By Phoebe Miller

WESTPORT–Eight oars move in unison, forming oval white caps as they propel through the water. Its occupants depend upon each other, operating as a machine as they push and pull. Their force allows the slender eight sweep boat to charge down the river, carving a path through the rippled surface. 

The boat and its athletes capture the spirit of Westport’s Saugatuck Rowing Club. Founded in 1990 by rower James Mangan, and purchased in 1998 by Dr. Howard Winklevoss, a father of two Saugatuck rowers, the club has produced both collegiate and olympic athletes. But that’s not what keeps rowers coming back year after year.

Always being there

“Always being there for everyone else that’s in your boat, everyone else that’s on your team, is something that we really like to emphasize at Saugatuck,” Sora Yu, a 2025 graduate from Wilton High School and an incoming coxswain at Dartmouth College, said. “And just knowing that there’s always going to be another day to improve, to do better. You always have a second chance.”

Yu helped bring the Saugatuck Women’s 2V8 boat to a first place victory at the 2025 Sarasota Youth Nationals in June. Several athletes who were on the boat plan to row in college.

“The rowers don’t know what’s going on during a race, so it’s up to the coxswain to tell the rowers what’s happening,” Yu said, “and at the same time keeping the crew together and keeping them motivated.”

Coolest thing ever

Gara Morse, who is 69-years-old and is on a recreational team at Saugatuck, described the moment she was first drawn to rowing, while driving over the George Washington Bridge.

“I saw a boat, an eight sweep boat. I had never seen anything like it … I thought, ‘Whoa, that is the coolest thing ever,’” she said. “I found a place to do a ‘learn-to-row’, and that was it. I went on Sunday morning, four times, and I fell madly in love with the sport.”

Morse lived in New Jersey at the time, but began to research the best rowing clubs on the East coast. Although it was an hour-and-a-half drive from her house, she decided to travel the distance so she could row at Saugatuck.

“I was put with a bunch of other women who, to this day, 19 years later, are my best friends. And we rowed together, and it was absolutely life changing for me,” Morse said. 

Regain your identity

Chris Corgel, who is 74-years-old and has rowed with the club since 2008, explained how the sport changed her life after she stopped working.

“When I retired, it was sort of like overnight, you lose your identity and your structure,” Corgel said. “And I was very excited to start working on my physical self.”

It’s attainable for anyone to try, Corgel explained, as a person “can kind of age through it,” she said.

“We’ve got a couple 21-year-old members that are rowing, all the way up to a couple of guys that are in their late 80s,” Dave Grossman, the boys head coach and Director of Rowing, said, referring to the club’s adult program. “It’s something special to see them still rowing at a high level.” 

Art form

Alessia Bell is one of the many ‘rowing parents’ at the club. This past spring, she watched her daughter, Carolina Proctor, help bring the Women’s 2V8 team to victory at the Youth Nationals. Her son, Alex Proctor, is a rising junior on a team at Saugatuck.

“It feels like an art form as much as it is a sport, because they have to be as in sync as a ballet, you know, to make it to that level,” Bell said.

As a parent, Bell has observed what it takes to cultivate a nationally recognized team.

“They’re very fast and very technically skilled and incredible athletes,” she said. “But I also saw a level of womenship, you know, that isn’t always there. The girls kind of put their egos aside and really work together.”

A team sport

No matter their age, Saugatuck athletes expressed the value in understanding your team.

“If you don’t trust the person in front of you and the person behind you, you’re just rowing for yourself,” Yu said. “But I think something my boat does really well is that everyone in my boat rows for one another.”

For Morse, rowing gave her the opportunity to participate in something new with others her age.

“It’s really about what you can do on the water, how much you try and contribute to your boat and your teams,” she said. “It’s rare [to find] team efforts with adults … You’re part of a bigger group, and it offers this unique opportunity.”

Welcoming

While some clubs struggle with competitive atmospheres, Corgel emphasized the versatility and compassion that define the clubhouse and its occupants.

“We celebrate there. It’s a very welcoming environment,” she said. “The staff is great, there’s nothing stuffy about it like some clubs, you know. It’s a very welcoming and collegial environment.”

Bell described “a camaraderie, I think, amongst the parents, of having seen each other’s kids in both moments of glory and of struggle.”

Henley

The Women’s 2V8 team represented Saugatuck at the Henley Royal Regatta in London in the first week of July. They made their way into the third round of the Prince Phillip Challenge Cup, according to Mike O’Hara, the girls head coach at Saugatuck.

“They were the first to ever represent [Saugatuck] at the storied Henley Regatta,” O’Hara said in an email. “I was beyond proud to have coached these incredible, young women. They represented club and country unbelievably well in what is rowing’s biggest stage.”

Grossman described the unique bond the club’s members share, highlighted by a shared sense of purpose among its athletes and staff, both on and off the water.

“When you step in there and you spend a couple practices, you can see it’s more than just about rowing,” he said. “It’s about everyone kind of having those same goals and commitment to that end product of being, hopefully, a national champion.”