Islander was ‘Rocking the Boat’ last month

Late last month, Islander Linda McCarthy circumnavigated 27 miles around Manhattan in a 26.5-foot rowboat and raised over $1,000 to support Rocking the Boat’s mission in what she describes as its “ critically important work in the nation’s poorest Congressional district.”

The program is based in the South Bronx and uses wooden boatbuilding and on-water education to accomplish its purpose: “Kids don’t just build boats at Rocking the Boat, boats build kids.”

Over 3,000 young people each year, primarily from the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, learn how to build wooden boats from scratch, acquire maritime skills and work on the restoration of the Bronx River.

Ten boats in all participated in the September 29 row, six rowers to a team, four on board at any given time. Linda joined her sister, Alice Larsen Deupree, who also has a home on Shelter Island, on her boat, the Rachel Carson. Their coxswain, a graduate of the program, steered them from Governor’s Island, up the East River, over the Harlem River and down the Hudson to Pier 40 — with two stops along the way of the day-long row.

Rocking the Boat’s director of development, Jaye Pockriss, reported that rowers and their sponsors generated $157,000 for the cause. More information about “Rocking Manhattan” is on the group’s website, rockingtheboat.org.