Intercollegiate Crew

That is the mental rush of rowing - - to reach past one’s physical limits while keeping the boat moving ahead.

Crew is a varsity collegiate sport which has a fall and a spring season. There is a men’s division and a women’s division split further, and categorized, by weight and skill level. The Kings Point Crew Team is coed, participating in 6 to 10 races each season. The Head races are in the fall and vary in length between 2.75 and 3.75 miles. The spring season races are called Sprints and are 2000 meters in length.

In the fall, the Crew competes at the Head of The Charles, a Head race that involves thousands of boats and tens of thousands of rowers. The Kings Point Crew is competitive, and we have seen one boat first in the State, three years running. We currently have five 4+ racing shells, one 8+ racing shell, five 8+ practice shells, one racing pair/double, and one recreational single for practice. We row with both the old style symmetrical oars, as well as the new ultra light hatchet oars. Practice starts at 0500 each weekday morning to take advantage of flat water.

Crew is the ultimate team sport. Once boats are established, each member of the boat must support the other. No one rower wins the race. The goal of victory is reached only with all the oarsmen pulling together, obtaining an intimate balance with each other... with their boat... and with the water itself.

The basic goal of rowing is to move the boat forward as quickly and efficiently as possible. The oarsmen, like tight- rope walkers, must match movements precisely. The uniform entry and extraction of their blades transforms their energy into the smooth forward motion of the boat. The forward motion of the shell is provided by the powerful drive of the legs. The oar is used like a lever to translate the power of the rower’s legs to the water. With every catch, the shell is lifted and carried forward; as the boat accelerates on its own, it balances on an invisible lip, leaving the hull resistance behind in its wake.

There is a rhythm found in rowing that alternates between the sheer force of the stroke and the controlled relaxation of the recovery. This rhythm is decisive in the development of the boat’s speed. The repeating acceleration and then glide of the boat is directly related to the distance covered in any given time frame. It is therefore the perfect blend of group precision and personal achievement, the combination of strength and stamina, that moves the boat forward with continual acceleration. One without the other, or both out of proportion, will act as brakes and stop the forward momentum of the boat and of the team itself.

Daily practices develop the needed skills and endurance, and only with these skills and endurance can the goal of victory be reached. Rowers must remember to keep their eyes focused on where they’ve been and must trust in teamwork to get them where they’re going. Always reach, even if it seems way beyond your limit, because the strength in your arms and the power of your crew is the ultimate.

Crew History

Monomoys (Lifeboats) have always been around Kings Point since the beginning. Monomoy races use to be what they considered crew regattas until the spring of 1971 and all that changed. James Long of Massapequa was appointed head Crew Coach of the new Varsity Crew Team. Long was always interested in being a part of the sport, crew. He is also credited with starting up the first high school crew program at Holy Trinity High School in Hicksville and also was a founding member of the Sagamore Rowing Association of Long Island.

When the program first came out it was only a spring sport and the team would practice for about two months in the fall to get their endurance up to compete at the levels that do today. The Head of the Charles was the race that started the whole Fall Season for crew.

Now before Kings Point rowed in shells they rowed in lifeboats and actually did extremely well. “Midshipmen, who rowed the lifeboats that won Kings Point the National and International Lifeboat Championships, have gone over to the shells,” is what it said in the 1972 Midships. The first shells that came to Kings Point were from the United States Naval Academy. After the first season of Kings Point Crew was over the Mariners finished third in the team standings among fifteen competing schools in the New York Metropolitan Championships.

“To conclude the season, the Varsity Lightweight Crew placed sixth in their division in the Dad Vail Regatta at Philadelphia- an event attracting upwards of 36 colleges and universities.” (1972 Midships) Today the Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States, with over 100 colleges and Universities from all over the United States and Canada. There are thousands of student athletes that visit the city of Philadelphia during the second week of May every year to compete in this great regatta.

“The 1973 crew season started with a number of goals set by Coaches Nutsy Halsted and Art Faherty. By the end of the season many of the goals had been either reached or surpassed.” (1973 Midships) That season the team won the Championship Eight Race and the overall point trophy as the Kerr Cup. They also captured the New York Metropolitan Championship Regatta. “The 1973 team had real guts and put Kings Point in the Record Books.” (1973 Midships)

“The 1977 Crew Season looked to be the year the team would come into its own, but a tough schedule brought slow results. Two months of hard work put the oarsmen in good physical condition, however the main item needed to produce a winning team was practice time on the water. Unfortunately practice time was held down due to the rough winter and obliging weather.” (1977 Midships) As any crew member on the team knows the Long Island Sound can be very hard to row on. That is why the team has to practice in the early morning.

In 1984 CDR Mund ran into the Kings Point Crew Team at a head race in Camden, New Jersey. He raced against a Men’s 4. The Kings Point Team suggest that they bet jocks and bras. Kings Point Men gave up their jocks to CDR Mund’s boat. They bet jocks because they thought it was a sure win. Now most teams bet shirts.

The Kings Point Crew team has come along way since then. The Crew Team became part of the Waterfront in 1987.  “Prior to that, the program had been part of the Department of Athletics, but had never received adequate funding – only $5,000 a year!” said Capt. Wallischeck.  Rear Admiral Christopher McMahon, felt that since the team was a sport on the water and using waterfront facilities that it would be better off working with the Waterfront within than with the Athletic Department.      

Then in the winter of 1990 CDR Mund took over the team after Jeff Shafer stepped down. CDR Mund has been part of the Varsity Crew team every since then. When CDR Mund got here there were a couple of shells, but they were not in the best shape. Gradually he started getting them replaced with Vespoli. Vespoli is one of the top brands of crew shells. Throughout his time here he has seen many good rowers come in and out of Kings Point.

Charles C. Rackett Memorial Award for Most Outstanding Oarsman – “My Dad passed away in January 1970 from cancer.  He worked on the water all his life as a fisherman, marine contractor and in the shipyard during WWII building wooden minesweepers.  He taught me how to row and scull a boat at a very young age.  So when I was looking to give the Academy a memorial award in his name, the Crew team startup seemed a very logical place to have the most Outstanding Oarsman award.  The first award was presented in 1974 to James Bolen ’74, one of the major leaders in the team development.” – said Pete Rackett

This Award is given out every year in the spring at an Award’s ceremony since 1974.