Seven Seat

Harvard University coach and acclaimed rowing author, Dan Boyne, tells a humorous story of his first year of freshman crew, including a sub plot of personal redemption against an insufferable football player who has bullied him throughout high school.After being accepted at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, Boyne decides to take up rowing, the only sport that takes place far off campus, on the adventurous waters of The Connecticut River. There, he quickly experiences the unique rigors, rewards, and colorful personalities of the sport, not knowing that his nemesis has decided to try out for crew, at rival school Coast Guard Academy. As racing season approaches, Boyne becomes part of an exceptional freshman lightweight boat, with high hopes to win the National Championships in Philadelphia that year, but his final fears are realized when he discovers that his old high school archenemy is also doing well, and rowing in the very same position as he is—the seven seat.

The Seven Seat is a must have for your rowing library. Dan Boyne beautifully captures the thrill of being the ‘newbie' - new to college, (an elite college, no less), new to taking the top bunk in a small dorm room, new to competitive rowing. In this work of ‘creative non-fiction,’ Dan describes college rowing, ’70’s style: leaden boats, wooden oars, cotton t-shirts, and no Concept II ergs. Score one! But that’s just the beginning. Read on. You’ll be glad you did., With Dan Boyne’s books The Red Rose Crew and Kelly: A Father, A Son, An American Quest, he proved to be an author who knows how to tell good rowing stories. Now, Boyne is back with a new rowing tale, The Seven Seat: A True Story of Rowing, Redemption, and Revenge, a work that he himself calls “creative non-fiction,” in which he takes a more active role as both a narrator and a character. Boyne shows in this wonderful “saga” that he is a master of portraying American rowing history—whether it’s about a famous women’s crew, an American rowing legend, or rowing at Trinity College, Hartford, in the 1970s., Beautifully written, Dan Boyne’s The Seven Seat, illuminates the redemptive power of rowing. A period piece set at Trinity College in the seventies, the themes are as relevant today as ever. I can’t help but believe that Dan’s storytelling prowess derives from his experience rowing in the seven seat. He translates life’s rhythm with technical precision and great timing. Through the lens of collegiate rowing, Dan’s newest book is a perfect catch., With a droll voice that is as smooth and brisk as a river at dawn, Dan Boyne not only tells the story of a heated rivalry, but also imparts the magic of reinventing oneself through a time-honored sport whose tribal quality is the envy those outside its closed community. It’s also an at-times a hilarious memoir of college life in the 1970s Animal house meets the boathouse in this trim and well-rowed story.

Daniel J. Boyne is the author of Kelly: A Father, A Son, An American Quest (Mystic Seaport/Lyons); The Red Rose Crew: A True Story of Women, Winning, and the Water (Hyperion/Lyons); and Essential Sculling (Lyons). In 2008, he was awarded first prize in the category of biography in the Premier Book Awards (Kelly), and The Red Rose Crew earned a starred Kirkus Review and became a Boston Globe bestseller in 2001. His essays have appeared in numerous magazines, including The Atlantic, Harvard Magazine, and Gray’s Sporting Journal. He is a frequent contributor to the internationally acclaimed rowing website, row2k.com. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.