From Snow Row 2015

VCB sent two boats and crews to the Snow Row this year. King Tide, a 32′ 6-oared Cornish Pilot Gig and Warrior was manned by a mixed crew of high school, college and community rowers. Warrior, a 26′ Stretch Gunning Dory had an adult crew of college and community rowers. The Snow Row lived up to its name this year with a lot of snow but no winds and relatively mild temperatures making for surprisingly favorable conditions. Official Race results are in: King tide, Coxed 6, Mixed Y/A, amateur(the crew never rowed together before) finished in 36th place out of a field of 58 boats with a time of 0:39:44. Warrior, Coxed 4, Adult, Amateur finished in 31st place with a time of 0:38:56. The fastest boat in the race finished first with a time of 0:29:47 and the slowest came in at 1:00:13.

Check out this drone video from the Snow Row

From Icebreaker 2014

This year, Village Community Boathouse sent two crews to The Icebreaker Northeast Open Water Rowing Championship. The annual race is sponsored by The Hull Lifesaving Museum. Weather conditions for the race on Saturday, November 22 were brutal. The temperature was 39 degrees with sustained winds of 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. The novice teams had difficulty getting off the beach. The Nautical Mile was canceled. Official results for the races that did take place are not yet posted but all the rowers who participated got the coveted “Key to the Harbor.”

Special Thanks to Don and Martha Betts, Sally & Curtis Betts, Riley Hall & Mary Robin Evans

By Dexter Tong

From Head of the Weir 2014

On Saturday, October 25th, the Village Community Boathouse sent 2 crews up to Hull, MA to participate in the 28th annual Head of The Weir River Race held by the Hull Lifesaving Museum. The Head of the Weir is a 5.5 mile open water race from the Weir River to Windmill Point, pitting 61 boats of varying shapes and sizes against each other. In the Warrior was the Stuyvesant High School crew, consisting of Jenny Chen, Elia Portnoy, Alex Grattery, Brendan Fu, and Tony Fung. Sitting in the VCB’s newest whitehall, the Pete Seeger was a mixed crew of Stuyvesant students, and one each from Brooklyn Technical High School and NEST+m, along with a coxswain from NYU. They are David Kang, Cindy Lin, Malkiel Jurado, Teresa Wang, and Dexter Tong.

Eric Cerny competed in the ocean shell singles category, and Joe Fung entered with a crew of Atlantic Challenge participants in the Lady Moody. The Lady Moody finished in 53:56, the Warrior in 59:22, the Pete Seeger in 59:41, and Eric in 1:05:31. Both the Warrior and Pete Seeger finished second in their respective categories (Youth fours and Mixed Y/A fours), while the Atlantic Challenge crew easily placed first in the Mixed Y/A category. Overall, it was a great experience for the youth rowers.

From Head of the Weir 2014

From 2014-05-10

VCB sent crews from The Harbor School and Stuyvesant High School to New Haven on Saturday, May 10th to participate in Sound School’s Elm City Open Water Challenge. In addition to Sound School, Harbor School and Stuyvesant High School, Ledyard Community Rowing and Bridgeport Rowing also participated in the race. There was some heavy fog in the morning both in the Hudson and later in New Haven Harbor but luckily, it cleared up by the time of the race. The four mile course was two and a half oval laps around New Haven harbor. The Sound School came in first in the First Constitution, the Harbor School second in the Storm Queen, and Stuyvesant third in the Warrior. The rowers found it to be an intense race but an incredible experience for us all.

Special thanks to Jeff Alpert and Sound School for hosting this wonderful event. We hope to be invited back next year.

From snow row 2014

New York Harbor School, Stuyvesant High School, Village Community Boathouse and the Warren Rhode Island Whirley Gigs joined forces to field three crews in the 47th annual Snow Row held by the Hull Lifesaving Museum. 86 human powered boats in 25 different categories finished the 3.5 mile open water race with times ranging from 30:39 for a surfski single to 53:49 for a coxed-4 with a mixed crew of youth and adults. Lady Moody, Don Betts’ Stretch Gunning Dory manned by a mixed crew of New Yorkers and Rhode Islanders came first in the category of Coxed-4, Amateur Adults. (Amateur is defined as never having rowed together prior to the race.) Stuyvesant High School rowing VCB’s Stretch Gunning Dory Warrior, lost an oar in a run-in with another boat as they made the turn around the island. However, they made it over the finish line with a respectable 51:12. NY Harbor School won in their category with a time of 42:43. Sound School’s Stretch Gunning Dory, First Constitution, the boat VCB still wants to beat, rowed by a professional youth crew, finished the race in 35:37.