Twelve members of the Stuyvesant Rowing Club and five VCB adults traveled to Hull, Massachusetts for the Head of the Weir, a 5.5 mile open-water race open to all comers. Rowing conditions were perfect with no wind and mirror-flat water.

Results: Stroked by Brian Tong and coxed by Dave Clayton, the Lady Moody (Don Betts’ gunning dory) took first place in the mixed adult-youth four category with a time of 52:56. Joe Fung and Rob Buchanan, racing in the sliding-seat East River Flyer, finished tenth overall in 46:26. A Stuyvesant crew in the Warrior (our gunning dory) took second in the youth four race in 56:00, losing out to the Sound School by a little over a minute and setting up a rematch at the upcoming Icebreaker (Nov. 23). Stuyvesant’s six-oared crew, rowing Don’s pilot gig Cady, finished in a relatively sluggish 1:01:21, but that might have had something to do with breaking the handle off of an oar on the first stroke of the race (put another way, they won the five-oared category).

A BIG thanks to Don, Martha and Mary Betts, and to Riley Hall, for food, lodging, boats and a lot of towing and support driving–it would not have been possible without you!