By
Phil Yee
Photos by Ingo Gunther

From VCB Youth Race 2015

The VCB Youth Race was postponed due to conditions likened to 40 years ago when the Edmund Fitzgerald a 729 foot long, 26,000 ton Lake Freighter sank in Lake Superior when the gales of November came early, in Hurricane West wind. Gordon Lightfoot’s song tells the story. On Saturday the race was postponed due to heavy winds with gusts up to 46mph out of the West were reported. I drove down from Western Beef along West Street to the Pier in the morning saw huge white caps and swells exploding against the sea wall I couldn’t comprehend that the mile and half wide Hudson something so strong could be conjured, as if the river appeared to be flowing West to East.
Happily, youth crews were able to make it a day later. In the test heat around the perimeter of buoys our alumni crew set the pace of 3:24. Our mixed team “The Splonkers” consisting of Stuy, BklynTech, Bard and Nest students took the first heat with 3:09. The second heat Sound Schools “Some Kids” crew busted out a 3:07. Both aforementioned teams had the two best combined times in the perimeter timed heats. In the first Head to Head Sprints the Harbor School “Sharks” bested the Sound School “you can’t row with us” team and the brethren Harbor School the “Sea Lions”. The Second Sprint Stuyvesant “B Team” passed the Sound Schools “Backward hat” and Harbor Schools “Row for Chiu”. This rounded out the field for final race. The Sound School’s Girls “Kiss my stern” bested the Harbor School Girls “Nike” in the timed heats, Sprints and their final row to Pier 26 and back 11:56 to 13:39. In the Boy/mixed final head race to the Sanitation Pier and back the Sound School’s “Some Kids” won with a time of 16:51, “The Splonkers” took second at 17:18, “The B Team” at 17:49 were head to head with the “Sharks” at the end whereas the Sharks had departed earlier their time was 18:47.

From 2015-11-19

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VCB Youth Race 2015