Line throwing from Growler at NY Tugboat Competition

Happy 4th of July from T/V Growler

Varsity Rowing / Power Squadron to Mystic Coastweeks Regatta

Mystic Coastweeks Regatta – September 16-19, 2011
This was the Rowing Team’s first regatta of the 2011 fall season. Twenty-nine rowers got underway Friday evening aboard Liberator, Growler and Summerwind with the crews of each vessel. The convoy arrived in Mystic at 0930 on Saturday morning. Saturday activities included touring the Mystic Seaport Museum, watching the Olympic team competition, and a training session in preparation for the regatta on Sunday.
This year was the largest competitive team that Kings Point has had in it’s seven year attendance at the regatta. Twenty-nine athletes competed with seven crews and brought home medals in two of the three race categories. The Coastweeks regatta is the first race of the fall “Head Style” season. Crews raced the distance of a mile-and-quarter in alternating fashion and do not know who won until the individual crew’s times are calculated following the race.
The women’s Double of Brooke Mueller 2014 and Brannon Niblock 2015 had a tremendous first race as they raced to a second place finish in what was a close race with Coast Guard. Coast Guard had a twenty-five second margin over Kings Point who had a three second lead over another Coast Guard entry. “Niblock is new to the sport and is still learning how to row and race. This is a great first result since the crew had only six practices as a crew” commented Coach Derek Hartwick. The crew will have two weeks to prepare for its’ next contest when it competes in the Textile River Regatta in Massachusetts on October 2.
The Men’s team launched an armada of five crews for the Men’s Open Four race. While Coast Guard captured the top spot in the race, the top Kings Point crew was only ten seconds off the lead. The men’s team showed great depth with both the top two crews placing ahead of Coast Guard’s second best crew and the additional three crews performing well despite their inexperience. The top crew of Coxswain Giuseppe Niosi ‘14, Stroke-John Dohring ‘14, 3-Connan Ingham ‘12, 2-Sean Welsh ’14 and Bow-Austin Boonyachai ‘15 kept a pace of thirty-six stokes per minute for the mile-and-quarter. This slight deficit off first place was nearly overshadowed by the even smaller three second margin between the two top Kings Point crews.
The relatively inexperienced women’s crew of Stroke-Diane Ormond ‘15, 3-Brannon Niblock ‘15, 2-Leena Yi ‘15 and Bow-Mo’ana Kawatachi ‘15 rowed well for their first race but came up short in the women’s open four event. Placing 6th behind some seasoned varsity crews did not deter the crew form promising that they would be competitive in the Novice Women’s event in two weeks. “They are going to do very well in the novice race at the Textile Regatta on October 2.” commented Coach Hartwick.
With two weeks to train, the team will then prepare for the next regatta in Lowell Massachusetts. The Textile River Regatta is the 2nd largest fall regatta and includes over 30 colleges from the northeast states. The Kings Point team has traditionally performed well at this regatta and hopes to do the same this year.

Power Squadron Towing Ops Class

TowingOps Great day on the water with Rob Asma teaching towing operations with Growler and "142"

Growler in Mystic

Skipper Andrew Conroy was joined by his father, CDR Phil Conroy, USNR, and the Growler crew for a training trip to Mystic, CT this weekend- Sounds like they had a great voyage.

From M/N Conroy- The trip went amazing. My father REALLY enjoyed everything. I wish I could have recorded all of the comments he made about the Kings Point Waterfront and the things we do. As a recently retired CDR in the navy, he appreciated the way things are run on the boat and here at the Kings Point waterfront. He should be sending some photos shortly. On Saturday afternoon, we were gathering crowds at Mystic showing off the boat. It was amazing to watch people show up at the boat.

 

 

 

Spotted! GROWLER heading to Kings Point using Ship Finder! http://bit.ly/ShipNET

Spotted! GROWLER heading to unknown using Ship Finder! http://bit.ly/ShipNET

Alumni on the C&D Canal

Met the Neil Mcallister in the C&D Canal last evening with former Growler Skipper Kyle Stearns '08 aboard as Mate.

Growler and the Lady

Growler crew on a drier day in the Harbor.

Lumpy Day in New York Harbor

Growler underway for training in New York Habor.

Spring at the Waterfront

Spring is here- Finally! Here's a bunch of things we've been up to-

Greater New York Dinghy Regatta, KP-SUNY MC Monomoy Race, Port Security Drill with USCG, Generator change out on Growler.......

Kings Point Midshipmen and NY Harbor School Students aboard T/V Growler in Newtown Creek

Fireworks from Growler as the three Cunard Queens Depart NY Harbor

Piloting training and fireworks!

KP Fleet Heading to New London

The view from the USCGA Home Stands at the 2007 game.....they must love the giant KP Burgee flying in the background!

The KP Fleet will be getting underway this afternoon for the USCGA to support the football team in tomorrow's game against the Bears. Underway will be Liberator, Summerwind, Growler, Maximon, Starlight, and About Face. 70 Midshipmen will crew the vessels, including many plebes underway on their first overnight trip.

Sights from a KP Afternoon

Putting the "Teeth" back in Growler

Moonrise Over KP

Growler Underway for Helicopter Training

We never pass up an opportunity to involve our midshipmen in great training- last week we were able to have the crew of Growler practice helicopter evacuations with the USCG.

Growler Shipyard

Growler was hauled out yesterday at Muller Boatworks in Brooklyn yesterday for some much needed M&R.

