Boston Photos from Scott O'Connor

Cold, Cold, Boston

Kings Point rowers got a taste of winter at the Head of the Charles Regatta. The men's four and eight put on a good showing. This is likely the last of competive rowing until spring. For parents who braved rain, cold or sometimes sun, spring crew is a greatly different sport. Boats race against each other similar to what you saw at the Olympics. Wish our rowers a great winter training and fresh legs and arms in Spring.

Head of the Charles

The Granddaddy of them all. Not the Rose Bowl, the Head of the Charles is the world's largest two-day rowing event, first held on October 16, 1965. More than 7,500 athletes from around the world compete in 55 different race events. Racing begins at 7:45 Saturday, October 17 and continues into Sunday. Kings Point crews compete Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Rowers leave in two groups to Boston, one group Thursday afternoon the other Friday afternoon.

Some families have asked how they might help. If you are interested in helping out on the weekend then please contact Derek Hartwick (908)-917-0509 if you are willing and able to assist in any way and he will let you know how.

REGATTA INFORMATION: http://www.hocr.org//home/default.asp

The two Men’s Fours and the women’s Fours will launch at approximately 2:15 p.m. on Saturday. The Men’s Eight will launch at approximately 11:30 on Sunday. If you cannot make it to Boston, live Results are available at http://www.hocr.org/results/results.asp

Race Schedule and Lineups:

Saturday, October 17: 4:19 P.M. MEN’S COLLEGIATE FOUR
BOW NUMBER 6
COXSWAIN – ROBERT KALDENBACH
S –STEVEN JONES
3 – CHAS WATERS
2 – CONNAN INGHAM
B – KYLE O’CONNOR

Additional Team Members:
CHRIS MURPHY, DAVID WONG

Sunday, October 18 1:14 P.M. MEN’S COLLEGIATE EIGHT
BOW NUMBER 26

COXSWAIN: DANIEL DUNN
S – THOMAS GAMBILL
7 – MIKE STOCKO
6 – FRANK OSBORNE
5 – SAM DIEDRICK
4 - ANDREW PFARNER
3 - JEREMY TUNSTALL
2 – BRAD WOOD
B- DREW BALDWIN

Head Of The Charles Regatta starts at the Boston University DeWolfe Boathouse, and winds 3 miles upriver to Artesani Playground in Brighton. A course map is available at http://www.hocr.org/pdf/2007_HOCR_map.pdf

Directions to our launch site: We will be launching from and storing our shells at the Finish Area Launch Site (FALS) on Soldiers Field Road on the Boston side of the Charles River, between Eliot Bridge and Northeastern Boathouse. FALS consists of one large parking lot adjacent to the finish line, three smaller lots nearer to Eliot Bridge, and the breakdown lane of Soldiers Field Road. There will be two docks near the finish line and three docks near Eliot Bridge. We will be at this site from approximately 1000 on Friday till 5:00 p.m. Then we will be at this location from 1100 on Saturday till 6:00 p.m. where we will launch from. We plan to place our shells in the location immediately adjacent to the finish line. Look for our blue shells and the Kings Point Burgee (triangular flag with KP letters). At the race site, the team will be under the trees close to the finish line and finish line trailer. See http://www.hocr.org/pdf/eliot-finish-w.pdf

The course is within easy walking distance of 3 MBTA stations (Central & Harvard on the RED line, and BU Central on the B Branch of the Green Line). See http://www.mbta.com/ A shuttle bus for athletes and spectators will circulate throughout the race area Saturday and Sunday 7am to 7pm.

Wet and Windy in Philly

Weather was cold, often wet and full of wind at the Navy Day Regatta. Crew parents and a Tri-State parent supplied tomato pie, pretzels and all sorts of other goodies. On next to Boston for Head of the Charles.

Navy Day Regatta

Kings Point Rowing next travels to Philadelphia's Schuykill River and the Navy Day Regatta. The Navy Day Regatta was first started to celebrate the U.S. Navy's birthday and soon expanded to include many of the finest rowing schools on the East Coast. Including Navy, Army and host St. Josephs, Kings Point will row against 84 other schools and clubs.

