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!