Kings Point Varsity Rowing
United States Merchant Marine Academy
Team Results
Murphy Cup Regatta – Philadelphia, PA
March 28, 2009

The Kings Point Varsity Rowing team kicked off the spring season in fine form as it competed at the Murphy Cup Regatta in Philadelphia. A total of forty-three teams competed in the regatta with over two-hundred and fifty crews amongst all of the events. The weather was not ideal but was what one expects for the Schuylkill River at this time of the year; cool and windy. The morning conditions were seasonally cool while a steady tail wind helped to create good conditions for some fast racing.

The Freshman-Novice crew of Coxswain Jonathan Gardner ’11, Stroke Frank Osborne ’12, 3- Connan Ingham ’12, 2- Patrick Waller ’12 and Bow Thomas Gambil ’12 rowed a fantastic race well but narrowly missed reaching the final by half a second. The crew took the lead off the start and held that lead until the 1900 meter mark when Drexel passed to take the qualifying position for the final. It was an exciting race for this relatively inexperienced crew. The crew’s time of 7:20 for the mile and a quarter distance was fast enough to earn them the honor of 6th place of 24 crews overall.


The Women’s Varsity Pair of Anna Simons and Kacey Rohloff put together a fine race and narrowly missed setting a Kings Point record for this event as it completed the 2000 meter distance in 9:07. Despite having a great start in the final and racing in the top three crews for 700 meters, the pace was too quick for the Mariners and they fell a few seconds back by the 1000 meter mark. The inexperience of not having previously raced in the pair made it difficult to respond to the challenge of the competition. While finishing 5th overall, the crew had a fine race and is expected to find even greater speed as the season progresses.

The Men’s Varsity squad rowed well but finished just off the pace to qualify for the final. With poor rowing conditions over the last couple weeks, the team has had difficulty getting enough rowing time to build some racing speed. The crew of Coxswain Robert Kaldenbach ‘11, Stroke Bradford Webster ‘09, 3- Erik Henden ‘09, 2- James Sanwald ‘11, and Bow- Charles Waters ‘10 completed the 2000 meter course in 7:05.
With a full schedule of teams entered; sixteen in total, our Mariners were able to finish third but unable to capture the first spot that would have assured a spot in the final. The crew’s time garnered them a 7th place of 16 teams overall.




Kings Point rowing heads to the Harlem River on April 4th for the Manhattan College Invitational. Traditionally, the Mariners have done quite well at this annual event.

Kings Pointers Explore Newtown Creek with New York Harborschool

Kings Point Midshipmen and staff have teamed up with the New York Harbor School, a New York public high school dedicated to marine education, to teach students about harbor ecology and maritime operations. Today was the first of four trips aboard Catfish, with midshipman crew conducting tours from Manhattan to Newtown Creek. Harbor School students investigated sewage discharges, the largest oil spill in the nation, and recycling activities along the creek.

MORE PICS!

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.

Offshore Team Gears up for Ft. Lauderdale-Charleston Race

The Kings Point Offshore Sailing Team is gearing up for it's first big event of the year, the Ft. Lauderdale to Charleston Race which will start on April 8th.  Kings Point will race aboard the newly donated yacht Vanquish, an STP 65.  This will be the first time USMMA has competed in this race.  This will kick off a big season for the Offshore Team, with plans to compete in the following races-

Marblehead to Halifax

Block Island Race Week

Port Huron to Mackinac

Chicago to Mackinac

and more......

Spring Break Training Trip

In a new twist to the standard T/V Kings Pointer Spring Break Training trip, these year we decided to stay close to Kings Point and vary the training.  By mixing the training with the T/V Kings Pointer, smaller training vessels, and simulator exercises, the student got an enormous amount of practical experience.

Pictures Here!

Harbor Seal Makes Rare Appearance at Kings Point

Kings Pointers Battle it out in Jaguar Cup Regatta

Bill Hardesty '98 and Tom Lihan '82 go down to the wire-

HARDESTY WINS BATTLE - KNEULMAN/ SMITH/ LAMMENS WIN WAR Miami, FL (March 1, 2009) - The fourth and final event of the Etchells Jaguar Series - the Jaguar Mid-Winters - garnered a 55-boat fleet this past weekend, and provided a show down between the preeminent teams in the class. Last year’s Jaguar champion, Bill Hardesty’s team had been playing catch-up this season after missing the first event (DNC-5-1), and needed a good regatta to overcome the consistency of the co-skippered Dirk Kneulman/Jud Smith/ Hank Lammens (1-6-2) to have a chance at repeating. Hardesty was on form this weekend, and had built an 8 point lead over Tom Lihan going into the last race. However, after a poor start that dropped Hardesty back to the twenties, a rally was rewarded with a 13th in a tight row of downwind boats, making it hard to call onboard, but ultimately they took the regatta by one point over Lihan. With the Jaguar Series scoring counting the best three events, the third place finish at the Mid-Winters by the Kneulman/ Smith/ Lammens trio earned them the Jaguar Series title by one point over Hardesty. News thanks to Scuttlebutt

Trivia- How many Kings Pointer's can you find on this linked page?

Is this what March is supposed to look like?