Malvern Prep's time was 6 minutes, 55 seconds for the one-mile, 550-yard course. Sir William Borlase's tied a course record for the event with a time of 6:40 in beating the Norwich Rowing Club by a length.
"It's going to be a tough race Saturday morning," Hoffman said, "but the boys are calm and looking forward to it."
Malvern Prep is the last remaining U.S. boat in the Fawley Challenge Cup field.
In the quarterfinals of the Princess Elizabeth Cup for schoolboy eights, St. Andrew's from Middletown, Del., came from behind to beat local Hampton and will face defending champion Eton on Saturday.
In the Thames Cup for club eights, the University Barge Club of Philadelphia lost by two lengths in the quarterfinals to the Star Club of England. Kent School Alumni of Connecticut lost by 23/4 lengths to Australia's Upper Yarra.
Sam Frycke-Cunningham, a Malvern assistant coach, and Mike Nucci were eliminated from the Diamond Sculls Challenge Cup when they lost to David Crawshay and Scott Brennan, representing the Australian Institute of Sports.
Crawshay and Brennan are the reigning Olympic pairs champions. Cunningham and Nucci were representing the Malta Boat Club of Philadelphia.
The world-champion U.S. national women's eight squad, racing as Princeton Training Center, easily defeated Princeton University. The win in the Remenham Cup sent the U.S. crew into Saturday's semifinals, in which it will take on the British national squad.
In the quarterfinals of the Ladies' Plate for elite eights, Harvard beat the Penn Athletic Club by three-quarters of a length to set up a Saturday semifinal with local club Leander.
