Regatta Event Kicks Off A Weekend Of Tradition

This year the efforts to revive the excitment surrounding the longest running sports competition began with some instructional seminars on rowing and a cook-out at the but Leeann Gionet has a dream.

We'd like to make it an event again," she said of the weekend when rowing teams from Harvard and Yale head up (or down) the Thames River just for the glory and trandition. Gionet said the weekend used to be a big deal to residents of Gales Ferry.

Town Historian Kit Foster agreed. Foster shared pictures of people and houses in Gales Ferry Village since the four-mile race settled on the Thames River in 1878.

The direction of the race is determined yearly and this year, the ragatta head downstream from points in New London and Gales Ferry.

• The freshman race is a two-mile race that sets off fromMamacoke Hill to the Gold Star Bridget at 3:00 p.m.
• The second varsity race is a three-mile race that sets off from the Coast Guard Academy to the Gold Star Bridget 3:45 p.m.
• And, the varsity race is four-miles and sets off from Bartlett's Cove to the Gold Star Bridge at 4:45 p.m.