Another theft at PBC highlights need to stay vigilant

Information provided by Eric Edmonds on behalf of the Security Committee, Eric Edmonds, George Kirschbaum, Sandy Gilmour, Penelope Walz and Miles Fawcett.

On Monday, February 21, at approximately 3 am, a suspect (or suspects) entered Potomac Boat Club and stole a television from the Member Lounge.  This is the second theft from the club in 30 days.

The last theft occurred at approximately 11 pm, on January 28, while a member was present.  A credit card was stolen from the member’s wallet in the locker room while he worked out.

After reviewing video from the latest incident, the Security Committee has confirmed the suspect entered the Member Lounge using the code to the lounge area.  They are filing a report with the police, along with full motion video of the crime in progress from several areas of the club. Members are committed to working with the police until the suspect is apprehended.

The suspect in this latest incident is familiar with the Club and knew the code for the Member Lounge.  As a result of the January locker room break in, the Board recently approved a host of new security measures and will add a change to the Member Lounge code to the improvements already underway.  The new interim code for the Member Lounge will be made available only to members who request it.

In the meantime, please continue to observe the following security measures for your safety and for the safety of your fellow club members:

Do not let anyone tailgate behind you through the front door.

Use your own code each time you enter the house, and don’t share it with others.

Do not prop open any outside door or gate.

Limit your time alone in the house; use the buddy system.

While in the house, don’t let your valuables out of sight; don’t leave them in a locker, locked or not.

Lock all doors and windows in the ballroom and the weight room before you leave and be sure the front door closes/locks behind you.

Please continue to report anything suspicious to the Security Committee at security@potomacstar.com or call 911, in cases of emergency.

Finally, one of the biggest challenges the club has is finding a reliable way to reach members with important, often member-sensitive information.  On several occasions over the past year, the club has attempted to e-mail members important information only to have messages returned as undeliverable.  The club is currently working on a solution to this communication challenge that will require your utmost cooperation. Please stay tuned to the Yahoo Group until the club implements the new secured member communication list.

Thank you for your continued vigilance.

Hammer time for del Castillo at C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints

Mantle or tool box? Lynda del Castillo with her first place hammer at the 2011 CRASH-B Sprints. (Photo sent in by Sally O'Connor.)

Congratulations to our Lynda del Castillo (8:14.0) on her first place finish in the Veteran Women B (55-59) Lightweight division at C.R.A.S.H.-B. Sprints!

Congratulations also go to Greg Le Sage (6:15.0) for third place and Todd Nix (6.28.8) for eleventh place in a heavily contested Senior Men (40 – 49) Heavyweight division.

Our results are below. For all of the results, please visit the official results page here.

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Veteran Women B (55-59), Lightweight

Place	Last_name	First_name	Affiliation	Final_time	Age
1	del Castillo	Lynda	Potomac Boat Club	08:14.0	56
2	Doucett	Lisa	Greater Lawrence Rowing	08:22.1	55
3	Grossman	Mary Fran	Duxbury Bay Maritime School	08:32.9	56
4	Munroe	Donna	Unaffiliated	08:59.0	56
5	Rice	Emily	Unaffiliated	09:09.5	55
6	Ishihara	Margaret	New Bedford Community Rowing	09:29.7	56
7	Ehrich	Bev	Narragansett Boat Club	09:35.0	58
8	O’Brien	Nancy	Taft School	09:42.1	57

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Senior Men (40-49), Heavyweight

