In The News

2010 Snow Row: A Rower’s Perspective

Two Belfast ‘Pilot Gig’ rowing teams, a men’s and women’s with boats in tow, entered one of the most celebrated rowing events of the year: the annual Snow Row in Hull, Massachusetts. It was a warm sunny day, March 6th and this year there was a record turn out for the three and three-quarter mile race--one hundred and eleven boats in total. All manner of rowing craft from a single canoe and kayaks to a nine person reproduction of the three thousand pound historic quarter boat from the USS Constitution were lined up on the beach beside the Hull Lifesaving Museum Saturday morning and raring to go. There were so many boats crammed onto the beach there was precious little room left for oars, some of which are 12 feet long. So the race is started in four waves of similar class boats, 90 seconds apart, in an attempt to avoid a concentrated and massive display of confusion and mayhem. The result of the staggered start is, well.... an extended display of confusion and mayhem. Adding to the chaos, (the organizers’ idea of throwing a little challenge into the challenge) is the policy that boats start empty, their bows on the beach, and the teams having to run down the beach, jump into the boats and row backwards hoping to find a clearing to turn around in. Needless to say, there usually isn’t one.

Three hundred rowers who on dry land may well be articulate, level headed, reasonable people, begin to holler incoherently, as their minds and bodies are distorted with adrenaline. Coxswains are screaming commands to no avail; their words lost in the pandemonium. Oars cross and collide, boats careen, tip and stall, water churns with fury and foam, fingers pinch and shoulders and sleeveless arms are exposed to the maelstrom of intruding oars levered from 700 pound boats. All, presumably, in the name of fun.

As in nature, or so the theories on Chaos profess, there will, at some point, appear some semblance of order. Rowing boats isn’t so un-natural apparently, and things did eventually smooth out to some degree. But not before the 32 foot long six oared gig ‘Selkie’ this author was rowing in broadsided the Team Saquish gig as we made our valiant 180 degree turn, admittedly, a little too soon. In the heated gunwhale to rubrail altercation of entangled oars, we inadvertently removed the bandana of one, bruised a shoulder of another and drew blood from yet a third hardy Saquish woman with our oars. All this happening within the blink of an eye, but delaying our take-off by a minute or two and any second of which could mean the race to any of these boats. Once we pulled clear of ‘Saquish’, we were able to see across the sea of splashing rowers, and there was the Belfast women’s team ‘Belle Fast”. She had started in a very tight spot on the beach between two whaleboats, but managed to muscle ahead of many of the other gigs, appearing to have executed a brilliant, fast, clean get-away off the beach. They looked fantastic, all pulling hard, all in unison, a picture of practiced team-work. Their hours and countless nautical miles of summer, fall and winter rowing were paying off. They were clearly ahead of the favored women’s team, none other than ....‘Saquish’ the boat we the men, had just unwittingly waylaid.

‘Belle Fast’ had indeed exploded off the beach with their first and second strokes Linda Hurley and Martha Garfield getting in two good catches before they even sat down. The rest of the crew except for one was right behind them: Marnie Reeve, Esther Martin and Ellen Sinclair digging in strong and fast. They were so fast in fact that their bow oar, Willy Reddick, the last to jump onboard, nearly didn’t make it and had to pull herself up and in after dragging her boots in the water. The beach in Hull drops off much quicker than our practice beach here in Belfast. Live and learn......and jump.

In the mean time, the men’s Team Saquish rowing the ‘Mike Jenness Sr.’ out of Duxbury Mass., the favored team to win, had a fast start as well and were powering out into the bay. These are serious, powerful, seasoned competitors and have been winning this race (except when the world class Cornish team is here) for decades. It was our job now to catch them.

Frustrated with our start, we pulled even harder to make up for time lost. Sometimes this can be a mistake using up too much energy at the start. But our crew was in good shape, Jim Bahoosh and myself the long stroke bookends to a powerful engine room: Rafe Blood, Eric Beenfeldt, Roy Rodgers, and Greg Stafford dug deep in perfect stride. We quickly passed other boats that had cleaner beach exits than we but to our good fortune were lacking speed. Our team has never rowed better. Even though we crossed oars while passing other boats, we didn’t lose our rhythm, breathing deep and steady, pulling hard, and harder.

