Berkshire Sculling Assn., Inc. - Rowing

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Who's Cuyler

Now What?

BRASS: Berkshire Rowing and Sculling Society

Berkshire Sculling, Inc.: Sales

Buying a rowing shell?
Here's what to think about

Lew Cuyler’s biography of Ernestine Bayer

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"There is nothing -
absolutely nothing -
half so much worth
doing as simply
messing about in
boats...."

The Wind in the Willows

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To my friends and customers:
I started this business in 1995 at the age of 62. In April 2008 I reached the age of 75. In those 13 seasons I have experienced a lot of great rowing and have met hundreds of people, customers and customers who have subsequently become great friends.

I intend to continue rowing and competing in rowing. Fundamentally, however, I am a writer and productive writing time is running out. In the meantime the growth of Berkshire Sculling has meant more customers and with them more financial outlay and income. This is a nice problem but it does translate into many more details to track (or, unfortunately, lose track of). Therefore, it is time to leave the business while I am still ahead of the game.

I have sold most of my inventory but have a few good shells left. However, I will continue to take orders for new shells from the manufacturers I have represented: WinTech, Levator, Peinert and Alden. I will continue to offer demos of most of thise shells. I discontinued the leasing program this year but if this option is of interest, call Jeff Friedrichs, a WinTech dealer, at 973-943-0094. Jeff's email is jfriedrichs@wintechracing.com.

During the 2008 season I will continue to maintain this website and will continue to respond to inquiries via email, telephone and word of mouth.

Lew Cuyler

Lew Cuyler, 75, returned to rowing, an early love, at the age of 56 when he moved to Pittsfield, MA to become business editor of The Berkshire Eagle, the principal daily and Sunday newspaper for Berkshire County, in Western Massachusetts.

He was delighted and surprised to find that the house he and his wife, Harriet, bought was only a mile from Lake Onota, a two-mile long lake owned by the City of Pittsfield and the home water for the Williams College crew.

Lew had done some single sculling on his own in college and welcomed the opportunity to resume the sport through the purchase of beat-up Alden ocean shell. At the time, there were only three or four scullers in the immediate area.

In the next few years, he bought five used shells, some recreational, some racing, and began to compete seriously, finishing at or near the top in most races.

By the time he reached 62 he had decided to take an early retirement from The Eagle, start a rowing club, sell rowing shells, and continue his writing career.

The rowing club is now known as BRASS – the Berkshire Rowing And Sculling Society – a non-profit entity with about 50 members that re-habbed a building into a boathouse on Lake Onota. BRASS offers both sweep and sculling programs for younger and older rowers, men and women.

Through his company, Berkshire Sculling Inc., Lew sells and leases single rowing shells for all abilities. He offers WinTech Expelorers, the wide hull and very stable Alden 16s and 18s and the Alden Quest for beginner and open water rowers and the faster Alden Stars, WinTech Explores and Peinert Dolphins, also for open water and rough water rowers. In the racing shell category, Berkshire Sculling offers the Peinert 26, the Peinert X25, and, at the top of the line, the Levator Standard and Personal racers, and the Levator Torque.

Lew is a member of U.S. Rowing, the Masters Rowing Assn. and the International Recreational and Open Water Rowing Association (IROW), an outgrowth of the former Alden Ocean Shell Association, a IROW director, and the editor of its quarterly publication, The Catch.

Lew has also been a guest coach at the Florida Rowing Center, near West Palm Beach, for the seasons of 1999, 2004 and 2005. He has also coached BRASS rowers in single and double sculls and has coached high school fours.

“Rowing puts it all together, physically and spiritually,” he said. “Sending a shell through early morning quiet water provides an exhilarating fusion of body, mind, water and air. There’s nothing quite like the wholeness of the experience. Once you begin to get it, you never want to stop. It’s addictive…a passion.”

In 2006 Lew won two gold medals in FISA world masters competition, one in the doubles and one in the mixed quad catergories.
In 2007 won a gold in the mixed quad.

“I received the gift of rowing when I was 15 years old. I had a career and family and wasn’t able to row until moving to Pittsfield,” he said. “Now I want to pass on this gift; hence the rowing club and rowing business. In the past 15 years I have introduced single sculling to hundreds of people.”

Harriet, Lew’s wife of 30 years, joins him in his enthusiasm for the sport. A nurse and exercise physiologist, she has also coached extensively. She finished third at the 2007 Head of the Charles women's race, ages 60-69 and also won 2 golds at the 2007 FISA World Masters Regatta in Croatia.