All-Girls · City Island · New York
Small by design.
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Small by design.
Fast on purpose.
A close-knit, all-girls rowing club where everybody knows everyone's name — and the results speak for themselves.
A close-knit, all-girls rowing club where everybody knows everyone's name — and the results speak for themselves.
Sister groups, mixed boats, alumnae who come back — and every senior knowing every new rower's name within her first week. None of it works at 200 athletes. That's not a limitation. It's the mechanism. And it produces girls who row in college, stay healthy, and love the sport.
Twelve hours, spent well — and regionally and nationally competitive.That's the standard, and that's the strategy.
"Nobody else in New York gets to warm up like this."
Eleven weeks of training and six race days, from Schenectady to the Head of the Charles — but it all begins with one week that sets up everything else.
Pre-season sets the tone for the entire year. U19 and U17 go to two-a-days — morning water, afternoon work — and get their first honest taste of the volume and intensity it takes to be regionally and nationally competitive. U16 comes together as a full group for the first time, summer's learn-to-row girls included, and starts becoming a crew.
It's also the week the club takes its own measure. The seniors contending for captaincies step into the spotlight — it's their turn to shape what this club becomes next — and the coaches get an exact read on who we have, squad by squad, and whether anyone is ready for a level up.
Then on Friday morning it all ends at Orchard Beach with a team favorite: the Summer Olympics. All three squads, six teams drawn across every age group, and a morning of competition, sand, and chaos. It's how the real season starts with everyone already knowing everybody's name.
| Squad | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U19 | 4:00–6:30 pm | 4:00–6:30 pm | 5:30–7:00 am | 4:00–6:30 pm | 7:00–10:00 am |
| U17 | 4:00–6:30 pm | 4:00–6:30 pm | — | 4:00–6:30 pm | 7:00–10:00 am |
| U16 | — | 5:30–7:15 pm | 5:00–7:00 pm | 5:30–7:15 pm | 9:30–11:30 am |
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, U19 and U17 move indoors 5:45–6:30 pm for a focused erg piece or lift. U19 athletes add two 30-minute steady-state cardio pieces on their own each week; U17 add two 20-minute pieces. Westchester athletes are encouraged to arrive early for a pre-practice run or erg.
| Date | Event | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Sun 9/13 | Parent information meeting — Zoom, 8:00 pm | All families |
| Sun 9/20 | Apple picking, Harvest Moon Orchard | Athletes & families |
| Sun 9/27 | Mohawk Fall Classic — Schenectady, NY | U19 · U17 · one U16 8+ |
| Sun 10/4 | Head of the Passaic — Rutherford, NJ | All squads |
| 10/16–18 | Head of the Charles — Boston, MA | 1V8+ only |
| Sun 10/25 | Head of the Fish — Saratoga Springs, NY | All squads |
| Sat 10/31 | Halloween Throwdown — City Island | All squads |
| Sun 11/8 | PITY Cup — Port Washington | All squads |
Overnight regattas include a team hotel night — athlete accommodation is already organized, so there's nothing for parents to book. Details go out by email before each trip.
Families here plan far ahead — so here is the entire 2026–27 rowing year, in one place, now.
*Youth Nationals: qualified crews only — top four at States. Canadian Henley eligibility requires training through July.
Spring is championship season. An athlete who travels during it hurts her crew's ability to train and perform — so plan holidays for Thanksgiving, the winter holiday break, and the second half of February break. And an honest tip from the coaching staff: summer is the best rowing of the year, and ironically the season most people skip. Row July. Travel in August.
Racing and standardized testing can coexist — it just takes the calendar you're looking at. SAT and ACT dates this year: Sep 19 (ACT), Oct 3 (SAT), Oct 17 (ACT — Head of the Charles weekend for the 1V8+), Nov 7 (SAT), Dec 5 (SAT), Dec 12 (ACT), Feb 27 (ACT), Mar 6 (SAT), Apr 10 (ACT), May 1 (SAT), and Jun 5 / Jun 12 (SAT / ACT — Nationals window). And a quiet mercy of the modern calendar: most regattas that fall on a test weekend now run on the Sunday, so true conflicts are rarer than they used to be.
The official Boathouse team shop opens Tuesday 9/1 and closes 9/5 — it will not reopen until the end of winter, so order the splash jacket (it's navy, whatever the photo suggests) plus leggings and long sleeve now. Racing uni orders also close 9/5. Everyday CIR merch is available year-round on SquadLocker — and every ordering link lives on the Fall Master Spreadsheet, emailed to families.
Long Island Sound, the Hutchinson River, long rows to the Throggs Neck Bridge — and a boathouse on an island in New York City.
Rowing worldwide is moving from experience-based labels — novice, JV, varsity — to age-based classification, and City Island Rowing is embracing it. Under the old system, a girl who started in 7th grade was, by 9th, lining up against seniors — a ninth-grader still waiting on her growth spurt, racing fully grown women. That was never fair. Now every athlete trains with her own age group and races the field she belongs in.
Where rowers are made. Skills, watermanship, and racing from the first season — whether she's rowed a week or three years.
Inside U16 →
The bridge year. Bigger engines, sharper technique — and for athletes on trajectory, invitations to train and race up.
Inside U17 →
The 1V and 2V. The most volume, the fastest boats, the biggest races — the pinnacle of the high-school rowing experience.
Inside U19 →Movement between squads is fluid and earned — ability, mindset, physicality, and trajectory against proven metrics. High-performing U17 athletes are already training in the U19 block, and an athlete can race a U17 and a U19 event at the same regatta. The pathway is stated out loud, because that's what makes it a program rather than a favor.
Your registration link is in the club email. Pre-season runs August 31 – September 4 and every fall athlete is expected there — it sets the tone for the entire year (and it ends with the Summer Olympics on Orchard Beach; wear pink).
Can't make pre-season but planning to row in the fall? Tell us so we can plan our lineups: cityislandrowing@gmail.com
