UNITED STATES MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY
KINGS POINT ROWING
Head of the Charles Regatta– The Fall Rowing Classic
October 18-19, 2008 - Regatta Results


VARSITY MEN’S FOUR PLACES 3rd IN THE NATION AMONGST DIII CREWS


CAMBRIDGE – The Kings Point Varsity Men’s four-man crew continued its successful ways as it finished 6th overall in the Head of the Charles Regatta and 3rd overall amongst the top Division III institutions in the nation.
The Head of the Charles Regatta is the largest rowing event in the world. In this years forty-third running of the regatta, 19 countries were represented by 8,500 competitors and cheered on by nearly 300,000 spectators. College crews travel to Cambridge from forty states in the nation to determine the fall champions. Each of the four Kings Point crews met stiff competition as they raced in categories that included crews from Division I, II, and III.
The crew of Coxswain Romulus Cirone ‘10, Stroke Bradford Webster ’09, 3- Erik Henden ‘09, 2-Steven Jones ‘10 and Bowman Mike Stocko ’10 set a strong pace through the early stages of the race when it was fighting for the lead. In a repeat of last year’s competition, the top three crews destroyed the previous race record by nearly a half minute as the conditions of fast tailwinds were ideal for setting new records.
Despite rowing a nearly flawless race the crew still just short of winning a medal as they did last year. Division I Michigan completed the three miles in 16:26 to capture first. Kings Point’s time of 17:12 is a best-ever fastest time for Kings Point at this Fall Championship. Based on last years performance, Kings Point started in the 2nd spot and although no crews passed them, some of the crews in the middle of the pack were able to post faster times.
Finishing 30th in the same event was the crew of Coxswain Robert Kaldenbach, Stoke - Norman Hilliard ’12, 3 - Adam Kroupa ’12, 2 – Russell Marihugh ’10, Bow – Luis Achurra ’12. Under the skillful direction of Kaldenbach, the crew of mostly of Novice Plebes carved its way to their best time of the season and a fine performance amongst the best competition in the nation. The crew completed the three mile course in 20:06.
Another fine performance was recorded by the Men’s Varsity Eight as Kings Point entered the Collegiate Men’s Eight event for just the second time. Lead by the motivating voice and fine steering of Coxswain Jonathan Gardner, the crew rowed its way through the five bridges and hairpin turns while holding off crews that nipped at its stern. The crew of Coxswain Jonathan Gardner ’11, Stroke- James Sanwald ’11, 7- Sam Diedrick ‘10, 6- Frank Osborne ’12, 5- Drew Ruff ‘12, 4-Patrick Waller ‘12, 3-Connan Ingham ‘12, 2- Thomas ‘Grey’ Gambill ‘12, and Bow - Jeremy Tunstall ’10 clocked a 17:00 and finishing 34th amongst the best 38 teams in the country. Coach Hartwick seemed pleased with the crew’s performance. “They are a young crew with five plebes and three of those having just learned how to row this fall. They rowed a gutsy race and it was the best race of their season. I believe they have tremendous potential for the future.”


The Varsity Women’s Four had their fastest race of the fall season in the Collegiate Four race. The crew of Coxswain William Walls ’12, Stroke – Anna Simons ‘12, 3- Kacey Rohloff ‘12, 2- Ali Anderson ‘12, and Bow – Jessica Willey ‘12, finished 30th of 34 crews overall. The crew’s time of 21:50 was the second best time the Kings Point Women’s team for this 3 mile race course. The crew has had a terrific season with strong performances in many of the local fall competitions. “They are a young crew with all five crew members having just started rowing this fall; they are going to do great in the coming years” commented coach Hartwick.


Regatta Results Online:
http://www.hocr.org/results/results.asp

Regatta video:
http://www.nesports.tv/archive.php

2008 Head Of The Charles, Day 1
(USMMA Men’s Four First four @ 3:34, 2nd four @3:42, Women’s four @3:53)
2008 Head Of The Charles, Day 2
(USMMA Men’s Eight @ 4:42)

Windy Race Day

The KP Dinghy Open and Manhasset Bay Fall Series put last weeks windy practice to good use, as it was blowing the dogs off thier chains in Long Island Sound on Saturday!

