Fun 107

Boy was I nervous this morning! Yeah, we had practice and there's a race coming up and all but that's all nothin'. I'm talking about having to be on the radio and speak! Thanks to Larissa McLaughlin for setting up a radio spot for me on Fun 107, and of course thanks to J.R., Michael Rock, and Larry for having us on. They were so great! Well, other than teasing me about how nervous I was......

Racing!!!

Yep, that's right our racing season is about to begin. Both the youth and adult competitive teams will be traveling to Lowell, MA to race in the Textile River Regatta on Sunday. The kids have entered a novice junior boys 8, and a novice junior girls 8. We're very excited for them to experience their very first taste of competitive rowing! There will be a ton of other crews in attendance at TRR as it's a popular and well-run regatta. Look for the kids wearing blue and white tie-dye!

The adults have entered a men's novice 4 (but a few of our guys can't race so we're looking for any of you that have rowed with us over the summer to possibly fill a seat?) and they should do well. The 3 guys in the boat have been working hard and they're pretty strong. On the women's side, we'll have a women's master 4 of experienced rowers and in the master category they factor in an age handicap. Yes, it's finally a GOOD thing to get older! We also have an open women's 4 that will consist of rowers that aren't over 27 (to be eligible for the master event) but have experience and thus can't race in our women's novice 8. The novices need one more person to fill out the lineup, so again, any of you that rowed with us over the summer that want to hop in and give racing a shot, let us know! All of the rowers are doing really well and this Sunday will be a very fun time.

Pat Ball is even hosting a team pasta dinner on Saturday for both the kids and the adults. YUM!

And remember - next weekend will be OUR race right here in New Bedford!

Gary Schuyler

I just want to make sure the proper thanks goes out to Gary. He's a very busy man, and yet the other day he came down to the docks with slabs of wood, power tools, and drawings for an oar rack. He single-handedly built us the wonderful wooden oar rack that we now have in the container (photos to come). That has freed up a lot of space and helped us to separate the sets of oars.

Thank you, Gary. I know how busy you are and it was a fantastic gesture on your part!

Boston Globe Article about New Bedford Harbor

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2010/09/25/in_new_bedford_one_hull_of_a_change/

Check out this article written by Sam Allis with strong contributions from our very own Laurie Bullard!!

Busy Week

It's been a pretty busy week, but a good one. We've gotten both the youth and adult competitive teams going and things improve on a daily basis. We have our new home on Popes Island mostly set and in great working order. So far the athletes seem to be having fun, and hopefully speed will soon follow!

Soon, we'll be having an organizing meeting about our Regatta on Saturday October 9th. Anyone who would like to help either before or during the regatta, we'd LOVE to have you. Just give Carolyn a call or shoot her an email: 508.717.4013, carolyn@communityrowing.org

Popes Island

This is our new home for the boats and the revamped dock! We have fencing around all of the boats now, and the HDC guys came back and totally changed the dock for us. They filled the bubbles so that they are low enough in the water for us, and they made the dock wider so we could fit easier. It was NOT easy work but they did a fantastic job!

Thank you to Kristin Decas, Debbie Yuille, and ALL of the HDC guys!!!!

Generosity

Well the good times keep on comin'. Many of you should remember Coach Will Mahoney that worked with us this summer. He did a lot for our program besides just coaching - he built our slings, he repaired boats, he painted oars. He also brought over his own personal whaler so that we could get more than one coach on the water.

Will has gone back to college (St. Lawrence University in Canada, ... er, I mean upstate New York) but his parents Tim Mahoney and Pam Donnelly came to our kickoff event on September 9th. They are just as great as Will and were very supportive of our club. They let us keep their whaler on loan through the fall season, which was a huge help to us.

But it gets even better. Will suggested to his parents that they donate their whaler to us and his parents agreed! It's people like them that are what enable us to get off the ground. Such a generous donation will have a huge impact on our programs. If you see any of them, please say thank you to them on our behalf!

Our New Home on Popes Island

That's right, our new home is taking shape quite nicely. We have been allowed to claim a section of grass on the east side of Popes Island and it's been great. There were a few snags the first week, but we've gotten most of them worked out. We have a shipping container (affectionately known as our "boathouse") that sits in the parking lot and allows us to lock up all of our tools and equipment. We're using some aluminum racks over near the ramp to store the boats, and we just had fencing set up to protect the boats, but also any little kids that may think we're part of the playground situated next to the racks. We don't want anyone climbing up, then falling and hurting themselves.