NIght Piloting / Navigation Class 2

So I forgot to bring my camera, but it was night, so not much to see anyway. Last night we took Liberator and Growler for our second Night Navigation and Piloting course on the East River. Small groups of midshipman had the opportunity to pilot the vessels through the harbor and into the narrow Rikers Island Channel for practice in a lit buoyed channel. Lots of practice with radio comms, traffic management, and tight quarters shiphandling. Standouts aboard Liberator were Plebes Kate O'Connor conning through the bridges (I think she has it in her blood,) Plebe Erika Lawson making a great first time (and very complicated) security call, and Jeff Musselman 3/c bringing the boat into the basin and docking on a dark night.

Growler at the New York Tug Competition

Growler competed yesterday in the New York Harbor Tugboat Competition.  The crew had a good time, and were able to meet many of the Captains and companies that operate in the harbor.  Here they are "pushing up" nose to nose to compare pushing power with a much larger tug.

Nightime Piloting aboard Growler and Liberator

The Midshipman Waterfront Officers have expanded on last years "Winter Waterfront Operations" series to include summer and fall training opportunities. The program kicked off last night with the first of two nighttime navigation and piloting trips in the East River aboard Growler and Liberator. The program is designed to both introduce the plebe class to more advanced ship handling and navigation, as well as to reinforce the skills of upperclassmen who will be returning to sea.

Says it all.......

I don't mean to scoop the Hear This!, but with morale at KP about as low as it can get, I think M/N Branning hit the nail on the head with this. I do notice that most members of the Waterfront Teams have a much different relationship with Kings Point that the average Midshipman, and that it normally takes a few years to realize that the experience actually was fun. The Waterfront guys are usually ahead of that curve, but it's great to see it put to paper.

In three short months the show will stop and something new will begin. This roller coaster ride of Kings Point will end, and in some weird way there is a part of me that doesn’t want to get off. I am always amazed of how much this place was able to cram into four years of training, and the vastly different lives that will be led once we all leave.
While walking to class the other day I couldn’t help but take account of everyone around me. A future ship’s Pilot already had his LNG PIC and Liquid PIC, and he was flanked by a future Marine Corp fighter-pilot who had already completed OCS. There was an engineer walking by who signed on with MSC, a sailor truly capable of fixing anything should it go broke. A future Army Infantry Officer was on our starboard flank, a man excited for his commitment and future duty to his country knowing full his odds of deployment. A close friend was just accepted to an Off-Shore Supply Vessel Company, and within 6 months he will be ship-handling with the best of them.
One was headed towards the Union Hall, excited for a variety of adventures that AMO or MMP had in store for him, and another just received a US Coast Guard Cutter assignment out west. A future lifer on tugboats cruised by, while also committing to the obligation of a Coast Guard reserve assignment for Port Operations. Future aviators and soldiers will head into active duty in every branch of service and as sailors in every facet of the Merchant Marine.
You could search the world ten times over and never find that combination of young adults in any other place.
I never thought school could be as much fun as Kings Point. Not the waking up early, the pushups, the haircuts, long hours and lack of toilet paper; but the absolute blast of spending 18 hours a day with your best buds. There were some days I absolutely just could not wait to get to class to see what would happen next. It’s was like every class was an episode from “Seinfeld” with writers, directors, actors, a laugh track and audience. But your couldn’t write the stuff that happens at Kings Point, it would never be possible to script something this fun to watch, live, and breath.
As we get ready to leave here we have to get ready to say “thanks” as this offer is only available here. Maybe it was some storm at sea you will never forget, and no one back home will ever be able to understand. Maybe it was that hop in a F/A-18 and breaking the sound barrier and pulling 7.2 G’s during your Naval Flight Internship, or sailing to Antarctica. Maybe it was the broad spectrum of leadership you got to witness during these four years, from bad to good, and being able to take a part of everything you liked. Perhaps it is your new ability to get along with just about anyone having spent 300 days chipping rust next to the wildest of personalities. Your visits to over a dozen countries will always be with you, although you would rather forget the Suez Canal.
You broke ice up the Hudson in the dead of winter while driving Growler, and learned how to dock the Liberator. Maybe you were sailing to Bermuda on one of the Academy’s 40 foot boats and while stuck in the gnarliest of squalls in the middle of the night while surrounded by lightning you turned to your buddy and said “can you believe they let us do this!?” You got feel what it’s like to be on a real college varsity sports team, and the highs and lows that competition brings. Maybe you scored the winning touchdown, the golden goal, the home run, or were a supporting player in the hardest of seasons. You know how it feels to be on a team.
You learned just how much work you can get out of a longshoreman in Venezuela with a pack of Marlboro Reds, and how to tell the Bosun just had too much to drink and not take it personally.
You may forget the monuments you saw along the way; the Great Wall of China, the Acropolis in Greece; the War Statues along the banks of the Suez Canal that were riddled with bullet holes. But NEVER forget the people. Those interactions, social situations, follower and leadership challenges are what truly contribute to what you are today. Those are the tools we will use when we go forward, not the photos we took. I am not sure you can find those tools anywhere else.
You can now throw together a 20 slide PowerPoint project in 60 minutes and actually deliver it with ease; earn an A- and instantly forget what you just presented. You now work better under pressure and on a team. You know when to make watching “Lost” more of a priority than studying Nav Law. You now know when you had too much to drink.
You will never forget the rush of dropping a tray in Delano only to hear a hundreds of your shipmates roar in approval, or crashing into your first (and hopefully last) ship while on the bridge of the CAORF simulator. You will always remember what it was like to put out your first Class Bravo fire and walking into a room of smoke and orange flames.
Some people may say Kings Point is a “fake” service academy, yet you will always know your experiences were very real.
Very simply, we went to school for free and got paid to see the world. We each have a pretty full tool chest, a bank of experiences and people skills that will serve us well in addition to a commission, an Unlimited Tonnage or Unlimited Horse-Power license valid on any vessel in any ocean, and a degree. We also got four years of smashing free haircuts.