HISTORY
City Island Rowing was founded in the summer of 2014 when 14 athletes asked their former coach, Guy Monseair, to start a “high performance club” so that they could continue working together on their ambitious rowing journey. With no resources, no launch site and no equipment - but loads of determination and faith; workouts began in one of the athlete’s backyards. Soon a strategy was devised, training moved into an athlete’s basement, discussions with parents held, a launch site agreement struck and City Island Rowing was born!
Equipment was borrowed, leased and purchased. The athletes, with help from parents, built the docks themselves from scratch and soon we were training in earnest for Canadian Henley though still slightly unsure of where this was all headed. Abbie Young joined the coaching team and was joined in training with her Yale team mate Maddy Dinse. The energy and enthusiasm was palpable and the Canadian Henley, our inaugural regatta, was an enormous success. Demand for fall season membership greatly exceeded our capacity and we had to source additional equipment, expand our dock space and we knew that City Island Rowing was here to stay.
Founding Members
Natalie Burke, Alexa Cestaro, Daisy DeVore, Michaela D’Urso, Tory Huchro, Natalie Knight, Chloe Malushaga, Sophia Merelas, Melanie Norman, Jordan Reist, Courtney and Ellie Sawyer, Nina Smoor, Maggie Stiefvater.