Fall Series Pics

KP Dinghy Open Pics

Windy Practice Day

A great day of fall sailing on the sound-

Midshipman Safety Seminar Day

Safety on the water is our number one concern at the KP Waterfront. With so many diverse vessel types underway in all conditions we are constantly training our midshipmen in safety at sea topics. To bring the subject to 3rd class and Plebe Midshipmen the Upper class has developed a Safety Seminar that is taught to the underclass as an intro and refresher into our safety culture.

109 Midshipmen For Waterfront Picture Day

It's hard to get the members of all Waterfront Programs together at one time- Dinghy, Rowing, Keelboat, Power Squadron, Offshore- I'm sure we missed quite a few, not to mention those out to sea.

All The Teams

Kings Point Sailor Attend Morning Light Showing

Out to support M/N Chris Branning's acting debut at the New York Opening of the Morning Light Movie, Kings Point Sailors gathered outside the Marquee at the Roslyn Theater. Reviews from the Kings Pointers were positive......with cheers at Chris' every appearance on screen.

Navy Day Regatta

Kings Point Varsity Rowing
United States Merchant Marine Academy
Navy Day Regatta – October 11, 2008
Team results

Kings Point Rowing had a strong day of performances on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia at the 23rd annual Navy Day Regatta on October 11. The team brought home a second place, one 6th place and two seventh places finishes in very tight competition amongst Division I, II and III teams including Navy and Army.

The regatta was created as a way to commemorate the founding of the U.S. Navy. This competition was the team’s last preparatory race prior to competing next weekend at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Cambridge, MA .

While the team did not bring home medals, each crew put forward their best performances of this fall season and prepared them for the final fall regatta. The competition included many of the best Mid-Atlantic colleges. With daylong sunshine and only a slight breeze, the crews had nearly perfect conditions for fast times over the two and a half mile race course.

The Men’s Varsity Four started the day off for Kings Point with a fine performance in the Collegiate Four event. With only thirty seconds separating the top 6 crews, the crew of Coxswain Romulus Cirone ‘10, Brad Webster ’09, Erik Henden’09, Steven Jones’10, and Mike Stocko ‘10 finished a close 6th to Div. I teams Rutgers, University of Pennsylvania and Temple. Kings Point was the top Div. II/III crew in the race. The event winner, Rutgers University clocked a 14:45 to Kings Point’s 15:17. This crew is hoping to again finish in the top three when it represents Kings Point at the prestigious Head of the Charles regatta next weekend. Since it finished 3rd of the best 31 crews in the country at last years regatta, it will be starting in one of the prime spots for this years race.

The Kings Point Varsity Women’s Four of Coxswain William Walls ‘12, Anna Simons ’12, Kacey Rohloff ’12, Ali Anderson ’12, and Jessica Willey ’12 had to race in a higher level competition than their level of rowing experience but race they did and had their best performance of the season in finishing second to a much more experienced Loyola College. Competing in the more challenging race of the Women’s Club event, this crew of Novices held their own as they clocked a 20:46 compared to the event winner Loyola’s time of 18:30.

The crew of Robert Kaldenbach ‘11, Norman Hilliard ‘12, Adam Kroupa ‘09, Steven Jones ’10 and Luis Achurra ’12 finished seventh in the Men’s Club event. The crew rowed hard but was not able to catch the event winner, Penn Athletic Club; known as a stong team that develops rowers for the U.S. nation team. Kings Point completed the 2.5 mile course in 18:17. This crew will take on the best Division II and III crews in the country next week in Cambridge, MA.

The crew of Coxswain Jonathan Gardner ‘12, James Sanwald’12, Sam Diedrick’10, Drew Ruff ‘12, Frank Osborne ’12, Patrick Waller ’12, Connan Ingham ’12, Thomas Gambill ’12, Jeremy Tunstall’10 finished 7th in the Men’s Collegiate Eight event. In just their first race as a crew the quick time of 15:02 bodes well for next weekend when this Kings Point crew will represent the academy at the Head of the Charles Regatta. The event winner Loyola finished in 14:06. The competition was tight as 7 crews finished all within 30 seconds. “We were hoping to finish in the top five but I think that with a good week of training, the crew will be ready to do well at the Charles” said Head Coach Derek Hartwick.

The team heads to Cambridge, MA for the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta on October 18-19. Four Kings Point crews will be vying for top honors on the twists and turns of the Charles River.

