The east crescent of the Smith Center for Athletics and Wellness is home to the an indoor rowing tank. Friends of the Brewster crew team, which includes current and alumni parents and current students and alumni, raised nearly $90,000 to make the indoor rowing tank a reality for Brewster during the 2006-2007 school year.

The tank is actually two fiberglass tanks connected by decking, which has eight seats and oar attachments. Each tank holds about two feet of water. The tank was manufactured locally by the Durham Boat Company in New Hampshire.

“The tanks are two above ground pools with seats and riggers in between. The rowers sit between the two pools and use the oars that are attached to the pools,” explained rower James Simoneau ‘07, who now rows at Boston University. “The crew team is extremely excited for these tanks. Many of the top crews in the country use this same type of tank to get a step up on the competition.”

At any time, despite weather conditions outside, the 8-person tank allows coxswains to practice commands while oarsmen work on their timing and fine-tuning their blade work and body position, said Crew Coach Mark DeNitto. “Novice rowers will have a chance to ‘get their feet wet’ without getting their feet wet, while Brewster’s experienced rowers can stay sharp through the winter and better prepare for the early spring races,” he said.

Official Unveiling and Ribbon Cutting

April 21, 2007 -- Friends of Brewster's crew program gathered in the east crescent of the Smith Center for Athletics and Wellness for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony of Brewster's new indoor rowing tank. Head of School Mike Cooper welcomed the group who gathered for the ceremony and began by thanking the donors for their generosity in making the tank a reality. Athletic Director Doug Algate then spoke briefly about the beginnings of the Brewster crew program, which began in 1990 when faculty member and crew coach, Lynn Snyder, put the first team together – eight boys and five girls. Snyder drove to Vespoli in Connecticut to bring back Brewster’s first two shells – “The Spirit of ‘86” and the “Stacy Rundstad” – both of which are still in the Brewster fleet.

Over the past 17 years, some highly qualified coaches – Will Barnett, Seth Ahlborn, Bill Payne, and now Lauren Buesser and Mark DeNitto – each put their mark on and developed the program to what it is today, Algate said.

Since 1990, coaches, crew members, and Friends of Brewster Crew have worked at improving the program by upgrading the shells, increasing the number of ergs with sliders, and expanding the schedule, which now includes participation in the Head of the Charles and two regattas in Philadelphia.

Along the way, the number of students involved in the program has steadily grown from the low teens to more than 45 this past fall.

When the Smith Center was built, Bob Simoneau, Brewster’s business manager, had the vision of adding a few “extra” parts to what is known as the east crescent “just in case we got some tanks,” Algate explained.

“This idea sat idle for a few years until Mark DeNitto came to Brewster and he and Bob started to fantasize about the idea of getting tanks,” Algate continued. “Mark had come from a school that had tanks and so already knew the value they would bring to the program.”

DeNitto then shared how the initiative began with a conversation among team members on how advantageous an indoor tank could be to the program, especially given what is often the late arrival of spring in northern New England. From here, team members got families involved as well as alumni rowers and a successful fund raising effort took over. DeNitto gave special thanks to Ernie Whitehouse (Spencer '09) and Bob Simoneau (James '07) for leading this effort. Following remarks and the ribbon cutting, members of the crew team offered a demonstration of the tank before taking to the real waters of Wolfeboro Bay.