The Icebreaker: Northeast Regional Youth Open Water Rowing Championships

Saturday, November 17, 2007, 9 am - 4 pm
Windmill Point Boathouse, Hull, MA

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 all-youth invitational event will be held on Saturday, November 17, 9 am to 4 pm, at the Museum's Windmill Point Boathouse, located at 185 Main Street, Hull (at Hull Gut). The most highly-skilled youth open-water rowers in all of New England - from Newburgh and New York City, NY, New Haven, CT, Lake Champlain, VT, Maine's North Haven and Vinalhaven, and in Massachusetts, from Boston, Hull, Hingham, Gloucester, Hanover, and Plymouth - 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 a day comprised of a series of grueling round-robin-style sprints, with teenage crews testing their mettle against each other, the winds and currents, and their own mounting excitement and exhaustion. The event culminates with 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 or [email protected] for more information.