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Outdoor training sessions typically begin for the Yale Crew teams in late February or early March, depending on when the ice breaks apart and opens the wide, flat, fresh water of Lake Housatonic in Derby, home to Yale’s Gilder Boathouse. Not this year. An unremitting stretch of freezing temperatures created an unusually thick layer of ice on the Housatonic, forcing coaches to look for alternative practice sites for the start of the season.

“The earliest I’ve ever rowed outside was February 6th and the latest was the first day of March. This year we have blown through that record,” said Andy Card, coach of the lightweights. “This is unpreceded in my 26 years at Yale.”

With the first race just a month away, Card and the other coaches searched for thawed sections of water up and down lower Housatonic. Everything was locked in. They looked on the Saugaguck River in Fairfield County and as far away as New London.

Then, an option close to home presented itself to Card as he was driving on a bridge over the Quinnipiac River.

“That was the body of water that was wide open. It was ridiculously wide open,” Card said.

The coaches worked out a deal with the Quinnipiac River Marina for access to the river for the first three weeks of March.

“It’s been awesome. Seeing them out there has been invigorating,” said Marina owner Lisa Fitch said.

Practicing on the Quinnipiac has returned Yale Crew to its roots. Prior to moving its facilities to Derby a century ago, the team rowed out of boathouses on the Quinnipiac River. Rowing on a tidal body of water with currents has been a learning experience for the teams.

“We’ve had to follow the tides and learn the river, learn the bridges,” said Card. “It’s been a whole new adventure.”