Bangor’s Top Code Guy Part Of Belfast Row Team Representing The U.S.A.

A boating club out of Belfast is getting ready to send 3 teams across the pond to represent the U.S. in an international boat race in a little over a month.

Come Boating Belfast Maine is a volunteer-run, non-profit created to teach people the sport of rowing and sailing.

"In the first weekend of May, three teams of rowers from Belfast's ComeBoating! will race in the World Pilot Gig Championships, which take place annually in the Isle of Scilly, off England's southwest tip. ComeBoating! is sending women's open, men's open, and women's 'super vets' teams to compete in the ancestral home of the sport of Cornish pilot gig rowing against hundreds of other teams, most of them from the U.K. It's likely the Belfast teams will be the only American teams competing."

Bangor's Code Enforcement Director, Jeff Wallace, joined the group in July of 2023, after hearing about the organization at a different weekly meeting.

"I found out about Come Boating at another wonderful group I like to attend – Building Science, BS, and Beer. This is a group of building science enthusiasts who meet at Orono Brewing Company once a month."

"One of the rowers on the men’s team also attends this group when possible and at a meeting in July suggested that I attend an 'introductory row' on a Sunday morning."

"I did so and just had an absolute blast! So much so that I attended a couple more of them. One evening this summer I received a text informing me about the WPGC and suggesting that I should train with the group looking to send a team over to the UK."

"I then increased the rowing to three times a week (Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday) and continued having so much fun. There were 8 of us vying for 6 seats, over the course of a few months. We would try different combinations of people in different seats in the boats."

"In September teams for the women’s, men’s, and Super Vet’s teams were announced. We have been training two or three times per week on the water since then. I generally row at the gym on the off days."

"The boat has a seat for six rowers and a coxswain – the coach and navigator of the vessel. The coxswain for the women’s team is a men’s team rower and the cox’s for the men’s and Super Vet’s teams are women’s team rowers. So this means that the total Belfast rowing contingent will be 18 strong."

Wallace says he thinks this is the 3rd time Come Boating has sent teams to the World Pilot Gig Championships.

"Two of us on the team are absolute rookies," Wallace admits.

Wallace says that despite what folks might think about rowing being a sport not for the faint of heart, as they practice on the open water, even in the winter, it gave him something positive to focus on during the cold winter months.

"I find rowing in the winter to be an absolute thrill. Hearing people talk about winter rowing during the summer simply intrigued me. And for the first time in years, I had something to look forward to in winter. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have much of a winter this year. We did row in a few gnarly condition days and those are some of the best, in my opinion!

Get our free mobile app

We wish all the Belfast teams the best of luck in the competition this May.

You can follow the ComeBoating! teams via their Facebook Page or their website.