Place	Last_name	First_name	Affiliation	Final_time
1	Benko	Andrew	Unaffiliated	06:00.4
2	Blanda	Roberto	C.C. Aniene	06:12.3
3	Le Sage	Gregory	Potomac Boat Club	06:15.0
4	Axelson	Thomas	Skullerud Sport Senter	06:17.0
5	Marx	Johannes	BSA Akademie	06:22.3
6	Petterson	Kent Lennart	Skullerud Sport Senter	06:22.5
7	Castro	Juan	Unaffiliated	06:25.6
8	Hickson	Shaun	Royal Navy IRC (RM)	06:27.5
9	Brock	Jeff	Narragansett Boat Club	06:28.5
10	McDonald	Emeric	Dartmouth Alumnae	06:28.7
11	Nix	Todd	Potomac Boat Club	06:28.8
12	Jackson	Andrew	New Haven Rowing Club	06:31.1
13	Preston	John	Passaic River Rowing Association	06:31.6
14	Stevenson	Julian	Royal Navy IRC	06:32.6
15	Gormley	Doug	Unaffiliated	06:38.7
16	Potter	Daniel	Sledgehammer Rowing Club	06:38.8
17	Leiba	Collin	Royal Navy IRC	06:38.9
18	West	Rory	Royal Navy IRC	06:41.8
19	Hagedorn	Charles	Cambridge Boat Club	06:42.5
20	Plimack	Michael	Olympic Club	06:43.0
21	Smith	Gregory	Unaffiliated	06:43.6
22	Brown	Joel	Unaffiliated	06:44.6
23	Atkins	Ben	New Haven Rowing Club	06:45.5
24	Lohman	Joe	Free Spirits	06:46.9
25	Barnshaw	Bob	Westford Area Community Crew	06:47.4
26	Bers	Josh	Riverside Boat Club	06:49.8
26	Luck	Eric	Wide Load Boat Club	06:49.8
28	Rice	Todd	Unaffiliated	06:50.4
29	Hart	Chris	Unaffiliated	06:50.5
30	Flower	Paul	Royal Navy IRC	06:50.7
31	Anderson	Kevin	Royal Navy and Royal Marines ARA	06:51.8
32	Sheppard	Spencer	Royal Navy IRC	06:51.9
33	Klok	Jacques	Concept2	06:54.9
34	Crilly	John	Navesink Indoor Rowing	06:55.2
35	Louvet	Thierry	Team C2 France	06:55.4
36	Connolly	Patrick	Unaffiliated	06:58.0
37	Monaghan III	John	Whitemarsh Boat Club	07:00.1
38	Taddei	Simone	Italia	07:00.7
39	Watts	Nolan	Community Rowing	07:01.5
40	Goss	Chad	Sledgehammer Rowing Club	07:02.6
41	Snow	Steve	Hingham High School	07:03.7
42	Pompa	Christian	Unaffiliated	07:05.2
43	Foran	Ken	Cooper Rowing Club	07:05.7
44	Creamer	Michael	New York University	07:06.0
45	Freud	Paul	Westford Area Community Crew	07:07.4
46	Karlsen	Dan	Skullerud Sport Senter	07:10.4
47	McKinney	William	Unaffiliated	07:10.7
48	Pena	Alvaro	CrossFit Long Island City	07:14.3
49	Edwards	David	Unaffiliated	07:15.1
50	Beretich	Thomas	Yarmouth Rowing Club	07:16.9
51	Ryan	Christopher	Unaffiliated	07:17.4
52	Link	Doug	Unaffiliated	07:17.5
53	Stevenson	Daniel	Community Rowing Inc.	07:18.6
54	Bishop	Hugh	Greater Lawrence Rowing	07:19.0
55	Corbellini	Gabriel	Cygnet Rowing Club	07:19.1
56	Babitsky	Victor	SF Rowing	07:21.8
57	Willens	Jeremy	Upper Valley Rowing Foundation	07:23.4
58	Rogers	Charmel	CrossFit South Brooklyn	07:24.9
59	Gonnerman	Michael	Unaffiliated	07:26.8
60	Parker	Edgar	Unaffiliated	07:28.2
61	Hartshorne	Prescott	Unaffiliated	07:29.4
62	Carew	Joe	Unaffiliated	07:30.4
63	D’Avignon	Francois	Montreal Rowing Club	07:39.2
64	Dorner	Joe	Unaffiliated	07:40.3
65	Cajolet	Marc	Washburn AC Craftsbury SC	07:47.7
66	Riggin	John	Narragansett Boat Club	08:09.0

Late winter rowing photos

Senior Member Mike McGuirk was kind enough to share the beautiful photos below with us.