Once again USMMA has seven boats entered, the womens pair, mens eights and four fours. You can view rowers names for events at https://www.regattacentral.com/index.jsp?tab=regattas
8 Womens Open 2x
13 Mens Collegiate 4+
15 Womens Collegiate 4+
17 Mens Collegiate Frosh/Novice 8+
42 Mens Collegiate Frosh/Novice 4+
43 Womens Collegiate Frosh/Novice 4+
44 Mens Open/Collegiate 8+

If you can come out and watch the rowers, this is a great event. Navy Day Regatta information is posted at http://www.navydayregatta.com/index.html. Kelly Drive is open to spectators, but be sure to download a parking pass. Mrs Osborne reminds parents to bring tissues and hand sanitizers. The port-a-poties get a lot of use.

Directions to Kelly Dr are available at Google Maps .

Textile River Regatta October 4, 2009

After wonderful races on the Harlem and Connecticut Rivers, Kings Point Crew now heads to the Merrimack River in Lowell, Mass for the Textile River Regatta. Expect expanded competition. The Merrimack winds through Lowell, so coxswains and crew must navigate multiple turns or arches down the course. Seven nine club, high school and college teams are participating. Colleges include Mass Maritime, Rensselaer, Wellesley, Roger Williams, Worcester Poly and the Universities of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island.

Midshipmen and Plebe men travel to Boston to practice on the Charles Saturday morning to get a feel for the course before racing the nation's top teams. They meet up with the women in Lowell Saturday afternoon. Textile River Regatta competition begins Sunday morning at 0800. Races are scheduled as follows:
Event 12: Men’s Novice 8+ 8:15 a.m.
Event 15: Women’s Open 2X 9:15 a.m.
Event 22: Women’s Novice 4+ 10:15 a.m.
Event 36: Mens Ltwt 4+ 12:30 p.m.
Event 39: Men’s Open 4+ 12:45 p.m.
Event 40: Women’s Open 4+ 1:00 p.m.
Event 51: Men’s Open 8+ 3:00 p.m.

Our rowing team enjoys visitors. Last year's team brought home first, two thirds and fourth place finishes. Kings Point rows in seven events, women in doubles and two fours and men in two fours and two eights.

Directions and parking: Directions are posted at the race web site. The eastbound side of Pawtucket Boulevard will be closed on race day. Bus and vehicle parking will be available across the street from the boathouse and in the soccer field across the street to the east of the boathouse.

Look for results at https://www.regattacentral.com/index.jsp?tab=results

KINGS POINT ROWING FALL 2009 ROSTER

Drew Baldwin 2010 2nd
Samuel Diedrick 2010 R
Steven Jones 2010 4th
Kyle O'Connor 2010 2nd
Michael Stocko 2010 4th
Jeremy Tunstall 2010 1st
Charles Waters 2010 1st
Robert Kaldenbach 2011 B
Thomas Gambill 2012 2nd
Connan Ingham 2012 3rd
Frank Osborne 2012 4th
Kacey Rohloff 2012 B
Anna Simons 2012 4th
Lauren Callahan 2013 2nd
Elsie Dominguez 2013 4th
Dustin Downing 2013 3rd
Daniel Dunn 2013 4th
Garrett Fulton 2013 3rd
Christine Gallo 2013 2nd
Sung Hyong 2013 B
Grant Johnson 2013 4th
Emily Meehan 2013 2nd
Casey Moore 2013 B
Chris Murphy 2013 2nd
Brian Nichols 2013 3rd
Kate O'Connor 2013 3rd
Garrett Poncin 2013 3rd
Mitchell Ponton 2013 4th
Brendan Rohr 2013 B
Kevin Woloszyk 2013 4th
John Wood 2013 2nd
David Wong 2013 1st
Derek P. Hartwick – Head Coach
Daniel Udeanu – Assistant Coach

Green Mountain Head Race

After a full day on the Harlem, Kings Point Crew heads to Vermont, to the Connecticut River. The Green Mountain Head Race web site is at http://www.rowgmh.com/

The head race is a "stake race" of 3 miles for single and double sculls. Race 1.5 miles upstream, row around two large orange buoys and then return 1.5 miles to the finish.

Coach Hartwick has entered men's and women's pairs and singles. If you go, expect to see our coach on the water. Directions are on the web site.

