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The warm weather once again brings the members of the Beach Channel High School crew team out on the water. NY1's Michael Meenan filed the following report on one of the city's only crew teams at it takes to Jamaica Bay for practice.
For 34 years, the Beach Channel High School crew team has rowed on city waters. There is plenty of water around the five boroughs, but getting one's oars into it can take lots of work.After school, the students gather on a bus to head over the Marine Parkway Bridge and deep into Floyd Bennett Field to the team's headquarters, known as "The Shack."
Joann Sanchez, a crew alum, now has a son on the team.
"It brings back a lot of memories," she said. "Same thing, we have no electricity, no plumbing."
The girls and boys hoist their 58-foot shells, or boats, a half mile to the water.
"People think we just go in the water and row," said Coach Chris Horn. "And we have our little umbrellas, you know."
The whole process, from the classroom to getting out on the water, takes about an hour.
Each rower's a piston, skimming their shell under the Belt Parkway, along Mill Basin, past racing motor boats. Coach Horn, a social studies teacher, trails them in his boat like a salty admiral.
The girl's shell is a novice-eight, totally new to the sport. But they just did pretty well in a Long Island regatta, or race. No trophy, for them or the boys, but lots of pride for a team on a tight $12,000 annual budget, rowing against mostly suburban kids.
Bronx Science is the only other city team.
"I'm the mechanic, the travel agent, the coach, the psychologist, and the surrogate parent," said Horn.
"It takes a lot of guts to get out on the water every day and do what they do," said Assistant Coach Erin Hanley.
Back at The Shack, rowing time seems so brief.
"We had a good day," said coxswain Joe Sanchez. "The water was flat."
With good weather, Sanchez hopes him and his teammates will spend a lot of time on the water every day after school until June.
- Michael Meenan
