coxswain training (open to ages 18 and up)
We train interested people on how to become coxswains (pronounced “cok-sens”) who act as boat leaders and plan and execute rows for the general public.
Sign up for our free coxswain training program and learn the basics of what it takes to plan a row, use a marine radio, maintain a safe environment and bring a rowboat out onto the water and back over and into our storage container.
Once you have attended a workshop, you can begin the apprenticeship route to becoming a senior coxswain where you will take responsibility for planning an event on your own.
The length of time as an apprentice varies greatly according to your previous nautical experience. It is also dependent upon your general aptitude for developing leadership skills in and out of the boats as well as your ability to interface with the general public who may stop by along the esplanade and ask questions.
high bridge (open to ages 9 to 13 years)
This free curriculum uses the landmarked High Bridge and its water tower, pictured below in 1910, as the focal point for studies on how a clean water supply made it possible for NYC to become the city that sustains the number of people it does today.
The High Bridge Coalition project is made possible with funds from the Catskill Watershed Corporation in partnership with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
High Bridge in a Box is an integrated curriculum for grades 3-6. Teachers are invited to use copies of this curriculum in classroom. The boxes, containing maps, photos and interactive lesson plans for groups of all sizes, are not currently available. However, the materials can easily be assembled from plans soon available here on the site.
Using a Toyota Tapestry Program grant, Saint David’s School, located at 12 East 89th Street in Manhattan, built a Whitehall Gig and designed an integrated curriculum that focused on boatbuilding from the lenses of different disciplines. We are making this integrated curriculum available free to any interested individuals and groups.
And, if you belong to a local New York City group, we would be glad to help you find a boat shop to visit so that your students can experience some of what it takes to build a vessel. Just send us an email.
exhibits:
“Rowboats Past, Present & Future on the East and Harlem Rivers,” is an informal 1999-2002 traveling exhibit of rowing objects and exhibit boards reflecting the history of rowing and featuring reproductions of historic prints from the remarkable collection of James Sciales. Local banks, branches of the New York Public Library and waterfront organizers sponsored the exhibit to help generate Yorkville-East Harlem community awareness and enthusiasm about rowing with East River C.R.E.W., prior to the opening of our launch site at East 96th Street.
We would love to update and re-mount the exhibit with new material, including quality scans of exhibit documentations still in film camera form. Not only the content here is interesting, but also the lesson about the vision, time, patience and persistence required to re-invent a waterfront location for use by the community.