22 November 2023

By Göran R Buckhorn

Stonington Community Rowing, Inc. (SCRI) has announced a partnership with the Delamar Mystic Hotel, which is set to open on the Mystic River in September of 2024.

News arrives from John Thornell, Director of Rowing, Stonington Community Rowing, Inc., that SCRI has entered into a partnership with Delamar Mystic Hotel, which is going to be built on the shoreline of the Mystic River in between Mystic Seaport Museum and Mystic River Boathouse Park. The Delamar Mystic will become the title sponsor of the local Coastweeks Regatta, which started 28 years ago. Due to the pandemic, the regatta was last held in 2019.

As HTBS has reported previously, the Mystic River Boathouse Park will include the new Jim Dietz Rowing Center and Hart Perry Boathouse.

“The beauty of the sponsorship is that it will cover timing and registration costs of the regatta,” said Tom Sanford, who is a local rower and organizer of the Coastweeks Regatta. “In turn, this will help us keep costs low, make the regatta available to more people, and promote the wonderful sport of rowing.”

The Coastweeks Regatta has for many years been the first head race on the fall racing schedule in New England.

“It’s a good race for rowers, especially novice rowers, to get some race experience before big fall races like the Head of the Charles,” continued Sanford. The Coastweeks Regatta features a 2,000-meter-long course. The Saturday before the regatta, SCRI plans to organize an exhibition race with US National Team rowers.

It is Jim Dietz who will recruit rowers from the national team, a role that Hart Perry held during the so-called Battle Between The Bridges between 2002 and 2011. When Perry died in February 2011, there was a brave attempt to continue the BBB, as it was commonly known, but sadly when Perry was no longer at the helm the regatta fizzled out.

But now, after a 13-year wait, Dietz will give it a new try.

“Not only will spectators and rowers get to see these elite athletes race, they will get to meet them,” said John Thornell, Director of Rowing at SCRI. “We will organize a meet & greet with these inspiring, national team athletes the evening before Coastweeks.”

“We’re excited about being involved in the Mystic community,” said Charles Mallory, founder and CEO of Delamar Hotels. The Mallory family has had shipbuilding industries on the Mystic River and has been deeply involved with Mystic Seaport Museum for a long time. “We have a wonderful opportunity to create something really special for residents and visitors. I look forward to working with SCRI on the regatta and on other projects we are discussing, too.”

Delamar Hotels plans a waterfront luxury boutique hotel, which will feature 31 distinctive rooms and suites with floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing views of the Mystic River. The hotel will have a 2,600-square-foot ballroom with a waterfront event lawn that will host weddings, corporate events, private parties, and other celebrations. The hotel restaurant will seat up to 90 guests indoors and provide “Dock & Dine” capabilities, as well as chartered cruises on the river.

Thornell told HTBS that a few weeks ago, the town of Stonington received a $500k grant from the Connecticut’s Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP). For SRCI members, town staff and other volunteers, the grant is the culmination of hundreds of hours of hard work and countless fundraising efforts since voters in Stonington first approved a bond in 2016 that granted the town $2.2 million in funding to use for purchase and development of the land which is to be called the Mystic Boathouse Park.

“With the Small Town Economic Assistance Program funding, or STEAP grant,” First Selectman Danielle Chesebrough told the local newspaper The Westerly Sun, “the town is now within a half-million dollars of having the anticipated funding necessary to complete the project. The town is still awaiting a response for a living shoreline grant and is eligible for up to $300,000 in additional funding through the state’s Brownfield Municipal Grant Program, which will aid in closing the gap and meeting remaining financial goals.”

“If everything continues to go well, park construction could begin over winter, boathouse construction over spring, and we open the boathouse doors next fall,” Thornell told HTBS.