Rowing course vandalized
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Tuesday’s early morning practice of the Saratoga Rowing Association girls varsity team didn’t go as planned when the rowers and their coach discovered that the start of their 1,500meter buoyed racecourse had been vandalized.
The eight orange safety buoys floating at the start of the 1,500- meter racecourse had been sliced overnight and had sunk below the surface, just days before the annual New York State Scholastic Rowing Association regatta this weekend.
“We got up to the start line and it looked kind of funny,” SRA executive director and girls varsity coach Eric Catalano said. “What’s missing here? It took us a minute, and then we realized that all of the start buoys were gone. I could see an orange blob underwater and then I realized that the buoys were not gone, they were just stabbed and sunk.”
“We went back out, pulled them up and, sure enough, they had puncture wounds,” Catalano said. “They cost about $ 80 to $100 apiece, and we’ll try to fix the ones that have a single stab (slice) in it with a bicycle tire patch- type kit. I don’t know if that will hold; there is a lot of pressure when the full race course is in.”
Saratoga Rowing Association each year applies and is approved for mass gathering permits to host the three spring regattas. They also receive permits to place the floating safety buoys and their smaller white and red floating counterparts on Fish Creek approaching the Route 9P Bridge.
“The buoys are replaceable; it’s just that it’s money,” Catalano said. “The bigger damage is that we feel like this is a big thing for the community.”
He said a recent economic study showed the regattas bring in more than $5 million to the community with hotel rooms, gas and dining.
“There are people out there that are just fooling around or people that are not pleased with our use of the racecourse. It’s more upsetting that people aren’t finding value in what we are trying to do,” Catalano said.
A report has been filed with the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Department.