By Nick Patch, Champlain Longboats Director On Saturday, November 9, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s Champlain Longboats program held its annual Otter Creek Challenge youth rowing race at the Vergennes Basin just below Vergennes Falls. The race had been scheduled for November 2, but we had a record-breaking rain event two days before the race date that made Otter Creek inaccessible …
By Nick Patch, Champlain Longboats Director This past weekend, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s Champlain Longboats program travelled to Hull, Massachusetts to row in The Head of the Weir, a 5.5 mile rowing race sponsored by the Hull Lifesaving Museum. Eight of our crews and boats made the trek south on Friday afternoon. Vergennes High School came with three six-oar crews, …
By Ben Mayock Last Tuesday, very early in the morning, I set out on a mission to Vinalhaven, Maine. Usually when I head to Vinalhaven it is for the express purpose of enjoying the inescapable magic of Penobscot Bay on vacation with good friends, but this time I had a different mandate: go to Vinalhaven to pick up the Lake …
By Charlie Beyer, Champlain Longboats Hi! For those that don’t know me, I’m Charlie Beyer, the Assistant Director of Champlain Longboats. I work with Nick Patch to run the Boat Shop here at the museum and to lead our new longboat construction each winter with local high school students. In the summer I teach kayak building for Champlain Discovery, lead …
By Nick Patch, Champlain Longboats Director This past Saturday, October 5, a total of 206 youth rowers gathered at Perkins Pier on the Burlington waterfront to participate in the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s annual youth rowing race, the James Wakefield Rescue Row. This race is named in honor of James Wakefield who, along with his son Jack, on December 9, …
By Nick Patch, Champlain Longboats Director The week of September 9 was a week to remember for Lake Champlain Maritime Museum rowing programs. On Wednesday we hosted 95 Otter Valley Union Middle School students at the museum’s North Harbor for a team-building day and on Friday we hosted Colchester Middle School in Burlington with another 90+ rowers. All of these students spent …
By Lisa Percival Recently, on Thursday, September 12, the museum had its annual moonlight row with members of our Community Rowing clubs and staff. Enjoy this account from museum staff member and Community Rowing Club leader Lisa Percival, and photos from participants Pat Jackson, Kris Jarrett, Andrew Rainville, and Mary Micklas. In total, we had a group of 29 rowers …
By Ben Mayock This past Saturday, August 17th, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s rowing team traveled to Maine to compete in the 19th Annual Come Boating! Regatta in Belfast Harbor. The morning was cool and overcast (perfect for rowing!) as we took a warm-up lap around the harbor. All of the turning marks were visible and the wind was light and …
This past month, our teen overnight group, Expedition Champlain, set off from the museum with nine participants and three trip leaders Haley Ferrer, Mandy Smith and Laura Caldwell for an eight-day journey. The group rowed two of the museum’s 32′ pilot gigs, exploring remote sections of Lake Champlain, dodging challenging weather and ultimately reaching the Canadian border.
By Charlie Beyer Last Saturday we waved goodbye to our teen overnight rowing trip, Expedition Champlain, as they left the docks here at the museum headed for the Canadian border. The nine participants and three staff spent the morning in a final rush (the morning before leaving is always hectic, no matter how prepared you are) to pack everyone’s stuff …