By Dotty Brown
Andy and Betty Karcagos rowing on Eastman Lake
You’ve seen the scullers on Eastman Lake, sliding by in their sleek boats that seem to glide effortlessly past canoes and kayaks. The lake, spared the wakes of fast-moving motorboats, is ideal for sculling. Even when the wind picks up, creating waves, if not white caps, there’s always a nearby shore or cove in which to duck.
Betty and Andy Kargacos are among the handful of Eastman rowers who will, in the same breath, talk about their love of rowing and the challenges they face. Rowing and cross-country skiing, both total-body exercises, are the couple’s favorite activities. “I love both movements … the rhythm,” Betty said of the two sports. “When the water’s flat and we’re totally in sync–even sometimes when it’s not perfect, still I go around the lake and afterwards feel good.”
Go into their two-car garage on Eagle Drive and one of their rowing challenges is eminently clear. Hanging upside down from the ceiling is an 80-pound double scull. Its 24-foot length requires that it be hung on a diagonal. To transport it to the lake, they must pull out both cars and drive one back in to position it under the boat. Andy, 70, then gingerly lowers the boat onto their roof rack with an ingenious system of ropes and pulleys he devised. That’s just for starters.
Andy and Betty Karcagos at an Eastman boat launch
Betty, 69, “The challenge for me, because we have to car-top it, is we have to lift it off the car at the boat launch. Cars are getting higher and higher, and that’s more of a reach for me.” At the water, Andy and Betty have to flip it 180 degrees to place it right-side up. Stepping into the boat is yet another challenge, one of balance. Scullers typically use a low dock on which the boat’s two-foot riggers—metal bars that extend two feet from the boat, with oarlocks at the ends—rest for stability. Here, the couple must wade in and step into the boat from the water. “What would be nice is if Eastman had a rowing dock,” said Andy, who admits it would be difficult to decide where to install one because scullers launch from all of Eastman’s beaches.
Bob Peterson, 75, has less of a transport problem. The Cherry Lane resident keeps his boat on saw horses at North Cove Beach from which he can roll his boat to the water with a small, two-wheeled kayak cart. “I pick up the stern and walk the boat into the water,” he said. “The lake is perfect for rowing because it’s long and narrow and oriented south to north while the prevailing winds are west-to-east,” said Bob, who only started rowing after moving to Eastman full-time in 1998. “Most importantly, Eastman scullers generally don’t have to fight with motor boats and their wakes because their speed is regulated.”
Bob Peterson with his scull in North Cove
Bob largely taught himself to row his 19-year-old Alden Star, eradicating some bad habits through instruction at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Vermont a few years ago. He, too, points to some of the challenges of rowing in Eastman Lake. “At the north end, there are a number of trees poking up from the bottom, some of which have been marked with buoys. When the water level is low late in the summer, often a rock or two just breaks the surface. Those of us who row frequently generally know the location of these hazards,” he explained. But because the boats are rowed backwards, seeing the obstacles in time can be problematic.
Besides being concerned about rowing into tree stumps, he worries about hitting a human. “Every so often I encounter a swimmer in the middle of the lake,” he said. “This is dangerous because swimmers without a support boat are very difficult to see. I use a bicycle mirror clipped to the brim of my hat to help me spot stationary and moving obstacles.”
Stephen Haase, 70, who, like his son Andrew, rows a sleek lightweight Kaschper Extreme racing scull, also worries about swimmers, even if they’re wearing bright caps or dragging floats. “People don’t realize that we move relatively fast,” he said of his boat that’s just 11¾-inches wide. “We look back every few strokes, but it’s next to impossible to see directly behind us. And it’s tricky to stop quickly in a racing single. We would love for other boaters or swimmers to shout at us, but they seem to be willing to just let us run into them. I remember one elderly lady saying in a soft melodious voice that was hardly audible, ‘I’m behind you,’ as she kayaked right across my bow. Another time, my oar went under a fishing boat. We didn’t collide, but I suggested that the man shout next time.”
Shaun Kronenwetter in his Vispoli
According to Stephen, another misunderstanding is that scullers may be able to avoid obstacles by simply pulling in their oars, which extend about seven feet on each side. “People,” he said, “don’t understand that we don’t stay upright without our oars being out there to stabilize us. It would be great if we all followed some sort of traffic pattern, but that is simply not going to happen with kayaks out for a pleasure row. And then there’s the folks that go out to the middle on a stand-up paddle board and do yoga.”
None of that, or course, deters Stephen, who says the lake, with few motorboats and a low speed limit “is one of the main reasons why he moved to Eastman.” And while he, too, might wish for a suitable dock at East Cove, he admitted, “We can live with a beach launch, although it’s a bit tough on the feet when the water is cold.”
A national explosion in youth rowing is making a mark at Eastman. Sixteen-year-old Shaun Kronenwetter, the first in his family to row, was turned on to crew at Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts. “What appealed to me was the idea of every single guy in the boat with you will always be giving their best effort,” said Shaun, whose crew plans to compete at Henley-on-Thames, England this summer. “The self-sacrifice and loyalty is unbelievable, and before rowing I had never experienced anything like that.”
At Eastman, Shaun rows a 25-foot Vespoli single, stored last year on the East Cove Beach. The physical pleasure of rowing is amplified by his surroundings. “Rowing on Eastman Lake is a favorite for me because of the wildlife I get to see,” he said. “Last summer, every time I went out I saw the loon mother with her chicks. Also, I can never complain about the water; it’s like glass.”
Dotty Brown, a career journalist and rower with Philadelphia’s Vesper Boat Club, is the author of Boathouse Row, Waves of Change in the Birthplace of American Rowing. She can be seen rowing backwards on Eastman Lake in her Alden Ocean shell. Follow her at www.BoathouseRowTheBook.com.
All photos were taken by Fred Orkin when the idea for this article was first floated in 2016.
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