On October 3, 2020 we held our annual James Wakefield Rescue Row took place in Burlington Harbor. This youth rowing race is held annually in tribute to James Wakefield, a man who, with his son, rescued passengers and crew aboard the General Butler when it sank on December 9, 1876. On that fateful day, an …
This month, nineteen teenagers and two trip leaders have accomplished epic kayak expeditions, kayaking the length of Lake Champlain and reaching the Canadian border. An epic goal in a standard year, these voyages feel even more significant having been accomplished safely and successfully during a pandemic! We couldn’t be prouder of these intrepid teens and …
Kayaking the Length of Lake Champlain: Teen Expeditions in 2020 Read More »
By Benjamin Mayock, Champlain Longboats coach and coxswain As you might remember last summer, thanks to our Community Rowing club, we acquired a St. Ayles Skiff. Over the winter, the crew in the Museum’s boat shop repaired and repainted the skiff and got it ready for the upcoming rowing season (a season which, as I …
By Charlie Beyer, Champlain Longboats Assistant Director I’m writing this with my feet still damp after taking our newly finished Buyce-design Adirondack Guideboat out for a spin in the harbor. I’m pretty thrilled with how it came out. I noticed immediately that the hull speed is better than I expected in such a short waterline, …
By Nick Patch, Champlain Longboats Director This spring has been a spring like no other and it has impacted us all in so many ways. It is certainly not what any of us expected and we have all been challenged by this pandemic in different ways. For our Champlain Longboats rowing community, it stopped our …
A Salute to our Graduating High School Senior Rowers Read More »
By Nick Patch, Champlain Longboats Director As you’ve probably been following our updates, the Museum’s boat shop team has been finding creative ways to continue our boat shop work from home. It’s worth recognizing their creativity and work, as finding ways to do what we normally do in the shop from home is not an …
Working from Home: Boat Shop Volunteers Are Keeping Busy! Read More »
How does the boat shop work from home? During these unprecedented times our boat shop staff have found creative ways to continue our work at home, and right now it revolves around two related boats. Last summer two traditional small wooden boats were donated to the Museum. Both of these boats were started over twenty …
By Nick Patch, Champlain Longboats Director Since January we’ve been sharing weekly updates on our Champlain Longboats student boat building program as students from Middlebury and Vergennes learn how to build a pilot gig – a 32’ open-water rowing boat. Our boat building students have gotten pretty far in the past three months since we …
By Nick Patch, Champlain Longboats Director Big news from the boat shop: this week students from Vergennes Middle and High School along with teachers and museum staff celebrated the installation of the final plank on our new 32’ pilot gig that they have been working on since January. A major milestone in any boat building …
What is a Whiskey Plank? Updates from the Boat Shop Read More »
By Nick Patch, Champlain Longboats Director This past November, the Museum’s Champlain Longboats program embarked on an exciting new initiative with Two Roads Academy, a privately operated alternative education program based in Williston that works with public school students, to create a once-in-a-lifetime kayak experience for students. Students and staff from Two Roads Academy come …
Building Kayaks for Adventure with Two Roads Academy Read More »
