Rowing Lessons & Adventures on the Coast of Maine

  • Learn to scull with friends or solo in a friendly boat that is forgiving and stable.

  • Build strength & endurance in our seaworthy doubles or quad while immersing yourself in the beauty of Penobscot Bay.

  • Have you ever rowed out to camp on one of Maine’s wild islands? This is one of our favorite things to do, and we’d love to have you join us!

  • Drawing on over a decade of experience of rowing, coxing, and competing, Leigh offers training to Cornish Pilot Gig clubs.

Our custom sliding-seat quad on a guided row in Belfast Bay

Follow us on Instagram @rowingtowild

View fullsize Sun, wind, blisters. Glimmering water and the Milky Way. Meditation, mosquitoes, and meat sticks. Cold water therapy, wild pooping, and island-dwelling coyotes singing at sundown (!?!)...last weekend's Adventure Row had it all! We rowed 60 miles al
View fullsize
View fullsize With lots of help from our pit crew (Dad & the Swarts), Good Samaritans (thank you Ben the boat carrier!) and understanding & helpful race officials, Della & I successfully completed the Adirondack 90-mile! Note to future self: never do
View fullsize Here's Della about 30 miles into Day 1 of the Adirondack 90-miler! It was a 34-mile day with 3.5 miles of portaging our 14-foot Adirondack guide boat. A tough day, but perfect weather and a tail wind almost the whole way helped us meet all the cut-
View fullsize Della & I found "A Little Joy" on our practice row in Belfast harbor yesterday. I guess that's what I always find on the water. ♥️ We're gearing up for the Adirondack 90-Miler this weekend. Hoping we can make the cut-off times
View fullsize A peek behind the scenes of planning a big adventure... Spending a few hours tonight reminding myself of the many twists & turns of the Adirondack 90-miler. I drew each day's route in Google Earth, transferred the kmz files to Garmin's desktop
View fullsize Looking forward to rowing in ComeBoating's annual rowing Regatta tomorrow, August 16, with my friends Kelly Sandman (our illustrious cox), Steffanie Pyle, Anne Hallee, and Laura Brown. Team name: G-Fab & the Soggy Bottom Girls Race times: 10am
View fullsize Della & I are gearing up for a mother-daughter challenge in September - the famous Adirondack Canoe Classic, also known as the 90-miler! The race course follows the first 90 miles of the 700-mile Northern Forest Canoe Trail. Though it's typica
View fullsize Pictured above: Team Toad's Wild Ride in the 2025 Washington 360, an unsupported adventure race around Puget Sound. Hear more about the team's journey, as well as Leigh's other adventure rowing experiences along the north Pacific & Atlantic coas
View fullsize Last week was very foggy on the coast of Maine, when I took this photo on a morning row. Some will say you should never go out in a small boat in the fog, and they have good reason. The fog is incredibly disorienting, distorts sound, and of course,
View fullsize Calling all early risers... For the next 6 weeks (until the school year begins), I'm offering 6am private lessons. 7:30 & 9am too on Mondays & Fridays. We'll make use of the quiet, calm water of early morning and have the harbor to ourselv
View fullsize Scroll through to explore the shifting light & colors of Pond Island with me... After navigating 17 miles from Belfast to this island on the eastern side of Penobscot Bay, I found myself entranced with the windswept silence of the place. In bare

Join us in our light and lively wooden rowboats!

Whether you are a beginner wanting to learn a new skill or a seasoned sliding-seat rower curious about our version of open water rowing, there is an opportunity for you to get out on the water with us.

Engage the body. Quiet the mind. Connect to others.

Book a Row
Our custom sliding-seat quad is the perfect, stable platform for learning sliding-seat rowing.

Belfast Bay Rows

Learn to scull or row for fitness on beautiful Belfast Bay

Our wilderness adventure rows offer a chance to step onto islands only accessible by small boat.

Island Adventure Rows

Create your own adventure on a custom trip to Maine’s wild islands

The quickest way to find yourself in the wild is to step into a small boat and push off from the shore.

-Leigh Dorsey, Rowing to Wild co-founder

Learn more about why open water rowing in our unique rowboats is one of the best ways to spend time on the coast of Maine.

Learn More