Soon we caught up with smaller boats that started out on an earlier gun and we passed them. It was crowded at the first turn at Sheep Island and rocks just below the surface were a constant danger, but our sharp eyed cox, Chris Gordon, kept us tight and clear, giving way when needed but threading the needle with confidence when push came to shove. We must have passed forty or fifty boats of every conceivable style. Once in a while we would hear from an unknown boat; “Go Selkie!” or “ Looking good Selkie!” What a supportive group these rowers are! We reciprocated when breath allowed; “looking...good...Gannet” Chris found our way to an inside course bringing us to within inches of the second turn, a huge stand of I beams coming up out of the water. He let us know we were gaining on the ‘Mike Jenness Sr.’ and had a half-mile to go. We’d rowed now for three and a quarter miles at breakneck speed and now had to power up. A daunting task but one we had to muster to take the win. We were definitely up for the challenge. Team Saquish had pulled in closer to shore for the last three quarter mile, no doubt taking advantage of the lesser current flowing through the Hull Gut and then would use it in the last 300 yards to whip themselves across the finish line. And sure enough, the last 200 yards their speed increased two fold. Chris had decided to make a bee line for the finish knowing that they would have to cross our path in order to take us. We inched ahead but by the looks of it they might be able to pass us still they were gaining on us so quickly. They’d done it before two years ago in this same race on that same stretch. Were they going to take us again? In Belfast Harbor we have practiced diligently and always push our stroke rate up to 35, 36, 37 strokes per minute for the last 100 yards. It’s a last ditch effort for speed but can’t last for long,.. a few minutes is all a body can take of it. Chris called out “one hundred yards!” and off we went digging deeper than we thought we could, bringing it up to 38 hard and fast strokes per minute, putting everything we had into the water.

We crossed the finish at 32 minutes 50 seconds and the proud ‘Mike Jenness Sr.’ screamed in 26 seconds later. There was not another gig in front of us. We won the race and we were completely exhausted. Behind us now boats were coming in fast and furious. Our women’s team in ‘Belle Fast’ was pulling hard for the finish and crossed it at 37.22 just 29 seconds after the women’s team ‘Saquish’ who managed to pass ‘Belle Fast’ at Sheep Island. They’re a world-class team, that ‘Saquish’ and our women’s team never let up. Their coxswain Malcolm Gator would make sure of that if there was ever any doubt. We’re proud to row with them.

Later on the beach we apologized to the Saquish women’s crew for any harm we had done to them or their boat. We saw the bleeding gash in the coxswain’s finger but she shrugged it off. “It goes with the territory” she said.

We thank all the rowers from around New England that made the Snow Row race a pleasurable and exciting event. We also thank all the people who worked so very hard to organize it, made food and coffee, prepared the course, made the trophies (a golden clam) arranged for the Coast Guard to be on hand, gathered chase boats and all the other endless details that go into creating such an event for the enjoyment of so many people. Thank you to Rick and Liz Fitzsimmons for towing Selkie to Hull and back and to Roy Rodgers and Rafe Blood for towing Belle Fast. Thank you to the community of Belfast Maine who support Come Boating! with memberships and donations and interest. We look forward with great anticipation to taking any and all who are interested, out in the gigs for the community rows this season. They are free and fun and open to the public. We promise not to hit you with an oar...

Thank you.
Wes Reddick
Stroke Oar, Selkie
And the Crews of Selkie and Belle Fast

For complete race results: www.lifesavingmuseum.org

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Come Boating! Will Begin 2010 Season with Winter Race

Two teams from Come Boating!, Belfast’s community boating organization, will compete in the annual Snow Row in Hull, Massachusetts on Saturday, March 6. Teams of six men and six women will row Belfast’s Cornish gigs, the “Belle Fast” and “Selkie,” on the 3 ¾-mile course, which starts and ends at Windmill Point beach and rounds Sheep Island.

The race is a one-of-a-kind gathering of wooden pulling boats: gigs, Irish currachs, wherries, whitehalls, peapods, dories, ocean shells, and kayaks. Adult and youth rowers from all over New England, New York, and along the East Coast will participate. For the tenth year, crews from Cornwall, England will compete. Gig racing originated in Cornwall, where rowing is taken very seriously.

