Floating the Apple, a non-profit sailing and rowing organization based in Manhattan and New Jersey, hosted its 13th annual American Star Race at Pier 40 on Saturday, December 8. This year, 27 crews—mostly high school teams, with the exception of two college crews from New England—competed to qualify for the final 2/3 mile in the Lower Hudson River by Pier 40.
Stuyvesant’s Rowing Club sent four crews to the event.
Its A team consists of junior, captain and bow (front rower who calls out commands) Robert Lee, sophomore engine (middle rower who provides speed) David Rice, junior stroke (end rower who calls out commands) John Wittrock, junior engine Dmitry Pavyluk and coxswain (who steers the boat and encourages the crew) Ye Liu (’07), finished fourth, with a time of 18:00.
The A team placed fifth in last year’s race. This year’s B team placed fifth, with a time of 20:52.
The race began with a qualifying round, which determines the top six teams to advance to the final round. Stuyvesant’s A team finished second with a time of 6:29 in the qualifier. The B team finished in 7:22, fast enough to earn them sixth place and the last berth in the final round.
“I wasn’t sure that a time over seven minutes would be good enough. We didn’t expect to get this far,” Stuyvesant B’s junior coxswain Ka Ming Wong said. “The team with Robert [Lee] was the only team expected to get this far.”
Stuyvesant’s other two teams finished with times of 8:04 and 9:04. First place went to upstate New York’s Newburgh High School, which finished 6:23.
Going into the final event, many Stuyvesant rowers were expectant because of the A team’s second place standing.
“We had a good time so we were expecting to do well,” Rice said. Yet things weren’t looking good for the team right before the race started. “When we lined up, we lined up furthest away from the pier,” he said. “We had the longest distance, so we got cut off by a lot of other boats, which made it difficult to pull ahead.”
Newburgh pulled away only seconds into the race. The Sound School, a public school from New Haven, Connecticut, followed Newburgh. When it came time to turn around halfway through the race, Stuyvesant felt the effects of its disadvantageous lineup position.
“We were on the outside of the turn and we couldn’t pass the slower people in front of us because they were weaving. That definitely set us back,” Wittrock said.
By the time all the teams had made the turn, the outcome was already determined.
“The boats ahead had already broken away so there was no chance,” Wittrock said.
More than a dozen Stuyvesant students continued to cheer on their school despite the setback.
“When we were coming back, I could hear people cheering on Stuyvesant and I was like, ‘Yeah.’ The extra motivation definitely helped,” Lee said.
Newburgh never relinquished its early lead, winning with a time of 15:18.
“Last year, Newburgh came in first so I expected them to win this time around,” Wittrock said.
The Sound School claimed second place. Although the A team placed two places lower in the final round than in the qualifier, they were not disappointed.
“Newburgh is a professional crew team and we are a part-time, once or twice-a-week rowing club. It’s a very different level of competitiveness, professionalism and level of training,” Rice said. “We are hoping to reach that level, but for the time being, we’re not there.”
“We just wanted to do our best. We gave it our all and we got fourth. I’m happy about that,” Lee said.
Earlier in November, Stuyvesant finished second at the Icebreaker competition in Boston. The American Star race concluded the rowing season for Stuyvesant.
“The rowing club is just for fun and the races are just the fun side aspect of it,” Wittrock said. “We just wanted to have fun and I think that’s what we did.”