George Washington CrewAbout


This page is intended to help answer any questions you might have about the location, history, etc. of the George Washington Crew Team.

Where is GW Crew?

The GW Crew team rows out of Thompson's Boat Center on the Potomac River. Another place where GW rowers are likely to be found is the Erg Room, the crew team's weight lifting and ergometer training facility located on campus.

How do I get there?

  • Thompson's Boat Center - located approximately midway between Key Bridge and Roosevelt Bridge, and across the river from Roosevelt Island. At the end of Virginia Ave. across the street from the Watergate.
    • by mule - Washington's mule trails are not well maintained. It is not recommended to travel in DC by mule.
    • by carrier pigeon - Most pigeons know DC like the back of their wing, so you should have no trouble. If your pigeon is unfamiliar with the area, however, instruct him/her to fly along the river until you see the boat center.
    • by dolphin - It is unlikely that your dolphin, no matter the heartiness of his stock, would survive the ravaging waters, and particularly the sewage, of the Potomac. Dolphin travel is not recommended. In the event that your dolphin does make the journey, the boat center can be found just up river of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
    • by car - Ensure the water tightness and buoyancy of your car. Be sure to bring a paddle or outboard motor. Drive as fast as you can off of Roosevelt Bridge (or Key Bridge for the more scenic drive (longer fall)). Once you have entered the water, activate your outboard motor or instruct your orangutan slave to paddle until you get to the boat center. Parking is available behind the boat center.
    • by metro - Get off at the Foggy Bottom - GWU Metro Station, take 23rd street to H, follow H street to Virginia Avenue, follow Virginia Avenue to Thompson's Boat Center


  • The Erg Room - located in Building EE on I Street, between 21st and 22nd Streets, across the street from the Academic Center, behind Building AA, through the alley between Building AA and Rice Hall.


Note: Red "X"s denote the locations of Thompson's Boat Center and The Erg Room respectively. They are not the locations of buried treasure. Please, no treasure hunters! Although pirates are welcome if they are willing to tell stories and entertain the rowers with parrot tricks.

A Brief History of Rowing at George Washington

Rowing was first brought to GW in the year 193 A.D. by the Roman Legions. In order to keep the legions off of his back and maintain power, the emperor, Pertinax, sent two of the legions across the sea to pick berries. Sailing up what is now known as the Potomac River, the legions stopped in the area that is now Georgetown where they found lots of pansies and other flowers that they could use to decorate their weapons and put in their hair. On the other side of the river in what is now Arlington, Virginia, the legions found the most wonderful patch of wild berries they could ever have hoped to find. The legions stayed in the area for several years, picking berries and building a settlement. Some of their accomplishments can still be seen today. They built a great aqueduct between the berry fields and the flowers so that they could more easily transport herbal teas made from the flowers to the workers in the berry fields. This aqueduct has since been remodeled into Key Bridge. Also, underneath Thompson's Boat Center, the ruins of the great Pertinaxian Rowing Center still rest. The legions built this rowing center to house their racing boats and oars, as well as to have orgies in during the off season. The roman legionnaires were avid rowers. They missed rowing on the open sea in the galleys while they were on shore picking berries, so many of them took to forming rowing teams and racing on the river in their spare time. The first evidence of GW Crew is from this period when one of the teams sewed strips of leather to their backs forming the letters GW. Records from the day's racing indicates that team GW beat team GV by open water. Why the teams chose these letters is anybody's guess. When the legions had filled their holds with berries and their task was complete, they abandoned the settlement on the Potomac and returned to Rome where they were greeted by a new emperor who did not like berries. And so ended the first age of rowing at GW.

The second age was ushered in by the arrival of the conquistadors from Spain. Many great explorers came from Europe seeking gold and treasures and enormous harems of Native American women. Many failed to find the fortunes that they sought, but still many more found more than their little casque encased heads could imagine. One of these explorers was Ponce de Leon. Crossing the ocean to the new world in the early 16th century, his ship was blown off course by a rough storm. Lost in the new world and looking for a good time, Ponce and his men decided to sail up the first navigable river they could find and look for a place to get groovy. They followed the course of the Potomac, ever vigilant for a Native American Discotheque or at least a fairly decent pow-wow. Before too long they happened upon the Roman settlement and the great Pertinaxian Rowing Center. Knocking on all the doors and peering in the windows, the explorers came to the conclusion that no one was home and proceeded to claim the rowing center in the name of Spain. Though weather worn and barely a shell of the rowing center that it was in its Roman hayday, the Pertinaxian Rowing Center was still a solid structure and still very suitable for housing racing shells as well as orgies in the off season. Ponce called on his most trusted interior decorator to clean and redecorate the place. The Spaniards soon built their own racing shells and formed teams on the river. They raced frequently and looking for names for their teams, took cues from the engravings on the walls of the boat house. GW Crew was born again. Ponce and his men liked it so much in their new home that they didn't want anyone else to know about it. They had word sent to Spain that they were very busy searching all over the new world for the fountain of youth and that they would let everyone know as soon as they had found it, so they should be left alone while they did it. Very pleased with themselves and their clever ruse, Ponce and his men lived out their days in happiness, rowing on the river, collecting a harem of local Native American women, and having orgies in the off season. Although the native women also took to rowing out of the boat center, when the last of the Spanish explorers died, the rowing died with them and another age of GW Crew came to an end.

After the conquistadors and their harems died, the rowing center fell into disrepair. Although sturdy and surely able to stand another millenium, the rowing center was destroyed by freak volcanic activity in the late 17th century. The third age and current era of rowing at GW began in 1956 when Congress funded the George Washington University to train a group of students to fight communism on the Potomac River. The University quickly put together a team of students, disguised as rowers, who went out early each morning and cleaned up the communism that was so rampant on the river. GW Crew is proud of its heritage and is happy to say that today, communism on the Potomac River is still kept to a minimum with levels far below those set by the Potomac River Anti-Communism Act of 1972. If you get up early enough, you can still see GW rowers diligently fighting communism on the river every morning and getting in a good workout too.

 


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Copyright © 1997 Brendan Andersen and the George Washington Crew Team