By

Andrew Leung

On a cold, windy St. Patrick’s Day, the Village Community Boathouse sent two crews to represent to the 39th Annual Snow Row in Hull,Massachusetts. Snow Row is the Hull Lifesaving Museum’s signature race, featuring 3.75 miles of open water rowing and scenic
views. VCB sent an adult coxed four and a youth coxed four crew to brave the elements, and that they did.

Facing 18 mph winds with gusts over 30 mph, row organizers shortened the race course and eliminated several categories due to safety concerns. With canoes, kayaks, surfskis, and single rower craft stuck ashore, pilot gigs, Whitehall gigs, and livery and work boat doubles took to the seas. With winds making the traditional Le Mans-style running start a risky proposition, the participants prepared for a floating start. Even this precaution did not preclude traffic jams as boats jostled for position. After a minor collision with an overly ambitious pilot gig, our crews were off!

These were undoubtedly the roughest conditions any of us had ever rowed in. We set out against a headwind determined to push us backwards, and any forward progress was an accomplishment. Two foot seas crashed against our bows, sending bits of ice floes into our gigs. After rowing hard and not making much forward progress, our youth crew made the difficult
decision to turn around and return to the shore. It was nonetheless a valiant effort, as they were the only youth crew in the fixed seat coxed fours category who dared leave the beach. And theirs was not the only craft that decided to turn around or was instructed to do so by the rescue craft keeping a watchful eye on the race.VCB’s adult crew, through a combination of experience and stubbornness, continued to push onward into the gale force gusts. The first few waves came as a surprise, but as we approached the turning point of the course, there was nary a dry rower aboard. Perhaps motivated by the promise of warm shelter and a respite from the waves, our adult crew soldiered on to the midway marker and executed a harrowing turn, assisted by the elements.

With the wind at our backs, we made speedy return progress towards the beach and finished the two mile course in a time of 48:45, the fastest time in the adult fixed seat coxed fours category. Another race, another successful journey – especially now that we’ve finally warmed up!

The Winners!

The Whole VCB Crew

By

Sally Curtis

On Saturday, October 21st, two crews, one adult and one youth, made their way to Hull, Mass to compete in the 31st Annual Head of Weir River Race, sponsored by The Hull Lifesaving Museum. 

With more than 60 boats registered in 10 categories, the field was diverse and at times crowded with over 150 rowers from all over New England. The race is 5.5  miles long, beginning in the Weir River Estuary and ending on open water. The race course ran  from West Corner (on the Hingham/ Hull/ Cohasset line), past Bumpkin Island, across Hull Bay, to the museum’s Windmill Point Boathouse at Hull Gut. The Weir draws coxed youth and adult rowers in gigs, single and double livery and workboats, currachs, and ocean shells, as well as experienced kayakers. In the “head of the river” format, boats kick-off the starting line at closely-timed intervals. Despite the stiff competition, VCB’s adult crew, Cox-4 Adult, rowing Warrior won in their category. The youth crew, rowing Gold Rush came in third, only seven seconds behind the second place Sound School boat, Hoda Jane and 20 seconds behind the winner.

Race Results: HERE

Thanks to Leo Au-Yeung, VCB’s High School Rowing Coordinator for organizing

The Whole VCB L2L Crew with First and Second Place Medals

Last Saturday, VCB transported two crews and two dory boats to Norwalk Ct. to compete in The Lighthouse To Lighthouse Race with a course running along 7 or 14 miles of open water around the Norwalk Islands on the Connecticut shore. The race is open to any seaworthy, human-powered craft but the competition included mostly paddlers in kayaks and surf skis. L2L is sponsored by Achilles International whose mission is to enable people with all types of disabilities to participate in mainstream running events in order to promote personal achievement. This is a great organization and Gary Willams, the MC made us feel most welcome. 

There was one other wooden dory in a field of more that 120 rowers and paddlers, built by its rower, but it was a single. So the race lineup pitted VCB’s Adult Crew against its Youth Crew, competing against each other. Needless to say, the youth crew, in Gold Rush came in first despite going seriously off course. Since VCB’s two boats were the only ones in their class, they took first and second place. Everyone got a medal.

Special thanks to Gary Williams for organizing and working long and hard to include VCB. Thanks also to Leo Au-Yeung, VCB High School Coordinator for organizing the crews and Dave Clayton for wrangling the boats.

Dave Clayton (Cox), Andrew Leung, Jackie Chen, Angela Peng, Suresh Ramdhanie, 

VCB Adult Crew Rowed Warrior, Stretch Gunning Dory

Gold Rush Crew: Melina Tsai (Cox), Kenny Lin, Leo Au-Yeung,  Inhyuk Jun, Puneet Johal

VCB Youth Crew Rowed Gold Rush, Stretch Gunning Dory

The Competition

Three Dory Boats on the Beach with lots of Kayaks and Surf Skiis

Dave Clayton

Dorys lining up with paddlers for the start of the race

Warrior Crossing the Finish Line
Gold Rush Crossing the Finish Line

Rolling the Dorys down the Pier 40 Walkway at the Crack of Dawn