The dock was made very long by the HDC guys because they know our boats are so long. However, the bubble floats weren't filled with water or sand to lower them to the necessary height off the water. Also, because they made the dock so long, it wasn't wide enough. The HDC guys really busted their butts taking the whole thing apart (after spending an entire day putting it together for us last week), filling each bubble float, then putting it back together and mooring the dock again. These guys have SO much going on with a yacht show this weekend that will bring in an additional 50 boats to New Bedford Harbor. It was incredible that they took so much time out of their already busy schedule to help us. They're so fast, we only lost one evening practice of water time. Without them, we definitely would have missed many many more.

Any of you that know Kristin Decas, the Executive Director for the HDC or any of the people that work for her, please shake their hand and say thank you on behalf of NBCR. They have all been incredible. We are loving our new location!!

Saturday

Wow. So Saturday's practice was incredible!! We had several "guest" rowers such as Paul Milde from Peinert Boat Works, and Jonathan Haisman - clearly an experienced rower - join the regular group of adult rowers. In total, we had 23 people!!! That made up perfect numbers for 2 eights and a four, all with coxswains. MUCH thanks to Pat Lester, Anne Eisenmenger, and Jean Bennett for coxing as well as many thanks to Paul Milde for helping get all the boats in and on the racks.

All of the rowers were fantastic and very patient as I was the only coach. We had some very experienced rowers, but also several that took their first strokes on Saturday. It made for a really tough day and no one got the attention they deserved, but they all did fantastic and I love my rowers!!! Now I just have to find more coaches...spread the word that we're looking!

Our new "boathouse"!!

It's no palace, but it's ours! We have 4 1/2 sets of oars, room for riggers, an erg, gas cans, lifejackets, and a regatta box which will serve as our "office". We have tools, paperwork, first aid kit, etc all neatly organized. We even have our lights for the boats clearly marked. Bets on how long before it becomes a mess?? Kidding - I'm sure everyone will keep things organized. Hopefully we'll soon have a better option for oar storage, but I'm looking to Seth Davis and AJ Rourke for their expert opinion. Let's see how creative they are!

Pictures of the dock and boats soon to follow!

Our "boathouse" arrived yesterday!

Hello everyone,

I apologize for not giving you a dose of NBCR craziness yesterday, so here are two posts to satisfy your cravings. We had a shipping container delivered to Popes Island yesterday and this will be our unofficial "boathouse" for the fall. I spent all day yesterday organizing it and emptying the trailer that was holding all of our equipment. It's still very much a work in progress, but at least now we have a way to secure our belongings and lock up personal items. There will be fence sections arriving next week for us to put around the boats.

Once we get a system in place for storing the oars, things in the 'boathouse' should be easy to keep organized. That only leaves the adjustments to the dock. Peter Durant, the Executive Director of Community Boating (sailing program here in New Bedford) loaned us a whole bunch of "Jet-Float" bubble dock squares to use for our temporary dock. Kristin Decas, the Executive Director of the Harbor Development Commission worked feverishly to work out all permitting issues to get us set up with access to the water. Her guys at the HDC are amazing and were able to put a ramp and the dock in all in one day. We had a short gangway the first day, but they switched it out with a much longer one that made it a lot easier for us.

The dock pieces are floats rather than typical dock pieces, so they are made to be adjustable. We need to have each of the bubble pieces filled with either water or sand to lower them to the necessary low freeboard that our boats require and that is quite a project. It means that the dock needs to be taken apart piece by piece and each bubble filled, and then put back together. I've already expressed the need for our dock to be lowered to one of the HDC guys, so hopefully we can get that going soon. In the mean time, our rowers have done a FANTASTIC job launching and landing boats on a dock that is about 10 inches too high for us. It's been a little hairy a few times, but our rowers are amazing and they can do anything.

More pictures to come!!

Great article about our kickoff party!

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100910/NEWS/9100326

Here is a link to the article that Standard-Times reporter (and NBCR awesome rower) Charis Anderson wrote after attending our kickoff party last week. She always writes great articles, so aside from the press she gives us, follow her writing. It's good stuff!

Thanks, Charis!

Hello Popes Island!

