With the first three days of the championships reserved for heats and repechages, a bunch of Otago crews have already advanced into finals or semifinals.
Dunstan rowers Macaela Turfus and Sydney Cook dominated their heat in the women's club double, winning in 7min 53.77sec to advance to the semifinals later this week.
They finished almost 10sec clear of second-placed Laura Cockroft and Bridget Donovan, of Avon Rowing Club.
Hazel Cunliffe and Natasha Bonham-Carter, of Otago University Rowing Club, finished second in their heat to also book a spot in the semifinals.
Oamaru's Sydney Telfer and Maysie Scott were in the same heat, but finished fourth and will have to progress through the repechage round to make the semifinals.
Cunliffe and Bonham-Carter and Telfer and Scott also went head to head in the women's club coxless pair.
Telfer and Scott finished sixth and will have to go through the repechage.
Despite finishing last in a field of four in the men's under-22 coxed quad, Oamaru's Mark Taylor, Jared Brenssell, Charlie Wallis and James Scott did enough to make the final later in the week.
The Southern RPC crew, which included Andrew Potter, of Otago University Rowing Club, and Bryce Abernethy, of Otago Rowing Club, won the heat in 6min 14.99sec.
Taylor, Brenssell, Wallis and Scott also booked a semifinal spot in the men's club coxless quad, courtesy of a third-placed finish in their heat yesterday.
But a fifth-placed finish in the men's senior coxless quad means the Oamaru rowers did not escape the repechage round.
In the women's novice coxed quad, Dunstan's crew of Kaea Anderson, Jas McIntosh, Emma Borland, Sophie Williamson and coxswain Sophie Smith finished second in their heat in 7min 36.12sec.
But with only the winner advancing directly to the final, they will need to go through the repechage round if they are to have a shot at a medal.
The Dunstan crew split for the women's novice double, in which they were matched up in the same heat.
Anderson and McIntosh blitzed their clubmates, and the rest of the field, to win in 8min 7.03sec, more than 10sec clear of Borland and Williamson.
Both Dunstan crews qualified for the semifinals. Otago University rowers Penelope Barnsdale and Hannah Duggan booked a spot in the women's premier lightweight double sculls semifinals after a fourth-place finish in their heat.
However, a second-placed finish in the women's senior double was only good enough to send them into the repechage round.
Scott and Telfer finished third in the other heat and will also go through the repechage.
Juliette Alm-Lequeux, of Otago University Rowing Club, barely missed out on a spot in the women's under-20 semifinals, when she finished 0.78sec outside the top four. She was fifth in 8min 9.86sec, but will get a chance to make the semifinals via the repechage.
Alm-Lequeux, Bonham-Carter, Cunliffe, Georgia Bewley and coxswain Jessica Mulligan finished fourth in the their women's club coxed four heat, ensuring another repechage race for the Otago University rowers.
Alm-Lequeux and Bewley also finished fifth in the women's under-20 double scull heat to advance directly into the final.
Michael Williams and Inan Diwan, of Otago University Rowing Club, finished second and fifth in their novice double sculls and men's club double heats respectively.
They will have to go through the repechage rounds in both events.
Almost 900 rowers from 49 organisations are contesting the national championships.
