekends Head of the Hooch regatta in downtown Chattanooga on November 5, 2015.Hooch by the numbers
› Average competitor age: 24› Competitor age range: 15-85› States with the most entries› Florida 554› Georgia 202› Texas 182› Tennessee 169› North Carolina 160Countries represented› United States› Canada› Peru› South Africa