Rowing and Swimming

I had a great time last Saturday with the Buzzards Bay Coalition and with New Bedford Community Rowing. I arrived around 5:30 AM at Davey's Locker in New Bedford and checked swimmers in at the start of the Coalition's fundraiser in which people swim across the harbor outside the hurricane dyke. Everyone was happy and hopeful. The water was warm and the sun was shining.
This video clip is more of a still picture with a little action. I shot the footage while the fourth group of swimmers started across the harbor. This group consisted of new swimmers, so they each had a dedicated kayak spotting them all the way across. It made for a beautiful shot with the multi-colored kayaks bobbing along.

I didn't head over to the the pancake breakfast for the swimmers and volunteers because I had to run home and get my second video camera battery and get to my 10 AM class with New Bedford Community Rowing. I was kind of nervous that my chronic tendonitis would flare up from the rowing and that my whole project would be called into question. But no such thing happened. I actually felt pretty good after rowing moderately for about half an hour. When I swim moderately for that long, my elbow complains. The rowing coach, Cheyenne Bayse, thinks that the tendons with which I have problems aren't stressed by rowing. Good news.

In this video clip, you see the class getting onto the ergs for the first time. I had never been on one of these things before. I know that gyms have them, but I hate gyms. I rowed a dingy when I was 13; but that's not really the same thing. What I love about this image is the diversity of the ages among the people in the class -- and the shipping container in the background. It is the boathouse. Nothing upper class about this operation. Besides teaching rowing to adults like in this class, the organization focuses on giving a great experience to city kids.

Bay Swim Meeting

In order to understand the context of Buzzards Bay, I am volunteering at the Buzzards Bay Coalition, "a membership-supported non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration, protection and sustainable use and enjoyment of our irreplaceable Bay and its watershed." Last night, I went to the coalition's offices for the first time for a training meeting. This Saturday, July 7th, the organization is holding one of its biggest fundraisers, a swim across New Bedford's harbor. I will be checking in swimmers with last names N through Z. I've wanted to do the swim myself for several years but havent been able to coordinate training for the swim or devote myself to the fundraising required of swimmers.

Because a huge part of my day-job was fundraising, the idea of doing even more fundraising in my spare time was not something I wanted to consider. But my employment has changed. And after working in the non-profit field for 12 years, it will be interesting to see how it's done outside of the art-world. Swimming across the harbor seems like a much nicer way to raise money than an art auction. Getting in the water and swimming -- these people are literally immersing themselves in the thing they are trying to save.