A high speed ferry follows the race course, affording spectators a close view of the event. Spectators should contact the Hull Lifesaving Museum, sponsor of the race, for more information. The museum will be open the day of the event.

Come Boating! has participated in the Snow Row for several years. “We’ve always been one of the leading gigs, but the Cornwall team always wins,” says Belfast coxswain Malcolm Gater. “The weather at this time of year is unpredictable, and the races can be quite thrilling,” he adds. Belfast rowers have been out on the water all winter to prepare for their first race of 2010.

Martha Garfield of Morrill will be rowing on Belfast’s women’s team. She was named “Rower of the Year” for 2009 by Come Boating!. She competed in every New England race in which Belfast participated last year, pulling hard as the sole woman on Belfast’s winning team in Come Boating!’s annual regatta last July.

1/28/10

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Come Boating! Plans Rowing Trip to Cornwall

They won’t be rowing across the Atlantic, but they will be rowing in the Celtic Sea this spring.

Rowers and members of Come Boating!, Belfast’s community boating organization, have been invited to row with the kings and queens of gig rowing in Newquay, Cornwall , in the United Kingdom for several days this May. They will be guests of the Newquay Rowing Club and will row original gigs owned by the club that date from as early as 1812 and 1820.

Come Boating! is one of about one hundred clubs around the world that row Cornish pilot gigs. The primary concentration of pilot gigs and rowers is in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in England. The Cornish pilot gigs were originally work boats that raced out to ships approaching a harbor to get the job of piloting them safely in. The boat that reached the ship first got the job.

Cornish pilot gigs are six-oared, 32-foot wooden rowing boats with a beam of four feet ten inches. All modern racing gigs, including Come Boating!’s “Selkie” and “Belle Fast” are modeled on the “Treffny,” built in 1838 and still owned and raced by the Newquay Rowing Club.

The Cornwall-bound rowers will include adults and junior rowers from the Belfast club and Station Maine in Rockland. From May 6 to 10 they will row with local crews as well have an opportunity to visit Tintagel, home of King Arthur, Penzance, Land’s End, and St. Ives and enjoy coastal walking trails.

Come Boating! hosted rowers from Cornwall in 2008 and will welcome them again on Columbus Day weekend this year.

1/29/10

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Come Boating! Ending Season with Competitions in Massachusetts

Rowing teams from Come Boating!, Belfast’s community rowing programs, will compete in two major late autumn races in Massachusetts. After Come Boating!’s second-place finish at the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Race in August, hopes are high for a strong showing at these events.

On October 31 Belfast’s “Selkie,” with six rowers, will participate in the 20th annual “Head of Weir” races in Hull, Massachusetts. Sponsored by the Hull Lifesaving Museum, the 5 ½-mile open water race draws more than 150 of the best rowers in the Northeast in more than 60 boats, including gigs like the “Selkie,” livery and work boats, currachs, ocean shells, and kayaks. On November 7 Belfast will send a men’s team and a women’s team to the “East Coast Open,” a championship race in Plymouth, Massachusetts, sponsored by the North American Rowing Association.

Despite the rainy days of June and July, Come Boating! attracted more than 325 rowers to its morning and evening community rows this year. Cameron Jack, an eighth-grader from Belfast, launched a youth rowing program, so next year Belfast may compete against other youth rowing teams. Come Boating! hosted successful rowing and sailing regattas in July and participated in the Camden Windjammer Festival in early September, offering visitors an opportunity to trying rowing one of its Cornish gigs.

Come Boating!’s two gigs are out of the water for the winter, but the intrepid racers will continue to row on fall and winter Sundays, weather permitting, in preparation of the “Snow Row” in Hull, Massachusetts, in late February.

10/25/09

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Come Boating! Announces Winners of Rowing and Sailing Regattas

Come Boating!, Belfast’s community boating organization, hosted a very successful Regatta Day on Saturday, July 25. This was the first year that the organization’s sailing and rowing regattas were held the same day. Morning races included rowed small craft and Cornish pilot gigs, while six triangle sailing races were held in the afternoon.