Hopefully you've all been hearing about our location change. It happened in short order with very little notice, and I apologize for that. Normally a move like this would take a long time to plan, set up, and make happen. However, we're in New Bedford, people!! Things happen here like I've never seen. We were able to get support from the Harbor Development Commission (among others) where they put a task force on the project of building us a dock in less than a day. Less than a day!! They started early in the morning yesterday and I don't know if they even took a break for lunch. They had it ready to go for our 3pm class with the kids. Amazing. They were great guys, talented workers, and even nice. The dock will need a few changes, but we'll address that. For now, we'll take it slow, watch our step, and all will be great.

Debbie Yuille runs the Marina at Popes Island, and she even stopped by to say hello and introduce herself. I'm hoping we'll be out of her way but she's super nice and if we needed anything, there's no doubt in my mind that she'd help us if she could.

Thank you, New Bedford, for being such a great city. Thank you, HDC, EDC, Mayors Office, and CRI, for being SO supportive. Thank you, rowers, for being so willing to adjust to the changes. This is going to be an amazing club and we've got some great people on board!

NEW LOCATION!!!

Yes, it has finally happened! We are no longer associated with the Seaport Inn & Marina. We are now located on Popes Island!! More detailed posts will follow.....

Event Success!

Last night's party was a hit! We had a great turn out of people, including some very distinguished guests. Jim Dietz, my UMass Amherst coach, is also the Vice President of US Rowing and has quite an extensive and impressive history as a rower and coach. Hart Perry is another icon in the world of rowing and currently runs the National Rowing Foundation which supports Olympic athletes as well as others. David Vogel, a former Olympic athlete also works for the National Rowing Foundation and was in attendance last night.

There was representation from several boat makers including Dave Dickison from Vespoli, Jeff Sturges and Bernard Taradash from Resolute Racing Shells, and Paul Milde from Peinert Boat Works. Representatives from both New Bedford High School and Greater New Bedford Vocational-Technical High School were there; Carrie Cetnitch and Mike Shea respectively. Liz Labelle from Whaling City Rowing was there as well, which is a group of whale boat rowers (you'll see them in our regatta!) There was great support from Community Rowing, including Maura Hammer, Jane and Bob Morse, Rob Mayo, Ryan Banks, Bill McGowan, Alice Taggart with G-Row, and several more Boston area people made the trip.

I would like to thank all of the people from the Economic Development Council who were on hand: Angela Johnston, Joyce Goodman, Derek Santos, and Pat Daughton. It was wonderful to see Bill Burns and Stephanie Poyant from the office of The Mayor, and Kristin Decas, the Executive Director for the Harbor Development Commission. Many of our board members were with us, Rob Sudduth, Tom Gonziorowski, Anne Eisenmenger, as well as Laurie and John Bullard.

The highlight of the evening were of course our speakers: Tom Weil as our keynote speaker got a few laughs, but also a few "hmm...never realized that" reactions to some of the points he made. Our Mayor, Scott Lang, gave a great speech and showed his passion for this club. Matthew Morrissey, the Executive Director for the Economic Development Council started off the evening while Bruce Smith, Executive Director for Community Rowing Inc. closed out the evening. I spoke a bit, but I think my favorite speakers would be Patryk Backiel and Danielle Lopez - two of the youth athletes that started rowing with us this summer and will be racing this fall. They captured the hearts of everyone in the room. Seeing the other kids in the crowd (Tyler Hemingway, Alyssa Jorge, Dylan Maciel, and Andrew Pereira) was the icing on a delicious cake.

There were many more people there and I wish I could thank them all. Charis Anderson, a reporter for the Standard-Times, covered the event but she's also a rower so I appreciate her working when she should have been strictly a guest. Look for her article! We also had our coaches (hopefully recruiting) at the event: Briana Blood, Mohammed Jafri, and Ken Clark.

Lastly, The Coalition for Buzzards Bay was a fantastic location for us to have our event and Mark Rasmussen, Lynn Coish, and Donna Cobert were wonderful. Mike Galvin from Cork Wine & Tapas Bar, in conjunction with Rose Alley Ale House and Pizano's Pizza supplied delectable food as well as wine, and Brian Roussell with Narragansett Beer provided the brew.

Thanks to everyone for all of the efforts and support getting this club off the ground, and making this party happen. Many more good things are on the way so stay tuned!

We're switchin' it up, folks....

