Margarets Oars Meets Challenge in Vineyard Race
Four women’s teams from the Buzzards Bay Rowing Club, in search of a new rowing challenge, boarded the New Bedford fast ferry on the seventh of July, to participate in the Martha Vineyards Gig Championship Sprint Race. One came home the new women’s champion, besting eight women’s teams from as far away as Belfast, Maine. What was remarkable about the win was that the women of the BBRC’s Margarets Oars team had not rowed gigs before and had to overcome differences in technique, oar placement and seating, not to mention some pretty choppy conditions. Yet, their time for the one mile sprint of 9 minutes 39 seconds was almost a half minute faster than their nearest competitor and only 40 seconds behind the men’s champion team. In fifth place for the women’s race, was the senior Norwegian team,”Odd Lots” with a time of 11:45, followed by the “Sea Biscuits” and “Mid White Waves” whose times were 13:00 and 13:33.
Rowing for Margarets were Fairhavenites, Jackie Duval, Sue Cunningham, Gail Isaksen, Kathy Knutsen, and Jody Smith (cox), with Anne Cook of N Dartmouth and Jean Borges of Westport completing the seven woman crew. The team is looking forward to a 3 mile race next week-end in the Row for the Bay Race and, then, it’s on to the Working Waterfront Sprints in September.
Meanwhile, over in New Bedford, at the Summerfest races, the master Crab a Lot women’s team bested the WCR’s Hot Flashes and the BBRC ‘s, Dragins, a mixed team, triumphed over the Architecs. All in all, it was a banner day on the bay for the BBRC.
