Rowing club takes hold in Lakes Region

Lake Winnipesaukee was home to the first intercollegiate rowing competition — Harvard vs. Yale — back in 1852, and now the big lake is host to a group of rowing enthusiasts from around the Lakes Region.

Winnipesaukee Rowing Club, formed in October of 2003, is already 75 members strong, and growing fast, according to Charles Rand of Meredith.

Rand was behind efforts to create the club last fall, along with President Paul Euiler of Meredith and Nancy McDonald of Holderness. They sit on the board of directors with Tammy Levesque, Randy Rice and Beth Euiler, all of Meredith. The founders saw an opportunity to create a group that would introduce people to rowing, and get area youth involved in the "competitive circuit," Rand said.

The club's mission is to provide area youth and adults with recreational and competitive rowing.

Already Winnipesaukee Rowing Club has entered boats in several competitions. And notably, this fall, it will participate in a rowing event that is part of Boston's Head of the Charles Regatta, the world's largest two-day rowing event. In addition, rowers from the club will compete at the N.H. Championship Regatta, as they did last year.

But the sport is about more than competing in a race.

"There is a social element to rowing that is unmatched," Rand said. When members meet early in the morning on Lake Winnipesaukee, or sometimes Lake Waukewan, they are all thinking about what is the best way to get the boat through the water, he explained.

"Rowing calls for everyone to be on the same timing, and moving towards the same goal. Yet at the same time it is forgiving enough so that if someone drops out, the boat can still go on."

The sport distinguishes winners and losers on much than strength alone, and all types of people can thrive at it regardless of gender or age.

In the context of the club, for example, one of the most apparent differences between the rowers is age. One member is older than 70 while the youngest is a 12-year-old boy. Recently, the boy was coxswain for a four-member boat, meaning that he was directing the four adult men rowing the boat.

"The club covers a phenomenal social range," Rand said. "We identify ourselves as being intergenerational because we are sending youth out with adults. It's just a wonderful mix of mothers and daughters, neighbors and complete strangers."

Youth may benefit particularly from rowing, according to Rand, who said there are many studies that suggest a correlation between high grades and students who participate in the sport. In addition, he said that because of the national upswing in the sport, students stand out to colleges and universities if they participate in rowing.

The sport is said to be challenging physically and mentally. "Rowing is considered one of the healthiest sports because it is a low impact, highly aerobic and anaerobic sport," Rand said. "And it requires an incredible amount of concentration and teamwork."

The basic idea, of course, is to get a boat through the water as fast and efficiently as possible using oars that are operated manually. Each rower has to act in sync with others to move the boat through the water, all the while incorporating outside factors like the current, wind speed and direction.

The two basic types of rowing are "crew" and "sculling". In crew, rowers — teamed two, four or eight to a boat — use both their hands to pull on individual oars. In sculling, one, two or four rowers uses two oars each – one in either hand.

Winnipesaukee Rowing Club has boats suited for teams of one, two or four along with a coxswain who directs and motivates the rowers. Springtime is sprint season when members generally compete in races of 1500 to 2000 meters, while in the fall – called head season – races are typically between three and five miles.

Today, the equipment and strategies used by rowers are incredibly technical and sophisticated, according to Rand.

But the idea of moving a boat through water by rowing has been around for centuries timeless. It is one of the oldest forms of transportation dating back 2000 years when the Greeks figured out it was quicker than paddling.

Rowing took hold as a sport in the early 19th century in England. No intercollegiate sport has a longer history in this country.

According to Rand, there hasn't been a strong rowing presence here in the Lakes Region for decades, since the 1960s. Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro has the only other club in the area, he said.

Rand doesn't know the reason for decline in the sport locally. But it looks like the time is right to reintroduce it here.

The club took off well from its inception, said Rand, and has continued to grow.

The club's vision is to hold a large regatta on Meredith Bay in 2005 where teams throughout the northeast would compete. Rand pointed out such an event would generate a great deal of rowing activity and be an economic boom. The idea already has garnered support from businesspeople and town officials.

For more information about Winnipesaukee Rowing Club or to join, call Paul Euiler at 279-1492.