Practice Pictures and Video

VICTORY AT METRO CHAMPIONSHIPS

Coxswain William Walls ’12, Stroke- Frank Osborne ’12, 3-Connan Ingham ’12, 2-Patrick Waller ’12

Anna Simons ‘12 and Kacey Rohloff

Kings Point Rowing
VICTORY AT METRO CHAMPIONSHIPS
New York Metropolitan Rowing Championships – April 25, 2009
Team results

Kings Point Rowers continued their successful season with gold and two silvers in at the Metropolitan Rowing Championships on Saturday. The gold was in the Women’s Pairs while both the Men’s Varsity Four and Freshman Four finished second in each of their races. This competition started as a local championship amongst Metropolitan New York teams, and eventually expanded to include sixteen teams from as far away as Albany and includes larger teams such as Army, Fordham and Fairfield University.

The Women’s Pair of Anna Simons ‘12 and Kacey Rohloff dominated the field by taking the lead after 5 strokes and was then unrelenting in pushing the competition further behind as they rowed to victory. With nearly a 100 meter lead, the duo wrote Kings Point history with the first ever victory in the event by a KP women’s team. “They really looked strong today; this was the first chance for the pair to show their speed during this season. They rowed really well and I am hopeful for the remainder of the season”, said Coach Derek Hartwick following the race. The victory was not without near incident; when approaching the finish, the crew nearly steered the shell toward rocks that were near the finish line and were marked with an orange buoy just as the finish line was. “We thought the red buoy was the finish and we started sprinting toward it. Then we realized our mistake and took off for the finish line” said Rohloff; the crew member that steers the boat. It was the first time that this crew had raced on this race course and the bow-person has to row and steer while sitting backwards.

The Men’s Varsity Four continued to strength as it has throughout the season. Coming off a strong 2nd place showing at the prestigious Knecht Cup two weeks ago, the Kings Point crew of Coxswain Robert Kaldenbach ’12, Stoke Brad Webster ’09, 3-Erik Henden ’09, 2-James Sanwald ’11, and Bow- Charles Waters ’10 rowed easily through the heat and into the final. In the final though, they met with strong opposition from Fordham, who have won National titles in recent years. The KP rowers held the lead for the first 750 meters until Fordham took a slight lead. Kings Point was able to stay close to the Fordham crew but despite a push by our rowing mariners, the Fordham crew was able to hold on to a slight lead to the finish. The Kings Point Varsity finished 2nd and was able to hold off a final sprint by Iona. “They finished 2nd of 13 colleges and rowed their best race. I’m pleased with how well they rowed amongst such tough competition” commented Coach Hartwick.

The Men’s Freshman crew of Coxswain William Walls ’12, Stroke- Frank Osborne ’12, 3-Connan Ingham ’12, 2-Patrick Waller ’12, and Grey Gambill rowed easily through their heat and into the final favored to be in the medals. The crew is comprised of mostly novice rowers except for Osborne who rowed in high school. The crew performed very strongly amongst a mix of thirteen experienced and inexperienced crews. Coxswain Walls commented “We led the whole field from the first few strokes and through the half-way point until Army started to move. They got a slight lead that we were not able to regain. The crew rowed really well.”



The team travels to Whitney Point, NY on May 2 to compete in the New York Rowing Championships. Coach Hartwick is optimistic about the team’s chances of doing well next week. “I’m really looking forward to next weekend. We have really been performing well and I think that we’ll do well at the New York Championships.”

Weekend Training Aboard Liberator

Jeff Musselman '12 Navigates into Narragansett Bay
Dinner Hosted by the Stearns

East Greenwich Sea Scouts

In lieu of the postponed pickup of a new powerboat, 14 members of the Power Squadron took the Liberator on a Training voyage to East Greenwich Rhode Island. We stopped for some piloting training at Block Island, took out a group of Rhode Island Sea Scouts, and were treated to a wonderful dinner hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Gary Stearns. In attendance at the dinner was Captain Hempstead, father of Professor CDR Hempstead, who regaled all with his sea stories, as well as giving the midshipman a tour of his beautiful ship Kittywake.

Some Great Words From Casey Penney '11

More News.....Great Waterfront Shots

CBS Weekend Journal

ABC News and Recognition

Busy day yesterday on the KP Waterfront-- first off, Congrats to the Class of 2012 having a great day for thier recognition run!



The ABC News producers and staff were very excited to see all the activity a quote "Wow, this place is great! Do you have the slip and slide everyday?"

I usually try to get out and get more pictures up of recognition, but I spent all day attacking my own ship

We were tasked with impersonating Somali Pirates and thrawting the normal anti-pirate techniques to see if we could board the T/V Kings Pointer- Check out 20/20 tonight to see how we fared!

Alumni and Parents gather to see Vanquish

A large group of Charleston area Alumni and Parents come out to the end of the City Marina Mega Dock on Saturday to see the Midshipman who sailed Vanquish to Charleston. Thanks to Luke Blessinger KP' 01 and Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Tunstall KP' 82- (parents of rower Jeremy KP'10) for organizing the event and bringing the food and refreshments. The history of Kings Point was well represented with Alumni going back to 1945!

