By Phil Yee & Sally Curtis

The Winners -The Harbor School Boneheads won overall with a time of 18:07

Youth rowers from Stuyvesant, Sound School, and the Harbor School competed in the annual VCB Youth Race this year.  Originally scheduled for Saturday, November 10th, the race was postponed to Sunday due to a forecast of high winds. The colorful crew names were the best part:  Boneheads, Wave Breakers, Mixed Nuts, Eat my Bubbles, Misfit Toys, Mixed Nuts, and Kiss My Stern.

The Youth Race was won by Harbor School’s Boneheads with a total time of 18:07. Harbor School’s Wave Breakers came in second with a time of 18:32, and Sound School’s SS Men took 3rd place with a time of 18:47. Stuyvesant’s Mixed Nuts came in 4th with a total time of 19:17. The Sound School crew Eat my Bubbles finished 5th with a total time of 20:07.

 The day started with a Long Race on the Hudson River from Pier 40 down to Pier 26. The Perimeter Timed Heats were sprints around the Pier 40 embayment. The times were combined between the Long Race and the Perimeter Timed Heats with time adjusted head to head sprints.   The two rounds of Perimeter Heats finished up the race and times of each crew.  

 The Harbor School “Wave Breakers” snapped an oar in two at the start line and were granted a restart after Marcel acted quickly delivering them a replacement bow oar. Subsequently, the crew changed their name to  “Oar Breakers”.

The race was fun and the weather was warm so everyone had a good time. We had over 100 people and consumed more than 90 hot dogs and 100 burgers. Thanks to all the incredible people who volunteered their time to make the make the event a success.     

The Whole Harbor School Crew

The Whole Stuyvesant Crew

Phil Yee- Race Coordinator

Sayed Hogue – Chase Boat Captain

Michael Anton – Master of Ceremonies

Paul Caviano – Score Keeper

East River Crew

Crews

Long Row

Perimeter Timed Heats

Photos by Sucre del Rios – Harbor School Parent

Crews from four high school rowing teams competed in the tenth annual VCB Youth Race at Pier 40 on Saturday. Crews came from near and far: Sound School from New Haven, Benjamen Banneker High School from Clinton Hill Brooklyn, Harbor School from Governors Island, and VCB’s own Stuyvesant High School/VCB Rowing. 

Sound School won in both the Women’s and Mixed Crew divisions but it was a grand day for everyone who rowed and volunteered.

Youth Race 2017 Results

Phil’s 2017 Race Report:

The VCB Youth Race was won by the Sound School’s “Wallaby Way” team (19:20) over Harbor School’s “Shark Attack” team (21:00), Sound School’s “Pink Unicorns” (22:10) took 3^rd Place and Stuyvesant’s “Team W” (22:21) came in 4^th , Another Sound School team “Ho Ho Ho Your Boat” (22:56) finished 5^th. Continue reading »

Phil Yee reporting:

The VCB Youth Race was won by the Sound School’s “Miss Perfect” team (16:47) over New York Harbor School’s “Double D” team (17:29), and “Kiss My Aft” (19:56) took 3rd Place and Stuyvesant’s “Small Hands Big Strokes” (20:03) came in 4th.

The Girls Race was shorter and another Sound School Team “Kiss my Stern” (8:49) over Harbor Schools “Spice Girls”(9:29). We had Eleven (11) Youth Crews and Two (2) Alumni Crews.

In the Alumni race the Alter Kackers bested the Project Open Water in the Head to Head Final when an untimely crab was caught. The two had traded victories in the two heats of the Buoy Perimeter Race. The Alumni teams had declined the Nautical Mile.

In the Buoy Perimeter Race “Miss Perfect” (6:11.3) and “Kiss My Aft” (6:13.8) earned a bye in the Head to Head going directly into the finals.

In the Head to Head Sprints: “Small Hands Big Strokes” petted the Sound Schools “Dog Lovers”, and spoiled Harbor Schools “Dream Team” Dream for advancing into the final; In the second head to head No one could “kiss My Aft” from Harbor School, Stuyvesant’s NO! cried their team’s name came in second, They both said “see ya later” to the Sound School team of the same name, and Stuyvesant’s “Youth 2” came in forth.
Continue reading »

By
Phil Yee
Photos by Ingo Gunther

From VCB Youth Race 2015

The VCB Youth Race was postponed due to conditions likened to 40 years ago when the Edmund Fitzgerald a 729 foot long, 26,000 ton Lake Freighter sank in Lake Superior when the gales of November came early, in Hurricane West wind. Gordon Lightfoot’s song tells the story. On Saturday the race was postponed due to heavy winds with gusts up to 46mph out of the West were reported. I drove down from Western Beef along West Street to the Pier in the morning saw huge white caps and swells exploding against the sea wall I couldn’t comprehend that the mile and half wide Hudson something so strong could be conjured, as if the river appeared to be flowing West to East.
Happily, youth crews were able to make it a day later. In the test heat around the perimeter of buoys our alumni crew set the pace of 3:24. Our mixed team “The Splonkers” consisting of Stuy, BklynTech, Bard and Nest students took the first heat with 3:09. The second heat Sound Schools “Some Kids” crew busted out a 3:07. Both aforementioned teams had the two best combined times in the perimeter timed heats. In the first Head to Head Sprints the Harbor School “Sharks” bested the Sound School “you can’t row with us” team and the brethren Harbor School the “Sea Lions”. The Second Sprint Stuyvesant “B Team” passed the Sound Schools “Backward hat” and Harbor Schools “Row for Chiu”. This rounded out the field for final race. The Sound School’s Girls “Kiss my stern” bested the Harbor School Girls “Nike” in the timed heats, Sprints and their final row to Pier 26 and back 11:56 to 13:39. In the Boy/mixed final head race to the Sanitation Pier and back the Sound School’s “Some Kids” won with a time of 16:51, “The Splonkers” took second at 17:18, “The B Team” at 17:49 were head to head with the “Sharks” at the end whereas the Sharks had departed earlier their time was 18:47.

From 2015-11-19

Click on the thumbnail below to see more race photos:

VCB Youth Race 2015

From Youth Race 2014

A large and enthusiastic crowd attended the Annual VCB Youth Race at the Village Community Boathouse on Pier 40 on Saturday, 11/8. Five high school rowing groups fielded 15 teams. In attendance were Cortlandt Community Rowing, The Sound School, Harbor School, Stuyvesant High School and Building Bridges Building Boats. As usual, the names of the teams were the best part- Kiss my Stern, The Pineapples, Canoe, Magic Unicorns, Hardy Boys, Tiger lilies, Water Phoenix, Row for Joe, Cortlandt Wildcats, and The Sound School Avengers
The Sound School team, Water Phoenix won the final race finishing .5 seconds ahead of Harbor School’s team Row for Joe.

Thanks to Phil Yee and Mary Nell Hawk for Coordinating and thanks also to all of the VCB volunteers who made the event such a success