Earlier this month the Weehawken Rowers kicked off their eighth season with a series of rows beginning from their base by the old ferry terminal on the Weehawken waterfront to the piers of downtown New York City.
“This will be our 8th season,” said Jim Dette, member and former organizer of the Weehawken Rowers. “We started in 2001.”
This year, about 50 people are signed on to the Weehawken Rowers mailing list with new faces joining every year. Many of them first time rowers.
“There is a group of 15 core rowers every year, as well as new people coming in,” said Dette. “I think people enjoy it. They like the camaraderie of the group and enjoy going out on the river.”
Rowing on the Hudson
Weehawken Rowers was a contingent of Floating the Apple, but has been independent since Sept. 2000. The first group of rowers from Weehawken, including Dette, was recruited in the late 1990s by a member of Floating the Apple.
“There were a group of us back then that got interested and a couple of us got involved,” said Dette, who has been rowing for ten years.
“I’ve been involved at least ten years, and have been with the Weehawken Rowers for about seven years,” said Dette. “I just enjoy getting out on the river and the camaraderie amongst the rowers.”
At the behest of the group Floating the Apple, the Weehawken Rowers began to take shape in 2000. The parent group even provided them with their own gig, and the group recently acquired a second gig.
Meetings for people interested in the Weehawken Rowers began in spring of 2001, and interest continues to spread through the organization’s e-mail list and by word of mouth.
By 2006, the Weehawken Rowers was fully and formally organized with their own Board of Directors. Dette also serves as a board member.
According to Dette, the group has about 20 consistent rowers, who interchange per meeting.
“So at any one time there might be six to eight rowers that show up,” said Dette.
In addition, the Weehawken Rowers are constantly welcoming new people; both experienced and those brand new to the sport, who take to the river on their very first day.
“We have had people without experience row with us for the first time,” said Dette.
First timers are given a tutorial on the basics of rowing and they go through maneuvering routines, where they launch the gigs. Once they are comfortable, they row out onto the Hudson River. For their gigs [boat], four rowers are required to man the oars, which are two on each side.
“[Once] we had one person out for the very first time and another for the second time, and it wasn’t an easy row,” said Dette. “We had the tide and the wind against us.”
However, the group did very well out on the water, and rowed to the piers at New York City and back to the Weehawken waterfront.
“Each boat requires four rowers and a coxswain, and they can take up to three passengers or three [additional] rowers and switch off,” said Dette.
While the rowers maneuver the gig, the coxswain is responsible for steering and gives orders to the rowers, who work together as a team to effectively navigate and row the boat.
“If they are not doing exactly what the coxswain said they will have problems,” said Dette. “The coxswain knows what to do, but the rowers have to do it.”
Weekly rows
The group currently meets once a week on Saturdays, but are looking to extend the schedule to Wednesday evenings since now the summertime offers more daylight hours.
So far this season the Weehawken Rowers have only had enough rowers to take one of their gigs out, but are anticipating more participants since the schedule will include Wednesday evening rows.
The Weehawken Rowers currently has about 50 people on their mailing list and whoever wants to join in on the day of a scheduled row can just show up.
The rowers launch from a point on the Weehawken waterfront just south of the old ferry terminal, and north of Arthur’s Landing.
Before heading out on the water, rowers will check tide currents and plan accordingly to ensure safe and effective trips across the Hudson River.
“We have charts that give us the hour by hour current direction in the river,” said Dette.
Dette retired at the end of last season as the organizer for the Weehawken Rowers, which is now filled in by Alex Foulds. The organizer maintains the mailing list and distributes information on rows and the organization. Rowing has continued to grow in popularity over the last few years. In New York there are several rowing groups with about a dozen gigs each.
Weehawken Rowers also works with the fellow groups around the river, and at times participate in organized events for all rowing groups. The season runs until early November when the air and water temperature gets to low.
“We have participated in the Row Around Manhattan,” said Dette. “They supply the boats and we just have to supply the crew.”
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