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sourced meals provided, last for a weekend up to a week. A
membership at the Center also grants access to these scull-

ing classes without attending one of the camps.
What is As participants in the sculling camps will tell you, the
method works.
Pat Rickart, who is new to the sport, is part of the
community rowing program and has been coming to the
SCULLING?
Center every Monday for lessons. She told me how much

more comfortable she was already feeling in the boat after
just five days of instruction.
“Every week... we’ve had some sort of individual in-
struction with some of the athletes,” she said, adding, “I feel
like I’m getting the hang of it.” She also shared my amaze-
ment in the Olympic presence at the camp, asking “where

do you go that you get to see Olympic athletes and have
them teach you?”
According to Ricci, the remote setting in Vermont’s
rural Northeast Kingdom, among other factors, makes the
camp unique. But the Center is also known for customizing

Photo by Chris Milliman
its programs to the individual.
ally became the directors of the Center, converting it into a “There’s no other place in the United States like this,”
nonprofit organization with the mission of supporting life- Ricci told me. “It’s a combination of our history, it’s a com-
long participation in sports, teaching sustainable practices, bination of location...all that put together, the fact that we
did it first. Just like anything, when you have a reputation
and protecting the surrounding land.
you tend to gravitate more people toward you.”
Dreissigacker, a 1972 Olympian, and Geer, a three-
Photo by Kris Dobie
time Olympian in the 1970s-80s, were themselves familiar That reputation, and the fact that the sculling world is
Unlike the more familiar sweep rowing in which the with the struggle of becoming a professional athlete. “It was relatively small in comparison to that of a sport like soccer,
different back then,” Judy recalled, “there was not a lot of means that avid rowers are likely to have heard about the
athlete controls one oar and rows in teams, scullers Craftsbury Outdoor Center and know of its national and
have an oar in each hand. A sculler moves the boat by money or support and you had to find a job that would get international reputation.
“squaring the oars,” or putting the blade perpendicu- you trained and try to make it all work.”
Incredibly enough, Craftsbury coaches train hun-
lar to the water, through the stroke. This stroke moves To that end, the duo started The Green Racing Proj-
the blade of the oar from behind to in front of the ect, or GRP, which provides what Geer wishes she had been dreds of novice scullers like me to row in a racing single
able to access at that stage in her life: a healthy place to train (that very narrow boat that I flipped) in a week’s time. Hav-
sculler’s body, causing the boat to move backwards in with absolute dedication, while simultaneously developing ing just flipped the boat while sitting as still as possible, that
relation to the direction the sculler is facing. The oars prospect seemed daunting, yet exciting.
then come back to their original position through the skills for later life.
Again I thought of something Wanner had said when
action of “feathering,” or positioning the blades paral- The project supports roughly 40 elite Nordic skiers describing sculling to me:
lel to the surface of the water.
and scullers who are recent college graduates; they train and
An experienced sculler’s oars will be able to rise live at the Center year-round. Athletes who are part of GRP “It’s a movement that, done at a recreational level, is
also work for the Center, helping to coach beginner scullers, really smooth and beautiful and rhythmic... It’s a very satis-
above the water during this feathering action. This clear running and skiing trails, and plan new ecologically fying and fun way to be out of doors.”
is particularly impressive given that the oars’ contact Later in the day while watching the fluidity of the
with the water balance the boat. The three types of friendly buildings. These skills, Geer hopes, help the ath- professional scullers out on the lake, I felt my body ache to
sculling events—single, double, and four-person letes achieve a balance of physical and mental work.
(quad)—are all practiced and taught at the Craftsbury According to Russell Spring, current General Manag- get back in a boat for another try. Difficult at first, sculling
Outdoor Center.
er of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center and son of the original is learned quickly and, according to Wanner, has enough
owners, the Green Racing Project is the largest change the complexity and challenge to it that you could spend decades
Sculling Programs Offered at the Center:
mastering the art of this sport.
Center has seen since becoming a nonprofit. Three women “Craftsbury has always been a place, one of the few
Sculling camps start in early summer and run through from the Nordic ski and biathlon GRP program raced at this places early on, where you could come and get really high
Sept. 28. The weekend programs, which last three year’s Sochi winter Olympics and multiple Green Mountain
days and two nights, cost $621. The four-day pro- Project athletes from the sculling program have competed quality coaching in sculling,” says Wanner. “Trying to
gram, lasting four days and three nights, costs $798, in the World Rowing Championships in past years. Four master this very graceful, fluid motion while also being un-
boats have qualified for the Championships this year, two der a great deal of aerobic challenge and balance challenge
and the week-long program of six days and five nights — I think that’s what makes the sport kind of endlessly fas-
costs from $1166 to $1309 depending on the season.
of which have all athletes from Craftsbury Outdoor Center.
cinating for people. They tend to fall in love with it.”
Hosmer Point, a day and sleep-away camp as- In just six years since the Green Racing Project began,
sociated with Craftsbury Outdoor Center, also offers Craftsbury Outdoor Center has become a hub of Olympic
sculling programs for ages 9 and up. For more detail, -level activity, sending new athletes competing in Nordic
skiing, biathlon, and sculling to national and international
go to www.craftsbury.com.
competitions every year. The system is unique not only be-
Running Programs Offered at the Center:
cause of the professional athletes it supports, but also in part
Run2Scull, Scull2Run, a program combining running due to the presence of past Olympians as coaches. Among
and sculling, is a week-long and costs $1,309. their coaches are Carol Bower, 1984 Olympic gold medalist
All Comers, a camp tailored to the goals of the camp- for rowing, and Pepa Miloucheva, 1994 gold medalist in
the World Ski Orienteering Championships.
ers—whether marathon runners, ultra runners, gen-
eral fitness runners or brand new runners—lasts seven TRAINING CAMPS FOR ALL
days and costs $1070.
For a shorter program, Foliage and Running While providing a training ground for the best-of-the-
Weekend lasts three days in the fall and costs $383. best, the Center has also kept its original reputation as a
All other running camps are filled for the summer, but place for beginners to learn to scull — now with the help of
expert coaches. The five-to-one student-to-coach ratio is set
more info can be found at www.craftsbury.com.
up to support all ages and levels of expertise. Rick Ricci, one
Membership opportunity:
of the associate directors at the center, described the coach-
To become a member of the Craftsbury Outdoor Cen- ing mission as inclusive and thorough.
ter and enjoy unlimited Nordic skiing and summer “We work hard to make sure no one gets missed,” he
said. “We make sure that we’re talking to everybody at the
trail access visit www.craftsbury.com. Additional fees level they need to be spoken to.”
grant access to programs such as Hosmer Community
Rowing Club programming and other sculling and Participants in the sculling camps pay to live at the
training opportunities.
Center and learn to scull or, if they’ve sculled before, im-
prove their skills. These camps, with housing and locally
Photo by Chris Milliman
JULY 2014
VTSPORTS.COM 7