Power Squadron Training Cruise Visits Boston and Martha's Vineyard

What better way to spend Columbus day weekend that 46 hours underway aboard the T/V Liberator- with great watchstanding and conning experience along the way. With beautiful weather and stops at the Boston Coast Guard base, and The Tisbury Wharf company in Vineyard Haven it was an enjoyable trip for all.

Cruising the Hudson In Class

The Hudson River is famous for its history and scenery, so what better way to see both than from Kings Point's 1968 Pacemaker. Ten&Ten made the voyage from Kings Point to Kingston, NY this weekend, with practical training in boat handling, river navigation, and traffic management in NY Harbor. It was great trip- and Kingston provided us a warm welcome to their town.

About Face Finds the Fish- Again

The About Face crew left the dock at 1700 Friday for the fishing grounds 100nm offshore in hopes of repeating their earlier success this year. Arriving at the tip of the Hudson Canyon at 0530 the rods were set in the dark hoping to catch the early bite. The first fish did not come until 0900 which was a 50lb albacore tuna. We continued working our way down the east wall of the canyon towards an area known as the 1002. Arriving there around 1100 we found a large pocket of warm water and worked this area for the afternoon boating 1 yellowfin and 6 more albacore, 3 of which were released. The rest of the evening was slow and at 1800 we pulled the lines and cooked a fresh yellowfin dinner as the rest of the crew prepared for the night chunking. Fortunately the seas were flat and we were able to drift off the edge of the continental shelf for the night and within 5 minutes of setting lines we had our first swordfish on. The fish was fought for nearly 20 minutes before the hook pulled and we lost the fish. The same happened to another sword hooked an hour later. Finally at 0100 Sunday morning we hooked up on a sword and boated a 75lber which was then released. Still hoping for a bigger fish the crew worked the rods all night long and finally at 0630 one of the sword rods took off and the fish was heading for the deep. The crew did all they could to try and stop the fish and after taking nearly 300yds of line in a matter of seconds the fish broke off. The crew re-set the lines hoping to get in on the morning bite and were able to land a 65lb Wahoo before heading back to Kings Point. The 350nm round trip was a great way for the 2nd, and 3rd classmen to review their seamanship skills before leaving for sea in November and for the two plebes onboard, it was a great introduction to small vessel safety, route planning, watch standing, and terrestrial and electronic navigation. The 7 person crew consisted of M/N Jordan Musselman 10’, M/N Scott McCormick 10’, M/N Nick Alexander 10’, M/N Pat Lowe 09’, Plebe Sean Brown 12’, Plebe Jeff Musselman 12’, and Graduate Nick Sullivan 08’.

Kings Point Rowing Textile River Regatta

Novice Womens Four William Walls, Anna Simons, Kacey Rohloff, Ali Anderson, Sarah Smith

Race Results
Textile River Regatta – October 5, 2008
Here are the race results of the Varsity Rowing team at the Textile River Regatta.

1st PLACE Novice Men’s Four (1ST OF 9 CREWS)
3rd PLACE Novice Women’s Four (3RD OF 6 CREWS)
3rd PLACE Varsity Men’s Four (3RD OF 18 CREWS)
4TH PLACE Varsity Men’s Eight (4th of 10 crews)

It was a great team effort by all team members.
Gold medals won by the Novice men and bronze medals won by the Novice women and Varsity women.
The Men’s eight rowed well but fell just five seconds short of a bronze medal.

We had a great training session on the Head of the Charles race course in preparation for the regatta in two weeks.
We trained out of the Northeastern Boathouse. They loaned us the use of there facilities and launches. They invited us to come back again next year.

Waterfront Whalers

Gerry and Johnny Harpooning floating dock foam for new dinghy dock construction.

Homecoming a Hit for Returning Sailors

Shawne Perkins '98 held for ransom up the mast!

Class of '98 Sailors at the helm of Genuine Risk

Under gray skies last weekend a large contingent of Alumni Sailors converged on the waterfront. On Saturday afternoon the Waterfront hosted the 3rd Annual "March-On, Sail-Off" Where Alumni Sailors head out on the sound instead of the football game. This years ride was the 90' super-maxi Genuine Risk. About 30 Alumni joined Midshipmen crew for a trip on the Offshore Team's flagship. Shawne Perkins '98 even volunteered to be hoisted up the 125' mast. His gracious donation to the waterfront was sufficient to allow his safe lowing to the deck. Thanks to everyone for returning- and you're welcome back any time.