Alright bloggies...time to catch up

Let me apologize for my long absence from the blog! We've been pretty busy lately and on Wednesday afternoon I got a rather sad phone call. It turns out that our entire boat rack went for a ride, and we're not talking an amusement one. You see, we don't have a boathouse yet so all of our boats live outside. They were strapped to a pair of aluminum A-frame racks on Popes Island, which happens to be a pretty small island that is wide open. We set up our operation pretty much in an open field. Well, we were expecting rain, but not the high winds that came through. The winds scooped up our entire rack and sent it "tumble-weeding" across the field until it hit a playground structure. All of our boats were damaged in some way, and one of our launches flipped in the water and the engine went for a swim. Some of the boats are toast, but some are repairable including one that we were able to get back up to speed by Thursday night for the adult program to use. The engine went to the shop and was also back in time for Thursday. So our programming never stopped, but we have been quite busy dealing with the unfortunate accident and trying to keep things moving along. Here are some photos of the sad site:

There is some good news, though. We've gotten a lot of great support from our community. Tabor Academy a few towns away in Marion, MA has offered to loan us 2 8's and Cape Cod Rowing from a little further away has also offered to let us borrow an 8 for the season. Cape Cod Rowing is hosting a regatta on May 8th and has graciously offered to find equipment for us to use so we won't have to try to borrow a truck and trailer (we don't have these yet). Additionally, Captain Jono Billings of the ferry to Cuttyhunk Island has offered to let us use the boat in June for a fundraiser! They will waive their normal fee of $600 per hour and let us have a 2 hour tour free of charge. We will be hosting this on Wednesday June 15th from 6-8pm so please come out and support our club. Tickets are normally $40 for a trip to Cuttyhunk and back, and we'll be charging $45 dollars and providing food. The food will be provided by our wonderful friends at Cork Wine & Tapas Bar (thanks, Mike Galvin!) and trust me - it's delicious! Help us buy some boats!!