“Starboard, back water,” Monica Van Peski called out, her voice echoing off the snowy banks of the Passagassawakeag River. “Just doing a little iceberg avoidance.”
The all-woman rowing team laughed as three rowers on the starboard side dipped their oars into the frigid water, turning the 32-foot Cornish pilot gig so it narrowly missed a floating block of ice.
The competitive teams of Come Boating!, Belfast’s volunteer-run rowing organization, practice year round, braving the icy waters of Belfast Bay and the tidal portion of the river multiple times a week. And this winter, their unrelenting practice schedule is especially important because for the first time, the teams — three in total — are preparing to compete in the World Pilot Gig Championships, scheduled for May 4 through 6 on the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall, England.
And when it comes to practicing rowing, there’s no substitute for the real thing, said Van Peski, coxswain of the all-women’s veteran team, made up of rowers who are all at least 40 years old.
“So much about rowing is about timing,” said Van Peski. “When you’re on an erg [indoor rowing machine], by yourself, you can’t practice timing with a team … and the different wave conditions you’re going to encounter and you know, just the real experience of being in a boat.”
“There’s of course a little element of pride about it. It’s like, OK we’re Mainers, why wouldn’t we row in the winter?” Van Peski said, then laughed.
As coxswain — which is generally shortened to “cox” — Van Peski is in command of the boat at all times. She sits at the stern (back), facing the bow (front), and is responsible for steering, since the rowers are all facing away from the direction in which they’re traveling. Using specific voice commands, she also keeps the rowers in sync, working as a unit.
“When the boat’s in sync, it’s almost surreal because everything is moving as one,” said Serena Cole of Stockton Springs, one of the team’s rowers. “You become one organism in the boat really.”
On Wednesday, March 21, the team worked their way up the Passagassawakeag River, practicing race starts, power strokes and moving in unison. The weather that day was mild with the occasional gust of cold wind and air temperatures in the high 30s.
“It’s beautiful out here in the winter,” said Van Peski. “The harbor’s not crowded.”
All Come Boating! winter rowers must have prior rowing experience and are required to attend an education session about cold weather rowing procedures and risks every other year. They also have to sign a special waiver each winter that confirms that they understand the risks of the sport.
The organization also provides specific winter rowing guidelines. For example, life jackets must be worn by participants at all times in the winter, and the gigs must remain within 300 feet of shore. The coxswain is responsible for establishing an onshore contact that checks in on the boat when they are due to return to shore. And, if the wind speed exceeds 14 knots or if the air temperature is less than 20 degrees Fahrenheit, they cancel practice.
“Our winter cox’s are very well versed in the safety aspects of it and keeping the people safe,” Van Peski said. “If there’s ever anything dubious, you know, we don’t go because it’s just not worth the risk.”
While only experienced, competitive rowers participate in Belfast’s winter rowing program, a much more diverse crowd participates in Come Boating!’s summer programs, which begins right after Memorial Day and ends in mid October. Throughout that season, volunteer coxswains lead community rows at least once a day, in the morning or late afternoon.
“We like to make rowing and the ability to get on the water just accessible to anybody,” Van Peski said. “We will take anybody out, we will teach them to row, every day of the summer.”
In addition to the daily community rows, Come Boating! also organizes more exercise or power rows for people looking for a bit more of a challenge.
“It’s a total body workout. It’s your legs, your abs, your arms, your back. It’s everything. It’s total body,” said Cole. “I’ve done a lot of different exercising, and this really gives you the biggest bang for your buck.”
On occasion, people who attend a community row in the summer will enjoy it so much they decide to join one of the competitive teams. Such was the case for Steffanie Pyle of Belfast, who attended a Come Boating! community row in August of 2015, and was instantly hooked.
“There’s a Zen-like quality to the motion of it and the rhythm of it,” explained Pyle when asked what she likes about the sport. “It’s lovely to be out there.”
“Sometimes I feel like a Viking,” she said laughing.
Come Boating! currently has three competitive teams: a women’s team, a veteran women’s team and a men’s team. On each team is a cox and six rowers. But for some races and practices, when rowers on one team can’t attend, rowers from another team will jump aboard.
On March 17, for example, Pyle and Cole filled in for two rowers on the younger Come Boating! women’s team to compete in the 39th Annual Snow Row in Hull, Mass., an event that typically marks the start of Come Boating!’s racing season. Drawing hundreds of boats from throughout the Northeast, this year’s Snow Row was particularly challenging due to high winds and big waves.
“We got swamped twice,” Cole said. “It was crazy. But our cox kept us calm. He did a really good job.”
The Belfast team came in second place that day, bested by a team from Vermont.
Rowing clubs and competitive teams can be found in many towns along the Northeast coast, though only a select few use traditional Cornish pilot gigs, which was designed in England in the early 1800s to transport pilots to sailing vessels and be used a shore-based lifeboats.
Each summer, in addition to community rows, Come Boating! hosts an annual regatta — a race for pilot gigs and any other boats that can be rowed or paddled — in August during Belfast’s Harbor Fest to celebrate the unique boats and the area’s marine heritage.
To learn more, visit the Come Boating! website at www.comeboating.org.
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