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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Sunday Boatbuilding on Pier 40

By Sally on March 24, 2022

The Sunday boatbuilders on Pier 40 made progress on both our big projects today. We added one more plank to the Peapod, and would have added a second if we had a few more clamps. We also added new white oak thole pin blocks to Quixotic. 
In the middle of this sunny afternoon we welcomed Sally, Frank, Dave and Marcel back from the Snow Row up at Hull. They returned a bit weary but very proud of the blue ribbon the youth crew had won on Saturday.
The boat shop will be open for business and welcoming all volunteers on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons through the rest of the month. No appointment necessary.

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Winter VCB Boatbuilding 

By Sally on March 24, 2022

Students are (slowly) completing work on the Opti. Spirits are high and “peanut butter work“ is improving. Mary is a steady leader, and Andrew is a patient teacher.

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