• Saturday, June 6. National Learn to Row Day. http://www.baltimorerowing.org/learn
• Friday, June 12 through Sunday, June 14. USRowing Youth National Championships. Cincinnati, Ohio.
• Saturday, June 13. Schuylkill Navy Regatta. Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14. HonFest. 36th Street in Hampden, Baltimore. http://www.honfest.net
• Saturday, June 20. Charm City Sprints. Middle Branch Park, Baltimore, Maryland.
• Thursday, June 25 through Saturday, June 27. USRowing National Championships. Mercer County Park, West Windsor, New Jersey.
• Friday, July 3 through Sunday, July 5. Independence Day Regatta. Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Saturday, Jule 11. Capital Sprints. Anacostia River, Washington, District of Columbia.
• Wednesday, July 15 through Sunday, July 19. USRowing Club National Championships. Melton Lake, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

Baltimore RC will host National Learn to Row Day activities this Saturday, June 6, 2009 from 9:00am through 3:00pm. Details to come! A few warm bodies are still needed for tours, coxing, launch driving, and general fuzzy acts of conviviality. If you have a few hours to devote to the club (and earn valuable credits) please contact Amy Kleine immediately.

Six -- count 'em -- six first place finishes. Your editor witnessed a handful of these races but is having trouble putting together any words other than those.

Full results can be found at http://www.stonewallregatta.org

Race 3: Women's Open 8+
1st - Baltimore 03:35.60
Sophie (cox), Annie, Mary, Sandra, Beth, Kate, Allegra, Marion, Gia.

Race 4: Men's Masters 1x D/E
1st - Baltimore 04:05.70
Marc.

Race 6B: Women's Open 1x
1st - Potomac 04:13.70
2nd - Baltimore 04:45.10
Annie.

Race 12: Women's Masters 4+ B
1st - Capital 04:32.80
3rd - Baltimore 04:44.70
Marion (cox), Amy, Gia, Heidi, Sarae.

Race 13: Women's Masters 4+ C/D
1st - Baltimore 04:25.50
Sophie (cox), Laurie, Beth, Sandra, Zibi.

Race 16: Women's Masters 1x D/F
1st - Capital 05:47.30
2nd - Baltimore 05:50.10
Paula Merkle.

Race 20: Women's Masters 4x
1st - Baltimore A 04:13.70
Beth, Anne, Emily, Zibi.
3rd - Baltimore B 04:36.90
Laurie, Amy, Sarae, Heidi.

Race 28: Women's Masters 8+C/D/E
1st - Baltimore 03:57.10
Sophie (cox), Laurie, Zibi, Sandra, Beth, Anne, Paula, Emily, Gia.

Race 32: Women's Open 4+
1st - Baltimore 04:09.80
Sophie (cox), Kate, Mary, Allegra, Marion.

The Charm City Sprints will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2009. Racing slots, volunteer opportunities, and chances for fun extend far beyond the mind's eye. Please consider helping your club by reserving some time that day (or the night before) to help set up, steer rowers, and smile broadly. Keep the tradition alive and help us show everyone along the eastern seaboard how Baltimore puts on a race. If you have your heart already set on a specific race or volunteer task, hit regattas@baltimorerowing.org

No, it's not Christmas in July, but we are exploring options for reducing the costs of the holiday party this December. One option is a fancy catered affair at the boathouse, similar to previous years, with alcohol (beer and wine) included and priced around $35 per person. (This is typically an adult-only affair.) Due to the boathouse being booked for other paying events, this may be restricted to a weeknight. Another idea being floated is to have an early evening potluck at a generous member's house -- a family-friendly affair, adjourning to a nearby bar with some drink specials for the late night adult crowd; club monies club could be allocated to this event and split equally on light fare for the potluck in the evening and money off the bar tab later. Thoughts on either of these scenarios (love both, hate both, want to help, have a bar deal, etc.) are welcome: give Katie Stofer a piece of your mind at social@baltimorerowing.org

If you are registering by season and have so far paid for the spring season only, this is a reminder that your membership will end on May 30. The summer session starts on June 1 and runs through the end of August. Don't miss any water time; register for the summer season today.

Be sure to log your meters (land or water) to keep Baltimore in the lead for club membership totals.

• Saturday, June 17. SAVE THE DATE. Take a nap after your morning row and come join the fun come join us at Wine Underground for our first ever wine event fundraiser featuring familiar WYPR voice Al Spoler. The summer wine tour will run from 4:00pm until 7:00pm. Tickets are $40 per person, including wine tasting, light fare, a commemorative wine glass ... as well as fantastic company. Net proceeds will benefit the Baltimore Rowing Club. Must be 21 years old to participate; please make checks payable to Baltimore Rowing Club. Please check our website for details. http://www.baltimorerowing.org/documents/SummerWine2009.pdf
• Saturday, June 13. Watch as your Charm City Roller Girls do battle inside the Du Burns Arena on 1301 Ellwood Avenue in Canton. The doors open at six and the bout starts at seven. http://www.charmcityrollergirls.com

Also, keep your Wednesday nights in July free; we are looking at a group movie traipse as part of the Waterfront Invasion. http://www.waterfrontinvasion.com

Once you are done with this newsletter, head over to http://www.highgroundscoffee.com

Under the "Order Coffee" tab, you will find an option to order Baltimore RC-friendly coffee. The profits from these bags of coffee will go directly to the Baltimore RC juniors program. Bean master Bridgit Fennell will bring the coffee to the boathouse for delivery. (You may also have the coffee shipped directly to you, but a shipping fee will be added.) Remember to check whether or not the beans should be ground, and if so, whether you need regular drip, French press, or espresso.

