Who We Are

How We Started

Bowdoinham Rowing started in 2016 with the help of Muriel Curtis and Station Maine Rowing out of Rockland, Maine.  Pete Feeney had done some competitive fixed seat rowing for several teams in the 1990s while working in San Francisco.  At the time, the Bay Area Whaleboat Racing Association (BAWRA) was quite active in the Bay Area with approximately fifteen teams competing using 8-oared lifeboat style craft.  It was this experience that planted the seeds for Bowdoinham Rowing.  About 18 years later, desire and timing met opportunity when Muriel lent a double-ended fixed seat boat, the Swallow, to Pete for the purposes of getting a rowing program going.   The club started with approximately a half dozen rowers navigating the Cathance River.  

The club has slowly grown over the years.   In 2018, Pete bought the sister craft to Swallow, Amazon, from Station Maine.   The one boat grew to two boats.   The spring of 2021 was a growth spirt time for Bowdoinham Rowing.  As the COVID pandemic was winding down, people were looking for outdoor activities and social interaction.   Fixed seat rowing meets both of these needs wonderfully.   Unlike sliding seat rowing, beginners can jump in a more stable boat and be enjoying themselves in no time.   

In 2022, some of the club members expressed an interest in traveling to some of the competitive events around New England.  Amazon and Swallow are great river boats but not well suited for the open ocean that is the venue for some of these events.   Once again, our matron Muriel, lent us an ocean worthy vessel to compete in the Hull Lifesaving Museum's Annual Snow Row.   Following this event, a group of five of us travelled to Kortgene, Netherlands for the Saint Ayle's Skiff competitions.   We rowed alongside our new Vermont friends from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.   Following this, we participated in a couple of more New England-based events during 2022 using borrowed boats.   The fire was lit within the group and we realized we needed our own ocean-capable boat.  After evaluating the options, it was decided to build a Cornish Pilot Gig from a Chesapeake Light Craft (CLC) kit.   There was a big effort throughout  winter of 2022/2023 with many club members working on the boat.  By late June of 2023, the Merrymeeting II joined the fleet of Amazon and Swallow.

The next evolution of Bowdoinham Rowing is club maturity.  In the fall of 2023 a steering committee was formed.   Pete remains very active in the club but he wants the organization to grow and become sustainable in his absence.   The steering committee has poured a lot of additional energy and expertise into the club and it will be exciting to see where it goes from here.   Pete has a vision to create more clubs along the coast of Maine to expand fixed seat rowing and the community that it creates.  An adult rowing program in Falmouth is the first club in this expanded effort.  Several Falmouth-based people have been rowing in Bowdoinham and they would like to start their own club.  In concert with this, Bowdoinham volunteers are helping build another gig from a CLC kit that will become the boat the Falmouth club uses.   If you would like to start your own rowing club, please reach out to us.   We would love to help you with this process.