Author Archives: Sally

Relaunch of Whitehall Gig David T. Heim

By Sally on May 30, 2022

by Ingo Gunther

Today, after some refurbishing and sprucing up, Village Community Boathouse re-launched our most precious and beautiful boat, the David T Heim. 
We were lucky to have Judy Heim attending, telling us about the illustrious life that David Heim has had.  We learned about his career as a master marine electrician, tug boat captain,  captain school instructor, boat builder and adventurous, entertaining, and wonderful character. 
We toasted the splashing and will keep David, who used to build boats with us in the early days along with our legendary founder Mike Davis, in our memories. …while many more memories will be formed and shaped in this boat that carries his name into the future.
With special thanks to Lorne Swarthout who oversaw the original building process of the “DTH” and who strong-armed the boathouse into not just building another Whitehall gig, but building this smooth cedar strip beauty (breaking our boat-building budget in the process).  Thanks also to Marcel Dejean, the coconspirator / master on the project.  And thanks to our then-treasurer Paul Caviano for putting up only symbolic resistance.  And special thanks are also owed to Sally Curtis  who embraced the project back in 2017.

Judy Heim remembering David
Lorne Swarthout, VCB boatbuilder speaking at the relaunching ceremony

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Elm City Challenge 2022

By Sally on May 18, 2022

On Saturday, May 14th, VCB and Harbor School joined forces to send crews and boats to New Haven Harbor to compete in Sound School’s annual Elm City Open Water Challenge. The race, which took place on the waterfront by The Sound School, consisted of two timed heats followed followed by a one mile sprint.

The VCB Youth Rowers placed 1st in the Final One Mile Sprint and 2nd in total time for their Intermediate category.

Special thanks to Andrew Leung for organizing and chaperoning the VCB Youth Rowers on the train to New Haven. Thanks to Dave Clayton for wrangling boats and kids and Sean Lynch for driving. We are also most grateful to Roy Arrezo and his Harbor School alumnae and rowers for all their hard work wrangling boats and working with Sound School to make this a safe and fun event.

Harbor School coach Roy Arezzo on the waterfront
Coxswain Mary Harvey and the VCB Youth Crew: Hanson He, Christopher Dou, Mary Harvey, Abigail Johnson, Andy Lin
The race results
VCB Youth Rowers won the Final One Mile Sprint and placed second in total time for their category.
Sean Lynch & Dave Clayton and the gigs arrived safely home at Pier 40 after the race
Harbor School rowers on the dock
VCB Youth Crew at the dock
Many hands make light work
VCB Rowers in Action
Harbor School Rowers in Action

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Fleet Repositioning

By Sally on April 30, 2022

If you’re new to rowing at VCB, you may not know that in addition to our trademark Whitehall gigs housed at Pier 40, the boathouse has a substantial collection of smaller craft including Whitehall rowboats (as opposed to gigs), wherries, and prams. In the past (that is, before Covid), we used some of these boats to run free community boating programs in Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, both home to small lakes that were in fact originally designed for rowing.  Because of a shortage of volunteers this year, we have decided to reposition the Prospect Park fleet, with two small Whitehalls going to the Sebago Canoe Club on Paerdegat Basin in Jamaica Bay, where that group will use them for community rowing events, and a third going to bolster the fleet in Van Cortlandt Park. 
If you’d like to check out the rowing scene at Sebago, the club is hosting three Open House dates this summer — one each in July, August and September. Click here for more details or email Rob Buchanan at [email protected]

Meanwhile, here’s the schedule for VCB’s free rowing program in Van Cortlandt Park this season: 

Friday May 6, 4-7 pmFriday May 13, 4-7 pm
Friday June 17, 4-7 pmFriday June 24, 4-7 pm
Tuesday July 19, 4-7 pmTuesday July 26th, 4-7 pm
Thursday August 18, 4-6:30 pm

If you’re interested in helping out in Van Cortlandt Park, you can email the program coordinator, Marcel Dejean, at [email protected].

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Community Rowing Opening Day April 17th

By Sally on April 4, 2022

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VCB Boatbuilding – March Update

By Sally on March 28, 2022

By

Lorne Swarthout

The boatbuilders have been busy this month, and we will be back at it on Wednesday
and Sunday. Here is an update on our two big projects.

We have finished painting the inside of Quixotic with its distinctive gray/green and
cream colors. The new oak thole pads have three coats of varnish. There will, as
always, be some touch up and also floor boards to paint.
We flipped it over to paint the bottom. Not so fast! The keel has taken a beating in places, so we decided to clean it up and give it a layer of fiberglass. Sally is demonstrating how to use a smoothing plane.

The Quixotic’s bow has really taken a beating and so we cut away a piece and added a
white oak filler. I think a brass stem band will also be a good idea.
We did a final fit of the last two planks for the peapod, cut bevels and gains, mixed
four batches of “peanut butter,” and glued them in place. Hamid was happy to be
working with wood again.
Then, in celebration of what boatbuilders call the “whiskey plank,” we hoisted a glass. In
our case it was a dixie cup with a thimble-full of domestic beer. But the occasion was a
happy one and included both old-timers and first-timers. Now it is on to the outer stems
and keel, and then we can pop it off the form.

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