You must be a competent swimmer for all of our classes. Please show up a few minutes early at the rowing center to meet your instructor. Wear comfortable athletic layers of clothing preferably without pockets. Wear sneakers or water shoes. (No open toe foot wear on the docks please!) Wear sunscreen, eye protection and/or a hat. We do row in the rain so light layers of rain gear are also a good idea! Also please bring a reusable water bottle.
All team classes are scheduled for 1.5 hours. The first 15 minutes is scheduled to load oars and the shell in the water. The last 15 minutes is scheduled for taking the equipment out of the water and returning to the boat house. ALL HANDS ON are very important so please be sure to be on time for your class.
Both styles are (informally) referred to as rowing. Sweep rowers use one oar which is about 12.5 ft long. Scullers use two oars which are about 9.5 ft long.
Our fleet of flat-water sculling shells include the single (1x), double (2x), straight quad (4x) and coxed quad (4x+). The coxed quad is our most stable team boat and is great for Novice rowers or anyone looking to enjoy the workout in a leisurely manner and not worry about getting wet!
Our fleet of sweep shells include pairs (2-), coxed pairs (2+), straight quad (4x), coxed quad (4x+) and octuple (8+).
We also have a fleet of coastal rowing doubles (2x). These boats are good for all types of water including rough bay water or open water rowing. They are fast and light boats!
We prefer to take the team boats out for our classes when the numbers are present. If you need to miss a class please let your instructor know the week before and also contact Adult Rowing Director to let us know. We will try to find a sub for you or ask you to find a sub to fill your seat.
We do not offer makeup classes due to our back to back scheduling. If possible, as a courtesy, we will work to find you a sub seat in an appropriate level class for an additional opportunity to get in a row. We cannot guarantee a make-up row.
We are very fortunate to have a state of the art rowing center with an erg room and rowing tanks to get in our scheduled cardio and rowing technique practice. Please come to class regardless of the weather as it is often changing and we could be going out after all!
This type of registration is set up for our small boat classes and for some of our *winter training classes. You can register week to week for an opportunity to go out on the bay in a single or double. We will run classes with a minimum of 4 rowers in each class. If the class does not run you will be notified and a credit will be placed into your DBMS account for a future registration. Please be sure to sign up for the appropriate class.
* For winter classes we set up the drop in registration based on the class size and will open this option starting the third week of each season. Not all classes will have this option. Contact Adult Rowing Director with any questions.
The Competitive Team is a group of like minded athletes who are committed to training on land and on the water at a higher level of fitness, technical proficiency and focus to achieve boat speed and foster teamwork amongst the crew. The expected attendance is a minimum of 3 practices a week on the water with the goal of additional cross training or weight lifting on off days. The team travels to regattas within NE and NY. Prerequisites are previous competitive rowing experience or multiple seasons of rowing with a coaches recommendation to join.