Yup, after a lot of false moves, we really are going to be moving from the Seaport Inn. Peter Durant and Community Boating will be our new neighbors! There will be more details coming, but starting Monday, we'll have a new home.

The party tomorrow is shaping up nicely and we've got close to 80 RSVP's! We're going to have a wonderful time and if you come, make sure you mingle. There will be some amazing people in attendance: Hart Perry and David Vogel from the National Rowing Foundation, and both former Presidents of US Rowing, Jim Dietz, current VP of US Rowing and UMass Amherst Head Women's Coach, and Bill Miller of the Northeast Rowing Camps, just to name a few.

Make sure you swing on by the Coalition for Buzzards Bay tomorrow between 5 & 8 pm!! (114 Front Street, New Bedford, MA)

Party Time!

Yup - our kickoff party is just a few days away! Please join us at the Coalition for Buzzards Bay (114 North Front Street) this Thursday from 5-8pm. We'll have delicious food from Cork Wine & Tapas Bar and Rose Alley Ale House. They're both just a few doors down, so if you decide you want more, they'll take great care of you. Narragansett Beer is also providing their local brew. We'll have a speaking program that will include the following:

Tom Weil, a rowing historian, lecturer and scholar, our own distinguished Mayor Scott Lang, the Executive Director of the Economic Development Council Matthew Morrissey, the Executive Director of Community Rowing Inc. in Brighton Bruce Smith, The Director of New Bedford Community Rowing Carolyn McGonagle, and a couple of the youth athletes that have gone through the program this summer.

Come on out and join us! Guests are welcome!

Operation Evacuate New Bedford Community Rowing

Well, in order to make room for the boat show that the Seaport Inn is having this weekend, we had to pack up everything to make room for other boats. With Hurricane Earl on it's way, maybe it was for the best. The tough part? NBCR doesn't have a truck or trailer, and CRI's truck and trailer are in St. Catherine's, Canada for Master World Championships! So we were lucky enough to find another trailer and A.J. Rourke used her o

wn vehicle to tow it. But her vehicle isn't a pickup truck - it's a GMC Tahoe and as such, has a higher clearance for where the boats usually overlap. We have 4 eights, and the trailer is only 3 spaces wide, so that meant we had to take one of the boats apart! Luckily, it's a sectional, and meant to be in 2 pieces. A.J. asked for a sawsall but I was able to give her some wrenches instead. Along with Diane Medeiros and Mohammed Jafri (among lots of others), we were able to split the Woody Tappen and fit everything on the trailer.

Thanks to all of you that made it down to help. We couldn't have done it without you. It took a lot of effort to put 4 eights (one in half), a four, a double, and TWO launches and engines on the trailer. There were even a few "guests" that somehow got suckered into helping us even though they don't row! ...yet......

Just to keep things interesting

The Seaport Inn & Marina is having a boat show this weekend (good timing, eh?) and as a result, we need to pack up our boats to free up space. The plan was to finish our programs and pack up tonight after the last class. However, last night for the kids practice, we ran into a bit of a speed bump. The docks had been moved around! We got a little creative, and relied heavily on the strength and height of several of the kids. We managed to get a boat out, but boy was that hairy. The kids did an incredible job but I think we got lucky that nothing went wrong, so we cancelled the classes this morning (I'm sorry rowers!)

Tonight we'll still be de-rigging and loading all of the boats onto the trailer that A.J. Rourke will be driving down from Boston, so any of you that can make it, we'd LOVE to see you down there! Maybe we can order pizza or something? It won't be as much fun as rowing the boats, but every rower should know how to rig a boat. We'll make it fun, and you may meet some new people that row at different times. Come on down!! 5:30pm at the Seaport Inn.

Oh, and yes, we will make up the missed class to you. I'm not sure how or when it will happen, but we will do our best to make sure you get the water time.

Our board members are fantastic!

Many of you may not know who our board members are, but you should. They're great. We had Loryn Sheffner as our president, but has recently been replaced by Tom Gonziorowski. We also have Laurie Bullard who has been an amazing help to the club, but also to me personally. Also on the board we have Peter Durant, who you may know since he runs Community Boating (which is sailing). D'arcy MacMahon, Anne Eisenmenger, Tony Lima, and last but certainly not least, we have Rob Sudduth. They will hopefully be names you'll hear more often as we grow. Thank you, board members, for all of your support. We couldn't do it without you!