Press Release

The Icebreaker: Northeast Regional Youth Open-Water Rowing Championships

Release Date: November 17, 2005
From: The Hull Lifesaving Museum
Event: The Icebreaker: Northeast Regional Youth Open-Water Rowing Championships
Event Dates: Saturday, November 19, 2005
Event Time: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Location: Windmill Point Boathouse, 185 Main Street, Hull, MA 02045
Contact: Lory Newmyer, Executive Director; Ed McCabe, Maritime Program Director, Hull Lifesaving Museum
Contact Phone: 781-925-5433
Contact email: [email protected]
Web site: www.lifesavingmuseum.org

The sport of "fixed-seat/open-water rowing" is rapidly expanding into the mainstream -- as evidenced at the hotly contested "Icebreaker: Northeast Regional Youth Open Water Rowing Championships," hosted by the Hull Lifesaving Museum every year in Boston Harbor. This year's invitational event will be held on Saturday, November 19, 9 am to 4 pm, at the Museum's Windmill Point Boathouse, 185 Main Street, at Hull Gut. The most highly-skilled youth open-water rowers in all of New England -- from New York City, New Haven, CT, Lake Champlain, VT, Maine's North Haven and Vinalhaven, and in Massachusetts, from Boston, Hull, Hingham, Gloucester, Hanover, and Kingston -- compete for the coveted "Key to the Harbor," and bragging rights for the rest of the year. Over 200 teenagers participate every year in big, traditional rowing boats that they have built themselves.

The Icebreaker is more than a conventional race. The day is comprised of a series of grueling round-robin-style sprints, with crews asked to test their mettle against each other, the winds and currents, and their own mounting excitement and exhaustion. The event culminates wit h a 25-boat nautical mile sprint across Hingham and Hull Bays. During the course of this one event, the youth crews cover greater distances than collegiate crews race in an entire season. This is an unequalled spectator event, and a rare chance to see every pilot gig and coxed-four in the region up close and at work. Participation in this event is by invitation only. Please contact Lory Newmyer at 781-925-5433 for more information.