The photos were taken by Dr. Alec Chester, M.D., who was on shore playing with his new Canon EOS Rebel T2i when a crew from Potomac Boat Club rowed into view. When he got home, he zoomed in to read the name of the boat. He saw it was the Paul Knight, and realized … he knows Paul! After an exchange of email messages, Dr. Chester sent Paul the photos he had taken that day. Lucky us!

In the boat (bow to stern) was Paul Knight, Mike McGuirk, Chip Magid, and Erik Meyers.

Thanks so much to Mike and Dr. Chester for sharing with us.

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USRowing’s Man of the Year fell in love with rowing at PBC

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USRowing’s 2010 Man of the Year, William Engeman, took his very first strokes with coach Charlie Butt, as a member of Washington-Lee High School crew.  The crew’s home base has been Potomac Boat Club since its establishment in 1949.

Engeman showed up for the team in 1956, after a couple of classmates said he wasn’t tough enough for crew.  While his goal may have been simply to prove them wrong, he fell in love with the sensation of gliding on the Potomac, the camaraderie, the challenges and the rewards of the sport.

Engeman carried this new-found passion with him to Brown University, where he rowed from 1957-1961.  He was captain of the first Brown University varsity crew, and eventually, became the first oarsman inducted into Brown’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

After graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law, Engeman moved to Cincinnati, where he spent three decades working in the employment and labor division of Taft Stettinius & Hollister.  In his spare time, he rowed, coached, and helped establish rowing clubs in the Cincinnati area. His work promoting the sport through 15 National Collegiate Rowing Championships was recognized in 1998, when he was admitted as a patron to the National Rowing Hall of Fame.

For the last couple of years, Engeman has been dedicated to helping the Iraqi Rowing Federation and its athletes.  He traveled to Iraq to lead training sessions and supported the Iraq team as they trained in several cities throughout the U.S., including at Princeton with our U.S. men’s team.

Engeman believes rowing provides athletes with a chance to test themselves physically and mentally, strive continually for improvement, and balance the technical aspects of the sport with the mind-clearing peace found only on the water.  He wants to ensure these Iraqi athletes have the chance to realize all of rowing’s benefits, and sees the team as another way for Iraq to unite over something beyond politics, ethnic infighting and war.

To read more about Bill Engeman’s work on behalf of the Iraq National Team, see From the Charles, Rowing with Iraq (Boston Globe, May 7, 2010).

To read more about the Iraqi team in Princeton, see Iraqi rowers persevere during war, train with U.S. team (Patrick Garrity, USAToday, October 2010).

To read the full text of the December 2, 2010, USRowing press release on Bill Engeman, scroll down.

To make a tax deductible donation online to the historic Washington-Lee High School Crew program, please visit their boosters’ site here, then click on “donate.” Arlington residents, support the crew by ordering mulch by February 26, to be delivered to your home.

Congratulations to Bill Engeman! Thanks for sharing your passion for our sport with so many others.

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USRowing 2010 Man of the Year: Bill Engeman

December 02, 2010

For the better part of this year, Bill Engeman has been focused on helping a handful of rowers from Iraq.

Along with Community Rowing’s Bruce Smith, Engeman traveled halfway around the world to work with them. And then, the duo helped a group of five rowers and one coach travel to the United States to train in Boston, in Princeton with the United States National Team, and then in Cincinnati to help them prepare to compete at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

So, it was no surprise that when asked about being named USRowing’s 2010 Man of the Year, he flipped the subject back to the Iraqis.

“If I’m the man of the year, what the heck are they?” Engeman asked. And there was no stopping him. The former attorney from Cincinnati was brimming with pride. The Iraqi lightweight men’s four had finished just out of the medals, but single sculler Haeider Hamarasheid had brought home a bronze medal.

“I applaud him,” the 71-year-old Engeman said. “And because it gives me a chance to talk about these guys, I’m all for the award. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

While the award, given in recognition of outstanding contributions to men’s rowing or to an outstanding man in rowing, is largely about what Engeman has accomplished with this group of Iraqi athletes, it also recognizes his lifetime of accomplishments.