Regatta coordinator Chrissy Fowler called the day “perfect,” citing calm weather conditions for the rowers and good wind in the afternoon for the sailors. She commented, “We were pleased to have so many rowers and sailboats. Four gigs participated this year, and what a beautiful sight it was to see all those sailboats lined up on shore with their sails up before the races began.” Competitors were pampered with lunch, home baked goodies, and mahogany trophies for the top three winners in each class.

Competing in the rowing races against the Belfast gigs Belle Fast and Selkie were Red Jacket from Rockland and the Mike Jenness from Plymouth, MA. Selkie, rowed by Come Boating!’s Jim Bahoosh, Martha Garfield, Eric Beenfeldt, Rafe Blood, Roy Rogers and Wes Reddick, with Chris Gordon as cox, took first place in the 3.2-nautical-mile race, with a time of 32 minutes, 19 seconds. Belle Fast, with a mixed crew of rowers from Come Boating! and the Gloucester, MA rowing organization, and Plymouth’s Team Saquish in Mike Jenness tailed one another through much of the race. They were neck-to-neck at the finish, with Belle Fast prevailing for second place with a time of 34 minutes, 46 seconds, closely followed by Mike Jenness, with a time of 34 minutes, 50 seconds. The Junior Cornish Gig winner of the 2-nautical-mile-course was team Station Maine in the Red Jacket, rowed by Muriel Curtis, Rowen Walauski, Noah Curtis, Cameron Jack, Vallerie Shacklett and Qwynn Walauski, with Devon Walauski as cox.

The Small Craft race included sliding seat single sculls, a 15-foot peapod, and an Adirondack guide boat. Winners were Dan Guiod; Dan Seales; Jim Wescott, Shirley Barlowe and Carol Gater; and George Hill.

Come Boating!’s 8th annual Small Boat Sailing Regatta was held just outside of Belfast Harbor with winds of 12 to 18 knots out of the southeast and 1- to 1.5-foot seas. Three boats competed in the Open Dinghy class and 18 boats in the Laser class. Competitors came from as far away as South Portland. The Open Dinghy Class was won by Channing & Jaime Boswell of Morrill, sailing their Javelin sloop. In second place was Keith Bradley of Stockton Springs, sailing his MX-Ray dinghy. Lassie Henry of Jackson took third place in her Shellback dinghy.

The Lasers were competing in the first of three regattas of the Maine Championship Series. The next two regattas will be at Lake Cobbosseecontee on September 12 and the Saint George River on October 4.

Laser sailors were divided into age categories. Winners were:

Overall:

• 1st Frederic Boursier of Camden, ME
• 2nd Mike Gaffney of Georgetown, ME
• 3rd George Haselton of Rockport, ME

Under 18: (juniors sailed with a smaller “Radial” sail)

• 1st Michael Ianno of Falmouth, ME. – 6th overall
• 2nd Tuckerman Jones of Wolfboro, ME. – 7th overall
• 3rd Caroline Browne of Falmouth, ME. - 9th overall, 1st Woman
• 4th Jack Zinn of Falmouth, ME. – 12th overall

18-34:

• 1st Rosie Frost of Camden, ME – 10th overall, 2nd Woman
• 2nd Tyler Vroman of Rockland, ME – 11th overall

35-44:

• 1st Frederic Boursier of Camden, ME – 1st overall
• 2nd Scott Bennington of Litchfield, ME – 15th overall
• 3rd James Arrison of South Portland, ME – 18th overall

45-54:

• 1st George Haselton of Rockport, ME – 3rd overall
• 2nd Tom Jamieson of Belfast, ME – 4th overall
• 3rd Chris Biggart of Thomaston, ME – 13th overall
• 4th John Arrison of Belfast, ME – 14th overall
• 5th David Demere of Belfast, ME.– 17th overall

55-64:

• 1st Mike Gaffney of Georgetown, ME – 2nd overall
• 2nd Syd Sewall of Hallowell, ME – 5th overall

65+:

• 1st Hollis Caffee of Bangor, ME – 8th overall
• 2nd David Jones of Rockport, ME – 16th overall