Once you finish grinding and brewing the fund-raising bag of coffee, keep an eye out for other bags of High Grounds blends around the area. The coffee is sold in more than thirteen Whole Foods stores across five states, includes beans from up to eleven countries at any given point in time, and is are fair trade certified. Better yet, stop in person at 3201 Eastern Avenue (just east of Patterson Park and across from Creative Alliance), Monday through Saturday, from 7:00am until 3:00pm.

Cindy Cabales is pushing a renewed effort to put Baltimore RC license plates out on the streets and highways of Maryland. We need a minimum of 25 people to get the attention of the Maryland MVA. Plates will cost $25. For more information (and swift payment) contact Cindy directly: leapyearcin@hotmail.com

Dues only go so far; to improve our fleet and overall collection of equipment in 2009, we need help raising money from all interested members! Please consider participating by joining our BRC Development Committee.

To join, throw your email onto the Development list
- http://baltimorerowing.org/mailman/listinfo/development_baltimorerowing.org

If you have time to help with boat and equipment repairs -- from the simply and light to complex and heavy -- steer yourself to the Repairs list. This dedicated group of people works hard to make sure sad, broken items are righted with record speed. Do you already know your way around belt sanders and clear coat paints? Join the list. Want to learn? Join the list.

Remember when we announced the current and future use of phosphate-free soap around the boathouse? We may have been just in time -- or too late? Around 3,000 fish died in Baltimore's harbor recently, mostly likely the result of an algae bloom. The fish and bloom combined to send a foul odor into surrounding neighborhoods that not even the nearby Domino Sugar plant could cover http://tinyurl.com/algae-may27

The good news is, May is the normal month for these sorts of algae blooms, so we can relax and look forward to the hot summer weather being its own nightmare, rather than worry about its heat and humidity augmenting any preexisting factors. http://tinyurl.com/algae-beyond

For more information about phosphates, soaps, and their various effects on the environment, check out this colorful missive on Ask TreeHugger: http://tinyurl.com/phosphate-free

"Started as a provider of outerwear for rowers 20 years ago, Philadelphia's Boathouse Sports Ltd. has won a piece of business that it has coveted for years. As of Oct. 1, the privately held company will become the exclusive apparel supplier and outfitter for USRowing, the governing body for the sport of rowing. It also assembles the U.S. team for the Olympic Games."

Read the full story on philly.com: http://tinyurl.com/kv76c8

USRowing launched a new e-magazine this past March, and new editions will be published will be every two months thereafter. Read the issues so far: http://tinyurl.com/usrowing-emagazine

"Sign up today for the newest on row2k, the row2k Community. The row2k Community is a social network designed to be a place where rowers can geek on all things rowing with rowers from all over the planet."

In an effort to generate additional income, your Baltimore Rowing Club entered into an affiliation agreement with Amazon.com. Our website at http://www.baltimorerowing.org is subtly plastered with links to Amazon.com products, and when these links are used during an eventual Amazon.com purchase, a percentage of each purchase will be deposited into club coffers. The products displayed on our website are related to rowing, but are merely suggestions; you do not need to buy any of these specific items for your purchase to help the club; nearly everything purchased through Amazon.com will go toward helping the club. Just make sure to start at http://www.baltimorerowing.org/amazon before you get busy. (If you are not sure what to buy, Amazon.com gift certificates also count.)

