Miami Rowing Christens Three Boats
March 12, 2004
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Head Coach Debra Morgan and the University of Miami rowing team added three boats to the Hurricanes’ fleet with the christening of the Victor “The Hulk” Ishmael, the David Wyman and the Captain Kirk Friday, March 12 at the Shane Watersports Center.
The boat dedication ceremony was part of an evening that included dinner for friends and family of the Miami rowing team to kick off the First Annual Hurricane Invitational the following day.
Morgan and the Hurricanes introduced the three boats – a pair of Vespoli Millennium Fours and one Vespoli Ultralight Eight – in honor of three distinguished contributors to the Miami Rowing program.
“We’re extremely excited to be able to add three top of the line boats to our fleet of rowing shells,” Morgan said. “The new fours allow us more flexibility in practice and will also provide our varsity four with the equipment they need to be successful. The new eight will help to keep our eight person novice crews at top speed.”
Head Coach Debra Morgan
On the christening of the Victor “The Hulk” Ishmael
“One of the highlights of the weekend was the christening of the Victor “The Hulk” Ishmael. We christened this boat in honor of our strength and conditioning coach, Victor Ishmael, who has been working with our team for the past two years and has a been a major contributor to what we are able to do on the water and in races.”
On the christening of the David Wyman
“David Wyman works with our team behind the scenes to help ensure each of our athletes’ academic success. He continually encourages them to set their goals high and work hard to achieve them. This is the same message we give to the athletes at practice so we thought it was a natural choice to name a boat the David Wyman.”
On the christening of the Captain Kirk
“Mr. Kirk Landon’s generous donation to our program is appreciated by everyone in the program. It was our pleasure to name the Captain Kirk in his honor.”
David Wyman
On having the David Wyman named in his honor
“I am overwhelmed by the acknowledgment and I greatly appreciate this honor. I would like to thank all the women on the team for this recognition. They are all extraordinarily talented and it is a pleasure to work with them. In addition, I would like to give thanks to the coaching staff for their leadership and thoughtfulness. I am proud to be a part of our UM family.”
