Rensselaer Crew Club

As the RPI Crew Club prepares both on and off the water for its competitive season, we are reaching out to our community for support. Your generosity will go a long way toward making sure that our team is as competitive as possible.

Rensselaer Crew plans on attending many regattas this year and we want to be competitive at each of them. Placing well will ensure that students, community members, and administrators are aware of the high standard of excellence our rowers are held to. Going into the fall season, assuming we win a bid, Rensselaer Crew’s main goal is to place in the top 50% of crew in the club category at the Head of the Charles. Doing so will guarantee a bid for the following year’s race.

Additionally, we are creating an increasingly positive name for ourselves in, and around, the community. Across Watervliet, we are known for our Rent-a-Rower program, through which Rensselaer rowers provide assistance with manual labor efforts and projects.

Thanks to the dedication and hours of administrative work put in by countless individuals, Rensselaer Crew is on its way to restoring its former glory. In the past five years, the team has transformed from one which exclusively erged in the ’87 gym at odd hours to a close-knit group of competitive rowers.

How You Can Help

We have set ambitious goals for the team this year, and we’re all excited about achieving them. However, to do so, we need your help. Your contribution can make a difference:

1. Rensselaer Crew’s first priority is new rowing shells. A good boat is crucial in rowing; it significantly impacts performance, efficiency, and safety. High-quality boats are designed with advanced materials and precise engineering ensuring they are lightweight yet robust, reducing drag, optimizing the rowers’ power and stroke efficiency, and ensuring the safety and prevention of injury for rowers.

After deliberation, the Rensselaer Crew coaching staff determined that the VHP-56 and VHP-53 are the best boats for the team. Vespoli’s High Performance Series is engineered for stiffness and resilience. Vespoli racing shells are made of composites, and their construction minimizes unavoidable drag all while maintaining minimal water contact. Using cutting edge fluid simulations, Vespoli has created shells ubiquitous with rapid acceleration and increased run during the recovery portion of the stroke. The addition of a VHP-53 and VHP-56 to the Rensselaer boathouse would inspire real feelings of commitment and support, building on the excitement created by the Rensselaer rowers who rowed at the Head of the Charles, ensuring the club’s capacity to perform at highly competitive regattas moving forward, and maximizing opportunities for both current and future RPI rowers

It goes without saying that crew is an expensive sport, and these shells are no exception. The total cost for these two recommended shells is just shy of $90,000.

2. As part of the Rensselaer Crew refresh, we assessed the needs for off season training. During the cold months, we spend countless hours in the erg room so it is important that it is adequately equipped for the intense training that happens there. Replacing the foam floors and adding better lighting to the erg room is essential to the well-being of our athletes. The addition of mirrors to a wall along one side of the erg room would enable rowers to observe their own technique, instead of solely relying on coaches for constructive criticism. Lastly, a fresh coat of paint would create a much friendlier ambiance, which will only help us recruit potential new rowers. All of these erg room fixes will cost no more than $10,000.

A few notes about our these giving opportunities:

Naming boats is an exciting privilege for whoever wins the raffle. Since we intend to purchase two boats, we will need two boat names. The first boat name will be reserved for the first person who elects to donate $45,000 to the Rensselaer Crew fundraising effort. The second boat name will be reserved for the person selected via the raffle. In the event that no one elects to purchase the first boat name outright, both boat names will be up for raffle.

The top 16 donors will be given the right of first refusal to row in the boats’ maiden voyages. Should one of these donors opt out of the row, we will continue down the list until all boat seats are filled. Rest assured that ample opportunity to get reacquainted with the rowing stroke will be provided, if desired.

In anticipation of achieving our fundraising goals, we plan to host a celebration. The event will likely take place in the spring of 2025 (mid-April) somewhere in the Troy area. It will provide our Rensselaer Crew community a great opportunity to gather and connect with one another, select winner(s) for the boat naming raffle(s), behold the boats’ maiden voyages, and cheer on alumni as they get back out on the water with Rensselaer Crew. Should we reach our goals, there will be more information sent out to those who donate.

If your company is interested in sponsoring Rensselaer Crew, or if you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to reach out to Henry Rogers, current president of the Rensselaer Crew Club via email. Thank you for your consideration!

About the RPI Crew Club

Although the RPI Crew Club is not affiliated with the NCAA, we strive to become more and more competitive, representing Rensselaer as we race other schools at regattas. Without the same facilities and equipment as other NCAA teams, the RPI Crew team is at a disadvantage. New equipment will better suit our rowers and aid us as we train and condition for these events. For more information, visit our website.