Village Community Boathouse - Pier 40

Hudson River Pageant-Alice Farley Water Dance 2012

Sally — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:49:12 +0000

Two VCB crews, including one from Stuy Rowing participated in this synchronized rowing/paddling extravaganza. The costumes were created by artist/dancer Alice Farley, who also choreographed the dance on Saturday, 5/12 as part of the festivities of Hudson River Pageant.

VCB at Brooklyn Navy Yard

Sally — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:42:25 +0000

A group of VCB volunteers joined forces with students from Benjamin Banneker Academy on Sunday to begin planking the Stretch Chamberlain Gunning Dory. The Gunning Dory is based on plans by the late John Gardner but stretched from 18 to 25 feet in order to accommodate four rowers. The dory is very light (less than 250 pounds?), very fast, and very easy to get in and out of the water. Also very traditional, in that its basic shape harks back to the ‘bateaux’ of the French and Indian wars.

RTB Rocks VCB

Sally — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 18:15:16 +0000

Rocking the Boat sent a group of 42 Staff, Program Assistants, and enthusiastic rowers from the South Bronx to VCB on Wednesday for a spring row on the Hudson. The conditions were a little rough with a strong flood tide, wind gusts out of the NW at 16 mph and the weatherman calling for rain. Despite the caveats, we piled into 5 Whitehall Gigs and the Cornish Pilot Gig, King Tide and headed south to Stuyvesant Cove. The fleet was looking fine, showing off their recent makeovers and a good time was had by all.
Thanks to all who helped out- Tony Rentschler and Henry Yee generously volunteered their services as boat launchers and linemen. David Shehigian, Dave Clayton & Sally Curtis served as backup to the RTB coxswains.

King Tide at the Snow Row

Sally — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:16:37 +0000

Dave Clayton, Michael Anton, Sally Curtis and 4 year old Tristan Cepeda set off on Friday morning from Pier 40 with King Tide, VCB’s 32 ft Pilot Gig, to join the rest of the crew in Hull Massachusetts for the Snow Row, a 3 3/4 mile open water race. Becky Olinger was the cox, Phil Shinn was stroke, with Dave in the 5 seat, Fabian Czerwinski in the 4 seat, followed by Kathy Sullivan and her husband Richard of the Warren Whirley Gigs with Michael in the bow.
Sponsored by the Hull Lifesaving Museum, the Snow Row, was held on Saturday March 10 at the Windmill Point Boathouse in Hull. Crowds of rowers and spectators gathered on the beach beside the museum’s Windmill Point Boathouse for the wild, LeMans-style start. The Snow Row is open to rowers of all ages and all varieties of human-powered wooden boats – peapods, dories, wherries, whitehalls, ocean shells, kayaks, pilot gigs, captain’s gigs, and Irish currachs. Youth and adult crews and rowers come from all over New England, New York, and Ireland to participate. The variety of boats lined up on the beach is a wonderful sight. It is exciting and important for Village Community Boathouse to be part of this international rowing community.
The race has five boat categories: workboats, livery boats, coxed boats, ocean kayaks, and ocean shells. VCB’s King Tide, a coxed six Pilot Gig, may not have won in its category but we finished the 3 3/4 mile race in respectable time- 54:42.
http://www.lifesavingmuseum.org/_fileCabinet/Snow_Row_2012_RESULTS.pdf

Dave Clayton’s Movie Extravaganza

Sally — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:53:30 +0000

Dave got to the Boathouse at 5:30, hardworking PAs from: Jewel Box Productions, Kaufman Astoria studios, The ‘Untitled James Gray Project’, were there much earlier with the ubiquitous ‘Haddads’ production vehicles.
Eric Russel & I got the ‘Silversides’ into the water.
The our neighbor the Lovely ‘Lilac’ a circa 1920′s steamer, a former bouy tender was already on set at the North side of Pier 40.
She was held in place two tugs, moored to a barge on her starboard.
The barge was to hold a green screen so a ’20′s’ cityscape could be CGI’d into the scene.
The north side was dressed with period luggage, a wooden gang way.
The movie, as i understand, is to star Joachim Phoenix, and others, the plot: the saga of two immigrant sisters one ill on Ellis Island, while one attempts to earn enough to free her sister, suffering under the unkind attention of young Mr Pheonix, who, murders a would-be rescuer… or something like that.

(I don’t know the female lead, I passed on the opportunity to speak with Mr Gray, got boats to maintain & I quickly grew tired of the earnest company of young PAs with their radios, I carried Franks marine radio so i would fit in).

Wednesday, 2-15-2012 at the Boathouse-Boat Repair & Fifth Annual Members Meeting

Sally — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 01:33:48 +0000

London Calling

Sally — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:57:15 +0000

actually, it was emailing–a woman who lives on a houseboat on Regents Canal got in touch and did a little writeup on us:

http://urbanboater.com/new-york-village-community-boathouse/

Stretch gunning dory–fast, and fast to build

Rob — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:14:25 +0000

A few shots of Don Betts’ new Chamberlain Gunning Dory, based on plans by the late John Gardner but stretched from 18 to 25 feet in order to accommodate four rowers. This is essentially the same boat as the Sound School’s ‘First Constitution.’ Very light (less than 250 pounds?), very fast, and very easy to get in and out of the water. Also very traditional, in that its basic shape harks back to the ‘bateaux’ of the French and Indian wars. Those boats were sometimes built in a day; Don figures that with a bit of organization, this one could be built in two.

Spring 2011 Newsletter

RobertH — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:29:37 +0000

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VCB 2011 highlights

Rob — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 19:07:40 +0000

Here are 99 select photos from the past year, with an emphasis on boatbuilding, special events, and the East River. Lots more shots posted here.