• May 20, 1971 - Marvin Gaye releases the album What's Going On.
• May 22, 1972 - President Richard Nixon lands in Moscow for talks with leaders from the Soviet Union. On the heels of a successful trip to China the year before, Nixon becomes the first US president to visit Moscow.
• May 21, 1927 - Charles A. Lindbergh lands his Spirit of St. Louis near Paris, France, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
• May 21, 1952 - Laurence Tureaud is born in Chicago. After a career with the Army, Tureaud worked as a bouncer, which he parlayed into body guarding (working for Muhammad Ali, Steve McQueen, and Joe Frazier, among others) and ultimately an acting career. While bouncing, the Tureaud would often pick up leftover jewelry and wear it for returning patrons to claim; later, he adopted a mohawk haircut after noticing a similar style worn by Mandinka warriors, and the two distinct physical traits would be rolled together to complete the Mr T persona.
• May 23, 1788 - South Carolina becomes the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Later, on December 20, 1860, South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the Union. On April 12, 1861, Confederate batteries began shelling the Fort Sumter in Charleston, and the American Civil War begins.
• May 24, 1830 - The first passenger railroad in the United States begins service between the Mount Clare Station in Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills (now Ellicott City). The Mount Clare Station and roundhouse now house the B&O Railroad Museum.
• May 24, 1844 - From the same Mount Clare Station mentioned above, Samuel F.B. Morse transmits the message, "What hath God wrought!" from Washington to Baltimore, opening America's first telegraph line. The next day, the first telegraphed news dispatch is sent from Washington to Baltimore and appears in the Baltimore Patriot.
• May 25, 1935 - Baltimore native Babe Ruth hits three home runs during an 11-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Ruth retires from baseball a week later, making these three the last home runs of his career. Ruth finished with 714 home runs and was one of the five players elected to the inaugural class of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• May 25, 1951 - Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays makes his major league debut with the New York Giants.
• May 25, 1984 - Shawne Merriman is born in Washington, DC. Merriman earned his nickname "Lights Out" at Frederick Douglass High School, where he once knocked out four players during the first half of a football game. Merriman would go on to star at the University of Maryland before being drafted by the San Diego Chargers of the National Football League.
• May 27, 1837 - Wild Bill Hickok is born in Illinois. Known for his gunfighting skills, Hickok was a famous figure in the American Wild West, particularly as a lawman. As a child, his family's farm was a stop along the Underground Railroad, and Hickok learned his famed shooting skills protecting the farm with his father from slave catchers.
• May 27, 1894 - Samuel Dashiell Hammett is born in Saint Mary's County, Maryland. Hammett grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore, working odd jobs and later enjoying stints in the United States Army and Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Health concerns would move him to San Francisco, which would serve as the setting of the majority of his detective writing. A veteran of both World Wars, Hammett was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
• May 28, 1989 - The Maryland Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated at Middle Branch Park. The monument contains the names of 1,046 Maryland citizens who died or went missing during the Vietnam War. A group of Vietnam veterans called The Last Patrol conducted walks throughout Maryland to raise awareness for the monument's construction. One walk began in Oakland, Maryland and concluded in Ocean City, 365 miles later; a second walk started at the tip of Saint Mary's County and ended in Annapolis. The monument lies less than a mile from the boathouse, to the east of Hanover Street (MD-2) just north of the hospital parking lot. http://www.mdva.state.md.us/MMMC/vietnamVetsMemorial.html
• May 29, 1736 - Patrick Henry is born in Hanover County, Virginia. A vocal figure in the American Revolution, Henry spent his 29th birthday rallying the Virginia House of Burgesses against the Stamp Act. Ten years later, Henry would deliver his famous "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech on the eve of the American Revolutionary War.
• May 29, 2009 - Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles plays his first major league game, against the Detroit Tigers.
• May 30, 1900 - 20,000 people gather in Antietam, Maryland, to witness the dedication of the Maryland State Monument at Antietam National Battlefield. The keynote address is delivered by President William McKinley, a veteran of the Battle of Antietam which, on September 17, 1862, claimed 23,000 casualties. Etched with the names and details of Union and Confederate participants, the Maryland State Monument stands as the only of its kind at Antietam dedicated to both sides of the American Civil War. http://www.nps.gov/anti/historyculture/mnt-md.htm
• May 30, 1922 - The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, DC. Former President and sitting Chief Justice William Howard Taft oversees the ceremony attended by Robert Todd Lincoln, the only surviving child of President Abraham Lincoln.
• May 30, 1982 - Aberdeen native Cal Ripken Jr takes the field for his hometown Baltimore Orioles, going 0-2 with a walk while playing third base during a 6-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Ripken would remain in the Orioles' lineup another seventeen seasons, most at his more familiar position of shortstop, until September 20, 1998. The resulting streak of 2,632 consecutive games played is a Major League record.
• May 31, 1997 - The Alaska Pipeline is completed, and oil begins flowing a month later. Connecting oil fields near Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean with the city of Valdez, Alaska along the Gulf of Alaska, the pipeline has transported over 15 billion barrels of oil.
• June 1, 1813 - In the midst of the War of 1812, Captain James Lawrence leads his frigate USS Chesapeake against HMS Shannon outside Boston. During a thirteen minute battle, Lawrence is mortally wounded, uttering the famous "Don't give up the ship" battle cry to the remaining officers of the ship. Lawrence would die three days later and the Chesapeake would ultimately fall into the hands of British.
• June 1, 1925 - Lou Gehrig enters a game as a pinch hitter for the New York Yankees, beginning a streak of 2,130 consecutive games.

2009 Executive Committee.

• President - Mike Chin.
• Vice President - Emily Erbelding.
• Treasurer - Paula Merkle.
• Secretary - Adrian Breeman.
• Membership - Megan Sikora.
• Boathouse - Jeff Ditter.
• Social - Katie Stofer.
• Safety - Alice Lium.
• Learn to Row Day - Amy Kleine.
• Volunteer Coordinator - Dolly Chin.
• Merchandise - Jan Cookson.

2009 Coaching Staff.

• Marc Daemen (Head Coach).
• Mike Chin.
• Alyson Covino.
• John Haines.
• John Kloss.
• Niels Lium.
• Liz MacDonald.
• Veetus Pack.
• Mary Sheehan.
• Andrew Swiatowicz.
• Megan Szymanski.
• Erik Winters.