Black Fly Scullers
1382 Fellows Road
Danville, Vermont 05828
Phone : (802)748-0883
Fax : (802)748-4323
info@blackflyscullers.org
Who are we ? Register now Make a donation Become a sponsor
 
More...
REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS
1. Once you submit your membership form online you are officially registered for the regatta.
2. Make your presence known to the Registrar the morning of the regatta.
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
1. In the event of an accident or mishap, please stay with your shell. Officials and volunteers will follow the shells up the racecourse in motor boats.
2. The water is chilly and the river is deep. Please do not try to swim to shore. Enjoy the loons and the eagles as the motorboat comes over to help you.
3. After completing the regatta, please paddle gently upstream for ten to twenty strokes to get out of the way of your fellow scullers. If you don't mind, we'd appreciate it if you'd wait to return to the launch site until after the last participant has crossed the finish line.
4. It is the responsibility of the scullers returning to the launch site to watch out for their teammates still racing up the course (i.e. all scullers still racing). Returning scullers please be aware that those still racing could be anywhere on the racecourse. Please exercise extreme care returning to the launch site.
5. When you do begin your return to the launch site, please proceed with caution along the NEW HAMPSHIRE side of the river. Again, please take your time and be considerate of your teammates who are still racing upstream. There is no reward for being the first sculler back to the launch site.
6. Regarding motor boat traffic, we have no way of knowing the quantity, frequency (or sobriety) of motor boat traffic on the river during the race. We hope that pleasure boaters will be considerate of the scullers and not leave large wakes in their path.
7. If we start on time, the post-race awards ceremony will take place at approximately 11:00AM.
8. Our wonderful volunteers will be doling out Gatorade at the finish line. It is a good idea to stop and refresh yourself before paddling back to the launch area.
9. HAVE FUN! That is what it is all about! And remember: any sculler exhibiting unsportsmanlike behavior will be denied Port-O-Potty privileges!
WARM-UP AND RACING START INSTRUCTIONS
1. Please follow these instructions to help us start the race on time.
2. Please follow the pattern of traffic for warm-up in the reservoir. All scullers are to launch from the cove, head toward the Comerford dam, and follow the pattern of warmup traffic flowing in a counter-clockwise rotation. There will be a boat stationed at the center of the warmup pattern to help keep everyone headed in the right direction. When you have warmed up sufficiently, please peel off the circle of traffic closest to the start line (up stream) and find your place at the starting "line".
3. The start line is an imaginary line running across the reservoir from the Vermont shore to the New Hampshire shore. The start boat will be in the middle of the start line.
4. In all seriousness, we start the race at 9:00AM. At 8:50 A.M., the starter will signal the ten-minute warning.
5. At 8:55 A.M., the starter will signal the five-minute warning.
6. At the two-minute warning you must be on the start line. The starter will call out a one-minute warning, then a ten second warning.
7. In honor of our crazy French Canadian friends who kindly attend the regatta, the starting command this year will be: “Et vous prez?" "Partez!" The traditional shotgun blast will also signal the start at "Partez!". You likely will not hear the "Partez!" part so don't bother listening for it. Partez on!
8. Any sculler whom the starter believes jumps the gun will be penalized in a wholly arbitrary and capricious fashion (the shotgun holds more than one shell!).
9. Anyone who can keep Jeff Foltz from causing the start line to bend dramatically and irretrevably toward the finish line please do so. Don't make me race next to you, Foltz! :)
BLACK FLY SCULLING REGATTA - AGE DIVISIONS
1. Larvae: under the age of 19
2. Pupae: at least 19 but under the age of 27
3. Swarm A: ages 27-35
4. Swarm B: ages 36-42
5. Swarm C: ages 43-49
6. Swarm D: ages 50-54
7. Swarm E: ages 55-59
8. Swarm F: ages 60-64
9. Swarm G: ages 65-69
10. Swarm H: ages 70-74
11. Swarm I: ages 75-79
12. Swarm J: ages 80 +
13. "Skin-so-soft" : all novices
PRIZES

We have a saying at the Black Fly Regatta: "The only folks who go home empty-handed are our creditors."

The first-place male and female sculler in each swarm will receive one dozen Pete & Gerry's Cage Free Organic Eggs rich in Omega 3 and thought to promote the development of fast-twitch muscle fibers (just ask the hens who lay them).

The second-place male and female sculler in each swarm will receive a bag of Maple Grove Farms Maple Crunch oozing with maple syrup, honey, butter, and nuts made right here in St.Johnsbury, Vermont. That will restore some glycogen.

The third-place male and female sculler in each swarm will receive a 12oz. Clover honey bear from McLure's Honey and Maple Products in Littleton, New Hampshire. Bzzzzz.

The fastest male sculler overall (raw time) will also receive a tin of Bag Balm and a Champion Tomato Plant which yields delicious tomatoes just 62 days after germination (which is the length of the growing season here in the Northeast Kingdom).

The swiftest female sculler overall (raw time) will also receive a tin of Bag Balm and a perennial Stargazer Lily to plant in her garden and visit every year.

The sculler who spends the most time on the water will receive the coveted "Iron Ass" award: an unabridged and annotated edition of James Joyce's Ulysses to commemorate the longest day on the water.

The car judged most likely to break down on the way home from the regatta (by our panel of highly-trained experts) will be awarded one gallon of Black Fly Cider (sometimes known as windshield washer fluid) which has aged in my woodpile in North Danville, Vermont over the winter.

And finally, our Poet Laureate, as elected by assembled swarm of scullers, will receive the most recent edition of Roget's Thesaurus that I can remove undetected from the local library and, if of legal age, a nip bottle of the highest quality vodka I can find. If the Poet Laureate is under the legal age, she or he will receive a can of Red Bull and I will drink the vodka to toast you.
 

Thanks, everyone, for registering. Have fun, stay safe and taper hard!
  Back to top
Poet Laureate Contest
Poet Laureate
contest
Enter Now
Visitors