Engeman began his rowing career at Washington-Lee High School in 1956. He rowed at Brown University from 1957 to 1961 and captained the first Brown University varsity crew. He later became the first oarsman to be inducted into Brown’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

After settling down into a law career in Cincinnati, Engeman set out to bring rowing to his city after a rowable lake was developed at East Fork State Park in 1982.

With the help of rowing friends and supporters, Engeman developed rowing programs, boathouses and facilities. He helped organize and run 15 National Collegiate Rowing Championships and was recognized for his work in 1998 when he was admitted as a patron into the National Rowing Hall of Fame.

For nearly 30 years, Engeman has served as a trustee for the National Rowing Foundation.

Harvard University coach Harry Parker met Engeman in 1960 when both were competing at the Olympic trials, and their friendship grew over the years as Engeman tackled one project after another.

“His contributions to rowing have been pretty remarkable,” Parker said. “His first achievement was while he was an undergraduate at Brown. He revitalized that program and led the team to an extremely successful season, including participation in the Olympic trials when it was still a club program. (He) clearly established the momentum to make it a varsity program.”

Parker said that Engeman was the driving force behind the collegiate national championship and the development of youth rowing in Cincinnati. “It was his idea to put that regatta together, and it was a great success.”

While the Iraqi project took shape this past year, the work began nearly three years ago after Engeman saw a newspaper article about scullers training on the Tigris River in the middle of the war. Last spring, Smith and Engeman went to Iraq and ran a rowing camp. He then helped organize the athletes’ trip to the United States in September.

Asked what he thought about the Iraqi project, Parker laughed and called it “classic Bill, but on the far end of the spectrum.”

“I was just in awe that he would tackle that and pursue it as relentlessly as he did,” Parker said. “But I was not surprised. He’s sort of quiet for a while and then all of a sudden he reappears with some grand project.”

While Engeman wants to deflect attention away from his accomplishments, he still takes pride in the things he has done.

“I enjoyed the initial success of the national championship; that was pretty cool,” Engeman said. “I enjoyed watching the Yale crew, coached by Tony Johnson, win the first championship. I’ve enjoyed all the things that have happened thereafter. (Parker) laughingly told me in Boston as we were celebrating the 25th anniversary of CRI, he said ‘Bill, you just keep doing the same thing over and over.’

“I guess there is a sort of repetitive quality of these experiences. The Iraqis, Cincinnati rowing, the fun I had at Brown, all were very similar kinds of making something out of something else and enjoying watching it happen.”

Ed Moran

He said SHUT THE D@$% DOOR

Oh no, he didn’t. Oh yes, he did!

An important message from Mike Silveus, PBC House Committee Chair …

PBC’ers:

I am lucky to announce to you the new members of the Security Committee:

George Kirschbaum, Chair
Eric Edmonds
Miles Fawcett
Sandy Gilmour
Penelope Walz

I am very excited about this group. They bring a wonderful enthusiasm and passion for the Boat House which is just what we need in light of the recent security concerns. They are hard at work building upon the wonderful foundation built by the former Security Committee (listed below), to whom we are immeasurably grateful:

Jean Hopkins. Chair
Miles Fawcett
Sandy Gilmour
Ed Ryan

PBC can not thank enough departing members Jean Hopkins and Ed Ryan for their help setting up the excellent movement into the 21st Century vis a vis Security. Taking a second to reflect back over the last two years since they began their work, I must say with the exception of a few growing pains, the transition has been wonderfully
seamless.

We need to support the new committee as they deliberate on the most efficient way for balancing the members’ needs for access and security while protecting our Historic House, property and most important, ourselves. The Security Committee is very interested in your input and has some very bright, dedicated minds working on our behalf. (Send your ideas to security@potomacstar.com.)

One final note, we have some very good technical components already at work, but they don’t do a bit of good when Members forget to SHUT THE DAMN DOOR. This part is not rocket science, so please use some
common sense. Be aware of non members around the property. Don’t prop open the door and check that the door is closed properly.

Remember, your breach of security could accidentally cause harm to another member.

Mike