Yes, that IS a mouthful, so most members refer to it as the GSVVM.
So how did I end up there?
Why didn't I join a club in Venice?
I have great admiration for other clubs, and have enjoyed rowing with members of other clubs, but I found a home at the club in Mestre, being welcomed and included like family.
It was really just luck that my good friend, Nereo Zane had a longtime friend who was the rowing coach at the GSVVM.
When I first visited Venice in 2000, Nereo introduced me to his friend, Arturo Moruccio, and I joined the club then and there.
The bows of four GSVVM mascaretas, each maintained with pristine varnish, a steel ferro, and the club's signature orange color.Each time I've visited Venice, I've re-upped my membership and spent as much time as possible on GSVVM boats.
Some of the best instruction I received over the last eight years was from Maestro Arturo, and some of my favorite memories have come from time spent rowing with GSVVM club members on boats, both big and small.
Forcola and remo sets await deployment.Each set having been custom-carved for a different club boat, and each bears the GSVVM initials and a number - indicating it's intended station on the boat.
Unfortunately, a few years ago, Arturo Moruccio,
one of the men of rowing I most respected,
a man who had become a dear friend,
and a man who will always linger in my memories,
passed away after a long fight with cancer.
He will be remembered with fondness by many, for years to come.
On the Hudson River Gondola Expedition, the team raised a toast to Arturo on several occasions.
Arturo Moruccio tappng in a wedge behind a forcola on one of the club's mascaretas before a morning row in 2005.
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