Future races are:
October 04 TEXTILE RIVER REGATTA
October 10 NAVY DAY REGATTA
October 17-18 HEAD OF THE CHARLES REGATTA
October 25 PRINCETON CHASE
November 14 BELLY OF THE CARNEGIE REGATTA

Peter Jay Sharp Head of the Harlem

After a wonderful weekend in Mystic, Kings Point Crew next goes to the Peter Jay Sharp Head of the Harlem Regatta.

Races begin near the base of Yankee Stadium and finish at the Peter Jay Sharp Boathouse in Swindler Cove Park. Spectators enjoy spectacular views of Olympic racing shells from the greenway along the Harlem River Drive. Like other fall rowing regattas, the races are run in “head” style, in which each boat is started individually and races against the clock, rather than lining entries across and starting them at once. For many of the participating schools and clubs, this will be their first competition of the fall season.

Kings Point Crew entered novice/plebe men's eight and women's four. This is the first opportunity to row eights. Results will be posted at Regattacentral

Kings Point Rowing

Fall 2009 Kings Point Rowing begins with 30 rowers. We are exited to have Coach Hartwick and Coach Dan leading our men and women. Information about our sport is posted at:
http://www.usmma.edu/waterfront/Crew/about.htm

If you watched Olympic rowing, you will notice that Fall college crew is different. In Head Races, competitors race against the clock and the crew with the fastest time is deemed to be the winner. Racing usually takes place in different categories of boat class and abilities. The length of these races is usually between 3 km and 6 km. Boats are started at 10 to 15 second intervals. To minimize collisions, Boats are usually seeded so that the fastest start first.

I hope parents of rowers will be able to attend at least one event this Fall. The season begins at the Coastweeks Regatta in Mystic and concludes at the Belly of the Carnegie in Princeton. The two largest regattas are the Navy Day Regatta in Philadelphia October 10 and the grandaddy Head of Charles Regatta in Boston October 17-18. Rowers and coaches enjoy parent support and there is time available for visiting. Bring food and drink for yourselves if you come. Rowers enjoy light snacks but do not expect the coach to let them eat heavy breads or sweets.

Contact me if I can answer questions as a rowing parent. You will notice that college rowing has a very different feel than high school crew or other sports. Kings Point is fortunate to have a varsity team for many schools have self supporting club teams. The big boys such as Navy, Harvard and MIT usually play on their own creeks but rowers interact with fellow athletes from schools local and as far away as Wisconsin, Alabama and California. And after waking up every morning at 0430 it is a real character builder.

Coastweeks Regatta

The 2009 Fall rowing season begins for Kings Point Crew Sunday, September 20 at the Coastweeks Regatta in Mystic, Connecticut. As they did last year, rowers will sail to Mystic Seaport on LIBERTOR accompanied in addition to the 30 rowers by CDR Chris Gasiorek and four power squadron members. The team travels overnight Friday evening to take part in A Mystic Weekend of Rowing. Saturday they watch Olympic rowers will show off their talent on a short, fast course and then rig their boats for racing on Sunday. Liberator arrives at 0800 on Saturday and the team tours Mystic until races start at 1200.

Parents living nearby a welcome to visit on Saturday and cheer the rowing team on Sunday. It is wonderful sport. Regatta information is at http://www.mwor.org/. Mystic Seaport is about 10 miles east of New London in southeastern Connecticut. From Boston South on I-95 take exit 90, turn left at end of ramp onto Route 27 South. From New York City North on I-95, take exit 90 and turn right onto Route 27 South. Proceed approximately one mile to the North Parking lot of the Seaport on the left (opposite Seamen's Inne). Turn left into parking lot and follow directions from Seaport staff. Blue and grey LIBERATOR will be on the waterfront. Rowers will likely be nearby.

Seven, possibly eight US Merchant Marine Academy boats will race on Sunday. Women's captains Simons and Rohloff start racing in 2 person sculls or pairs at 1000. Novice men race four place shells plus coxswain at 1115. The rest of the team rows in the afternoon. Women start their heat at 1330, the men at 1430, all in four place shells with cox. Kings Point races four men's fours.

More information about Mystic Seaport and the Coastweeks Regatta see:
http://www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage&page_id=C6B1C155-B0D0-D05E-1AFADFBBECE69459