About Us
Our club was established in 1999 and today is a sculling club with about 50 members. In 2024 we will continue to stay COVID-safe by following local and national guidelines around mask-wearing and sanitizing protocols.
Experienced rowers age 18 and over are welcome to join at any time during the season, which generally runs from mid-April through mid-November.
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For adults new to rowing, we offer a Learn to Row program every other year, next in 2024. Send an email to piermontrowingclub@gmail.com for details.
Coaching geared to all skill levels is available throughout the season.
Most of us don't compete, but those who do have made us proud by bringing home recent medals in the Navy Day Regatta on the Schuylkill River, the Prague Annual Regatta, the Masters International Regatta, and the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta.
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Our fleet of relatively new shells (Fluid Design, Kaschper, Filippi, Vespoli, and more) includes quads, doubles, and singles.
Members may row at any time between sunrise and sunset. Our outdoor racks are located near the breakwater in Parelli Park. A ramp leads down to the small beach, where we wet-launch.
Beyond our passion for rowing we share an appreciation for the raw beauty of the scenery surrounding Piermont. We are a congenial group who enjoy each other's company as much as we enjoy watching the dawn spread across the Hudson and touch the cliff along its edge.
PRC members gather for a variety of social events throughout the year, both on and off the water.
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Weekly "all-row," early morning or at sunset, to mix up our boats and row with new friends.
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Annual summer "long row" to Alpine, NJ, and picnic.
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Informal in-club race, the Muck Cup.
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Winter potluck, to feast and plan for the new season.
We are also a working club. We rely on member-volunteers to maintain the shells and the corral, plan events, and attend to the many tasks necessary to keep the club running smoothly.
Our History
Rowing in Piermont dates back at least to 1878, when the Piermont Rowing Association was founded. That year, 30 sociable Piermonters took to the Hudson River in a small fleet of hand-made, wood-and-paper shells, supplemented by a four-man gig and a barge with eight wide seats for rowing with their wives and girlfriends. Their Victorian boathouse had a large upstairs room with two pool tables lit by ornate gas chandeliers.
Around this time, during the sport's first heyday, more than 60 rowing clubs launched their shells in the New York City region. But heavy steamship traffic and dangerous wakes made the Hudson River, New York Harbor, and Long Island Sound unsafe for small fragile craft, and nearly all of these clubs disbanded by World War I.
Times have changed, the large ships are gone, and again rowing clubs thrive all along the Hudson River. In 1999, a group of local friends came together to bring rowing back to Piermont. They were inspired by their love of the sport and by a much calmer and cleaner river. Piermont’s idyllic setting at the base of the Palisades cliffs, sheltered between the Tappan Zee Bridge and the Piermont Pier, makes a perfect venue.