All-Star eights are great

But once the Great Eight got into overdrive yesterday afternoon, no bunch of sweep oarsmen born of woman had a shot at the pot.

“It was completely phenomenal,’’ said coxswain Ali Williams, after Barry’s all-star team of international scullers dashed through the snow to win the men’s championship eight at the 45th Head of the Charles regatta by more than a dozen seconds ahead of the University of California in 14:33.239. “I can’t believe it.’’

Not that anyone doubted that Slovenian stroke Iztok Cop and his bemedaled mates had the goods. In March, they’d outrowed defending champion Leander to win the fabled Head of the River Race on the Thames, striking a blow for two-fisted oarsmen everywhere. “It’s easier to row with one oar than two,’’ declared Belgian bowman Tim Maeyens.

But winning here presented a greater challenge. Back-to-back race days, an international field, a twisting course, and filthy weather, a northeast wind blowing around snowflakes that were as big as bow balls, and a rudder on an Italian-made shell that couldn’t handle what Great Britain’s Alan Campbell called “800 kilos of pure horsepower.’’

After the steering failed during the warm-up, the crew pulled into the Boston University boathouse and jury-rigged a tiny pairs rudder. Though race officials offered them a chance to race last, they decided to stick with their original position. A half-mile into the 3-mile upstream race, the substitute rudder failed and the Great Eight went to Plan B to negotiate turns - the bowman stopped pulling (“I was just taking a break,’’ said a smiling Maeyens) and the cox dipped her hand in the ice-cold water.

This was a bunch of top guns who are used to rowing without a rudder and providing their own power. All of them but Warren Anderson are Olympians - the Thames boat included the top six finishers from Beijing - Olaf Tufte of Norway, Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand, Maeyens, Campbell, and Lassi Karonen of Sweden - plus Cop, a former Olympic doubles champion, and Germany’s Marcel Hacker, who’d won the singles bronze in 2000.

When Tufte’s wife gave birth last week and he couldn’t turn up, Anderson, the US sculler at this year’s world regatta, stepped in. “It was a great piece of teamwork,’’ said Barry. “Eight countries in one boat.’’

Nobody could match that. Not the University of Washington, the defending champs who finished third, a quarter-second behind blood rival Cal. Not the US boat, which was fourth. Not Brown, which won the Eastern Sprints and the Ladies Plate at Henley. Not Germany’s under-23s. Not the French. And not Leander, which included three Olympic silver medalists.

“It was really pleasing to win by as much as we did,’’ said Drysdale, a four-time world singles champion. “We’re thinking of a career move.’’

Maybe if the female version of the Great Eight had hit a bridge, the rest of the women’s field would have had a chance. But the sweep version of the men’s boat - two Americans, two Dutch, two Brits, a Canadian, and a New Zealander rowing as ASR Nereus - put the hammer down from the start and blew away the US entry, which included half of the world champion boat, by more than 24 seconds in 16:08.165.

“It was so much fun, so powerful,’’ said cox Katelin Snyder, who steered the Americans to their third straight global gold medal this year and was at the tiller for Washington’s winning men’s crew here last year. “We just came to have a good time.’’

Dutch stroke Femke Dekker conceived the idea of an international boat at the world regatta and got teammate Nienke Kingma, US rowers Susan Francia and Erin Cafaro, Great Britain’s Annie Vernon and Anna Bebington, Canada’s Jane Rumball, and New Zealand’s Emma Twigg to sign on. They had one workout here Friday afternoon (“We needed less practice than the boys,’’ said Francia) and were good to go.

The Canadians (a.k.a. London Training Center), who’d won here last year but were ninth yesterday, didn’t have a chance. “I was almost surprised how quickly we moved up on Canada,’’ said Francia, whose teammates started second. “There was a little oar clash with them, a little bit of yelling. It was almost comical.’’

Nobody was catching what Francia called “the Super Shark Eight, which was up nearly seven seconds at the half-mile by more than 13 before the 2-mile, and by almost 20 with a half-mile to go. After they cruised through the finish they put their shell away, collected their medals and their trophy, and got ready to catch separate planes. Unlike the guys’ version, this Great Eight is likely one and done.

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.