Fourteen students from Urban Assembly New York Harbor School accompanied by Harbor School Staff Tizoc Gomez, Brendan Malone, and Ann Fraoli along with VCB volunteers, Sally Curtis, Becky Olinger and Dave Clayton set out from Pier 40 on Saturday for a two day row to Croton Point Park. The mission was to deliver the three boats to Croton to be used at the Clearwater Festival next weekend. All together, this joint VCB-Harbor School effort transported 14 students, amassed over 100 collective blisters, carried about 500lbs of food and water, ate 48 fresh farm eggs from the Governor’s Island farm, rescued 6 live persons in Man Overboard Drills and averaged 3nm per hour for the entire trip.
This was the first time Harbor Students had ever rowed anything even remotely close to 30nm. This was a huge accomplishment for the students and the school and we thank you all for your hard work, persistence and support in making this trip a reality.
On Sunday, August 13 combined crews of New Yorkers and Rhode Islanders successfully reenacted the epic voyage of Roger Williams, the founding father of Rhode Island, who in 1672, at the age of 70, rowed the length of Narragansett Bay from Providence to Newport to engage in a debate about religion with some newly-arrived Quakers, whose views he distrusted.
The crews completed the row in a pair of six-oared Cornish pilot gigs, one from the Village Community Boathouse in New York City and the other belonging to Don Betts of Water Street in Warren, who has formed a local community rowing group called the Whirleygigs. Mr Betts is a boat builder and was a prominent figure in the human-powered boating community in New York until moving to Warren with his wife Martha in 2008. He still maintains ties as friend, mentor and consultant to VCB.
This is the second attempt by Don Betts and Village Community Boathouse to reenact Roger Williams’ row down the length of the bay, a distance of 28 miles which Williams is said to have completed in about 18 hours (he reportedly left Providence early in the morning arriving in Newport just before midnight). Last year, the rowers got as far as Dyer Island before pulling out near the War College after a rudder broke. By then, the tide had turned and a stiff afternoon sea breeze made the voyage too difficult to continue, so the boats were towed the rest of the way to the Newport
This year, the two 32-foot gigs were launched on the Seekonk River in Pawtucket near Slater’s Mill at 8:30 on Saturday morning to catch the ebb tide in the bay at 9:00 AM. The gigs were accompanied by Joseph DePasquale in his motor boat and Don and Martha Betts in their Cat Boat. The flotilla put on at the beach in Barrington for a one hour pit stop before continuing on to Prudence Island where Mr. Betts has a cottage. Roger Williams may also have put in on Prudence to wait for a favorable tide to carry him to Newport. The rowers spent the night on Prudence and caught the ebb tide to Newport at 8:30 AM, arriving at the Pells Bridge at 12:30. Because a few of the crew had to catch the 4:00 ferry from Prudence, the gigs turned around under the bridge without landing and sailed back to Prudence with steady southwest breeze, arriving before 3:00 PM. Not counting stopovers, the entire voyage was completed in less than 11 hours.
Our crew of six consisting of Sally, Dave Clayton, Lissa Wolfe, Rene, Margaret, & Karl Schuman, set out on the first leg of the voyage from Pier 40 at 8:00 Am on Thursday, 6/16 bound for Alpine, NJ. The river was smooth and quiet with little wind and we arrived in Alpine in flat water under a blazing sun. After a siesta, the crew took a hike along the old Alpine trail used by the British troops under Lord Cornwallis in 1776 in pursuit of General Washington. Although the weatherman predicted thunderstorms and hail, we decided to leave Alpine at 5:00 AM Friday morning. We sailed into Croton Point Park at 11:00 AM and never felt a drop of rain-or hail.
We set up our table and helped Harbor school with waivering for public rowing on the Working Waterfront of the Clearwater Festival. We lost Karl and Lissa but picked up two new volunteers- Andre Knights from City-as-School and his friend Aboul, who joined the crew for the return voyage along with Fabian, a passing cyclist recruited by Margaret. Over the two days we were working the Clearwater waterfront, 125 people signed waivers and went out in our gigs.
We departed Croton at 4:00 PM, arriving back at Alpine just before dark at 8:00. We feasted on beans and veggies in the dark and set off at 4:00 AM for Pier 40. We caught the ebb, arriving at 9:30 AM, 76 miles and five days later.
On Sunday, 12 rowers, including five Stuy Rowing alumnae, led by Rob Buchanan delivered two VCB Whitehall gigs to their new homes in Brooklyn. The trip included a stop at Governors Island for lunch and then on to Brooklyn Bridge Park where Bird was left in the shipping container just south of pier 1. Traveler was then deposited on the new floating dock constructed in Wallabout Channel in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Long, narrow and fully protected from the wind and tide, Wallabout Channel is a perfect location for learning to row and scull. This feels like the beginning of a new era for VCB. Thanks to Rob for making it happen!
We left Pier 40 at 9:00 AM for the Gowanus with 11 rowers in two boats. Will Van Dorp, of Tugster:a water blog, came along for the ride.
We went around the battery across the east side of Governor’s Island and up Buttermilk Channel on the ebb. Our first stop was Valentino Pier in Red Hook where we pulled the boats up on the little beach for a quick tour of the facilities at Fairway. Then we continued south and explored a former cement/dry bulk cargo ship named Loujaine, now utilized as a non-mobile floating storage hulk for cement products. She is docked next to the Gowanus grain elevator, now abandoned.
We continued on south to the Gowanus Canal, stopping off at a dock on 2nd Street for a visit with the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club. The boats were rafted up and we headed to Smith Street in Carrol Gardens to poke around a little and to find a cup of coffee. The Dredgers gave us a nice send off and we continued up the oil-slicked canal.
We headed back to pier 40 under cloudy skies with a stiff SE wind passing to the west of Governor’s Island. Our boat chose a more western route to avoid Buttermilk Channel and we headed to the statue and the NJ side of the river. We hit huge rolling waves and river traffic, mostly sailboats. The wind had shifted to the east making for a slow row and for a time our progress seemed to be more vertical than horizontal. Eventually, we crossed to the Manhattan side of the Hudson to get out of the wind.
We returned to Pier 40 at 4:15 PM, washed the Gowanus off the boats, and went to eat chocolate at Jacques Torres on Hudson Street before proceeding to the Ear Inn for mussels and a beer.
