A Rowing Club Hits the Water
Sculls, classes, and competitions in Sag Harbor
 Timothy Small |
(6/04/2008) With all the water that surrounds the East End, it is somewhat of an anomaly that the area has never been home to a formal rowing club. Lee Oldak, the commodore of the Breakwater Yacht Club in Sag Harbor, plans to change that this summer with the establishment of Sag Harbor Community Rowing.
“Build it and they will come,” Oldak, who founded the club two months ago, said on Monday. “The rowers are out there.” The club will row out of Cove Park in the Redwood section of Sag Harbor, a home base granted by the village in April. It had its first orientation there over the weekend, and will offer more orientation sessions on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m.
Still in the developing stages, Sag Harbor Community Rowing will be set up so that its members have access to instruction and equipment. Experienced rowers and those who are completely new to the sport will be welcomed. “Once you join, you can take the club equipment out on your own,” Oldak said. “But before I let you do that, I’m going to take you by the hand and make sure you’re comfortable in the water.”
One of Oldak’s goals is to draw enough high school students to form a team that would compete in regattas such as Riverhead’s Snowflake Regatta, which takes place in November and in 2007 featured 20 schools and clubs.
A club team would allow students from Pierson, Bridgehampton, East Hampton, and Ross High Schools to participate. Now, the closest rowing teams are from Riverhead High School, Mercy-McGann High School, also in Riverhead, and Suffolk Community College. They operate under the umbrella of East End Rowing, which Sag Harbor Community Rowing will join.
When Oldak first approached high schools, they were interested but didn’t have room in their budgets. Sag Harbor Community Rowing, a nonprofit group, hit the water with the help of donations from the East End rowing community and residents in general.
Bettina Stelle donated a brand-new quad in the name of her father, Thomas Keller, who was the president of FISA, the governing board for international rowing, from 1958 until his death in 1989. Nancy Newman and Ray Pride of Sag Harbor donated a private single shell, and the International Recreation and Open Water Rowing Association has donated four two-person shells.
East End Rowing has donated a four-person boat, an eight-person boat, and a small powerboat for a coach to use. The organization is planning to row the boats from Riverhead to Sag Harbor as a way to promote the clubs.
Storage racks for the club’s shells and private ones have been set up at Cove Park, which is across from the WLNG radio station and next to Jerry’s Redwood Marina.
As of Tuesday, 10 adults had registered for the club. The cost is $250 per person to join. Those interested in trying out the sport before registering for the club can sign up for lessons for $50. As a way to draw younger people, lessons will be given to high school students for $25, and some will be offered for free.
“My main motivation is to get the kids rowing,” Oldak said. The club is offering a rowing camp for those 10 or up that will begin on July 7. It will cost $275 for a weeklong rowing clinic. Four-week racing clinics will also start on July 7. The cost is $850 per weeklong session.
If enough kids participate, Oldak expects the club to have a team competing by the fall. “We want to get competition for the kids as quickly as possible.” Regardless, he hopes the club will participate in an informal competition at HarborFest in September.
Helping him reach that goal will be a number of highly experienced rowers, including Michelle Knox Zaloom, a former Olympian rower, and other coaches from East End Rowing.
At this stage, in addition to Saturday orientations, the club will hold group rowing sessions on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. Those interested in registering or signing up for a lesson can visit the club’s Web site, www.rowsagharbor.org.