Vanquish 2nd boat to Finish, 3rd Place Corrected

What a great ride to the finish.  Reaching and running in up to 20 knots of wind, with boatspeeds over 21 knots.  The crew is enjoying Charleston, and looking forward to tonights awards.

More pics and video here

Vanquish Update - Nav Station

Things have been going very well onboard. Morale is high, along with the wind and waves. We are now roughly 165 miles due south of Charleston and sailing TWA 70-80 on port, just  blast reaching along at a steady 13-14 knots of boatspeed in 16-17 knots of wind. We are getting launched off waves right and left, and its gotten quite wet outside as well as down below. Walking anywhere requires all limbs available, and typing or navigating at a computer can be quiet difficult. We can expect this direction of wind and strength for at least another several hours, then she will slowly start to shift left and decrease slightly in velocity; but that will free up our angle and speed.

We did a solid job of linking up with the Gulf Stream last night, however overstepped ourselves with the stream. We ended up slightly east of the western wall of the stream, because we wanted to sail a better angle with our sail plan rather than stay hard on the wind to remain in the stream. We now have a great set up and are just clicking away miles towards Charleston, however Rosebud, our main competition, has moved in directly in front of us, approximately 11.7 miles dead ahead. That translates to about 50 minutes ahead of us. They dont have much leverage on us as we are both on the same parallel of hte Stream, which is good; and means the rest of the race is now a drag race.They are very clearly a extremely well sailed team of professionals, they will be hard to reel in.

We should finish around midnight tonight or just after, and look forward to jumping out of some very wet clothes.

 

Everyone's hard work all week long is really paying off as the crew work and boat are flawless. Great attitudes, killer boat, and getting out of the classroom for a week to actually navigate and sail a vessel is more than we could ever ask for! Thank you to everyone at school, professors and officers, for supporting the sailing team and all our adventures! It always is a once in a lifetime adventure with Kings Point sailing.

20 knots speed over ground- Blast Reaching in the Gulf Stream

Well the sloppy no wind period is over, and although we did take a big hit in that corner I mentioned, we are cruising now.  18-20 knots of wind on the beam, a wet and wild ride.  We were close reaching with the A3 in 12 knots of breeze, and changed to a JT just as the breeze built.  Charleston here we come.  The boat is a bit of a rodeo ride.....but everyone is holding up well.

Finally some wind- but are we in a corner?

08 April 2009

2030

 

 

Just wrapped up a yummy freeze dried dinner and changed from the drifter to the Code Zero.  Unfortunately our angle is taking us out of the Gulf Stream, and the opposite gybe is away from Charleston.......hoping the westerly keeps coming around to let us soak back into the good current.  Spirits are high now that we have edged out of the slamming waves and are making 11 knots over the ground.  A beautiful full moon should last through the night....

Off to Charleston aboard Vanquish

1415 08 April 2009

 

We had a perfect start right at the well favored pin in 7 knots of easterly breeze.  Making 10 knots over the ground with Rosebud on our starboard quarter.  Hope this seabreeze lasts us into tomorrows reaching!

Track the race to Charleston

Vanquish start the race to Charleston tomorrow at 1400- Here is where to track the race, and get the details-

Tracking

Race Site

Updates posted to Sailing Anarchy

And of course here! 

It looks like it could be a wet and wild reach---or a slow start-- the weather has not settled in yet.

A Great Day on the Water

Sail testing and practice today on Vanquish.  Tested sails, practiced sail handling and a man overboard drill in 14-18 knots of breeze.

Out for a Sail on Vanqiush

Ben Reavis steering Vanquish

Out today for the first sail, taking the boat for a 50 mile beat from Palm Beach to Ft. Lauderdale.   Tomorrow will be a full practice day on the water, getting ready for the Wednesday start of the Ft. Lauderdale to Charleston Race.

Chris Branning at the helm

Boatwork

Getting Vanquish ready-

Getting Ready in Florida- Ft. Lauderdale to Charleston

The pieces are coming together for next weeks start of the Ft. Lauderdale to Charleston Race.  Staff and Alumni are putting to get Vanquish, and the Midshipman are making up classes and packing up their homework to get underway on the water for a week.  Here is glimpse of the latest weather outlook, and the planning and routing that goes into the navigation side of an offshore race.  More updates to follow.

KP Varsity Rowing Team to Compete in Around the World Regatta

The Varsity Rowing Team will compete in it's most ambitious race to date, entering the Men's Varsity 4 team in this summers Around the World Regatta.  A first of its kind, the race will start at this years Dad Vail Regatta, and if all goes well finish during the 2011 Head of the Charles Regatta.  Kings Point seems to have many natural advantages over the other entries, including a celestial navigation requirement for coxswains, and stops in ports familiar to many Kings Pointers including- Felixstowe, Port Said, Djibouti, Dubai, Kaoshiung, Diego Garcia, and a special sprint race through the Panama Canal.  Coach Hartwick says "I think our team has what it takes to go the distance.  The waterfront staff has really worked hard to prepare our new Ocean-going Monomoy for what will be the longest TM ever, even working in special anti-piracy measures never before seen on a Monomoy built in 1943."