Ending a tremendous day of racing at the LB Fall Collegiate Invitation Regatta, Beach Crew celebrated the latest dedication to its fleet of racing shells in eight years, the “Dr. Stuart L. Farber” Vespoli 4+. Beach Crew families, friends, and the Beach Crew Alumni Association, partook in a festive ceremony, celebrating Dr. Farber’s contribution that bestowed a physical manifestation of the spirit of cooperation and our love of the sport.

Associated Students (ASI) Vice President, Lucy Nguyen, and ASI Treasurer, Jameson Nyeholt, attended the day’s events. The christening was sponsored by Mrs. Trish Farber.

About Dr. Farber

Dr. Stuart L. Farber has been active in the Long Beach community and CSULB specifically for more than 50 years. During his tenure at CSULB, Dr. Farber has held the positions of Professor of Health Science, Assistant Football Coach, Dean of Student Affairs, and the Assistant Vice President of Student Serices.

Dr. Farber is a founding member of the Board of Directors for the Conservation Corps of Long Beach, an organization dedicated to raising self-esteem, developing basic work skills, work ethics, and education, and promoting teamwork for Long Beach at-risk youth through a combination of work, conservation, and education programs.

He is the former chairman of the Downtown Long Beach YMCA Board of Directors.

Dr. Farber is the former chairman of the Citizens Advisory Commission for the Handicapped, an organization which advises the Long Beach City Council and mayor on matters pertaining to persons with disabilities. As well as a former member of the Navy Properties Reuse Committee.

He has received proclamation from the City of Long Beach and citation from the United States Congress for his tireless efforts in the community. The Associated Students (ASI) of CSULB have named their Senate Chambers in his honor for his 30 years of unswerving guidance to ASI and the student body.

About the Restoration

The “Dr. Stuart L. Farber” vessel was restored with 100% volunteer time by the team’s boatmaster, John O’Donnell, Matthew Dalton of Beach Crew, AC DuPont, Larry Hambleton, & Renn Levy of the Long Beach Rowing Association. The Sempra Energy Foundation and various contributions from the CSULB Foundation allocated by the Beach Crew Board of Officers provided a portion of the restoration costs. Decals for the boat and various other projects were produced by Iconography Studios of Los Alamitos.

Below is a video of the ceremony. Click the image below to play.

One eventful day it will be! Please join Beach Crew, members of the Beach Crew Alumni Association, and the community of the Pete Archer Rowing Center on Saturday, November 13, for the annual Long Beach Fall Collegiate Invitation Regatta and several other events following the races.

Join us at 8:00 AM as the Varsity crews of, The Beach, UCLA, UCSB, USC, UCI, LMU, SDSU and Chapman University, face off in a 4000 meter head race down the historic Marine Stadium, through Alamitos Bay, and around Naples Island, finishing at Second Street. At 8:30 AM, Novice crews begin several rounds of 850 meter sprints inside Marine Stadium. After all crews have landed by 10:00 AM, Beach Crew will christen the latest addition to its fleet in eight years, the “Dr. Stuart L. Farber” 4+ Vespoli Racing Shell.

Breakfast will be served free-of-charge for all athletes through the generous support of the Seal Beach Lions Club and the Beach Crew Alumni Association. The parents, CSULB community, and members of the Pete Archer Rowing Center, are invited to join us for a $2 min. donation to the team.

Alumni of the team are encouraged to participate in the Beach Crew Alumni Association’s Annual Meeting at 11:00 AM to hear about BCA’s future alumni events, latest support efforts to the team, and to elect the Board of Directors for the next season. Official details of this meeting will follow this B-Newsline.

Long Beach State hosted the Second Annual Long Beach Fall Collegiate Invitational with a record-breaking attendance. Nearly 100 rowers from UC Santa Barbara, the University of Southern California, UC Irvine, and Loyola Marymount, made their way back to the historic Marine Stadium. This event renews the annual commitment that the university has set to bring collegiate crews back to Marine Stadium. Not only will this commitment keep Long Beach State on the maps of the collegiate rowing community, this promotes the reason why this historic place exists for this sport.

Most of the morning included calm, cloudy skies followed by some rain right at the end of the event, making it great racing experience for
all. The results of the Naples Island Head Race and the 850m sprints are posted to Row2k.

Our thanks go out to the incredible coaching staff, John O’Donnell, Rob Edwards, Victoria Draper, and Danny Harris, for answering the beckon call of their duties at this event. The coaching staff at UC Santa Barbara also played a vital role in getting this event going. Another
thanks go out to Bob and Heather Hardin for heading up the breakfast for everyone.

We want to extend a final thanks to our friends at the Long Beach Rowing Association, notably, Renn Levy, Rob Glidden, Katrin Gleie, and
AC DuPont. We’ve come to realize how important it is that we work together to preserve what we have, the place we call, home.

Crews have committed to return to this same place before Thanksgiving next year.