Tuesday, March 25, 2008
OSU’s crew club raises money to build boathouse
Oklahoma State’s crew team practices at Lake Carl Blackwell about 15 minutes from campus. The team is made of dedicated men and women from OSU who are usually on the water before 6:30 a.m. One perk of the early practices is the daily view of the sun rising over the water in the uninterrupted serenity of the woodlands surrounding the lake.
Crew teams at other Oklahoma universities — Oklahoma Christian University, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Central Oklahoma — built state-of-the-art boathouses on the Oklahoma River, but the Oklahoma State University crew team shares its building and storage space with OSU’s sailing club.
“It’s a great location because it’s right on the lake and it’s right next to the dock,” said crew co-treasurer Cameron Goforth. “However, because we’re sharing it with the sailing club, there’s a lot of space issues.”
There is no doorway in the boathouse large enough for any of the crew’s boats to fit in, so they sit outside partially protected from the elements by a lean-to. Because of this, OSU’s crew club has made a long-term goal to raise money for a new boathouse.
The boats can be disassembled and stored inside the boathouse during the crew’s off-season.
Disassembling the boats is a difficult and lengthy process, so indoor storage is only during winter, when the crew will not be using the boats for a while, Allen Strickler said.
Storing the boats outside and exposing them to the elements causes some equipment to weaken or even fall apart. The crew club could better preserve its boats with an improved boathouse.
The crew club hopes to purchase another eight-man boat soon. Storage space becomes a bigger problem with each new boat.
“OSU Crew moved into the boathouse in the late 1970s,” Strickler said. “A lot of things are starting to get kind of rundown.”
Last year the crew and sailing clubs raised money to repair the leaky roof on the boathouse, Strickler said. The re-roofing cost about $14,000.
OSU’s crew club has flourished in recent years despite the modest facilities. The club has grown from 10 members a few years ago to 35 members this past fall.
“We have parties out there and it gets pretty cold in the winter,” crew member Laura Over said. “We try to do Christmas get-togethers and we go out there and we have our little space heaters and we huddle next to the fire to stay warm.”
The crew club members said they spend so much time together on the water that they become like family and the boathouse becomes like home.
“A lot of bonding goes on at the boathouse,” Strickler said. “It’s just like a place we can call our own. We try to have socials there just about every other weekend, and we also have work days where everyone comes and cleans stuff up.”
The need for a true boathouse will only increase with each purchase or donation of equipment.
“It’s free, we don’t have to pay rent or anything,” Goforth said. “But it could be a lot better.”
