Tom Cotton breaks up a rock in Bare Hill Pond in an effort to clear the pond of boat-damaging rocks that lie just below the surface. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)

Boaters familiar with Bare Hill Pond know how to avoid the many rocks just beneath the water’s surface, but new boaters sometimes learn about them the hard way, as did an out-of-town crew team trying out their boat before the fall 2008 Head of the Charles Regatta. Their warm-up score was crew 0, rocks 1—as in one big hole.

Usually the Bromfield Rowing team is able to practice around the navigational hazards during most of the fall season, but as the pond water is drawn down, the number of rock obstacles goes up. The team has to curtail its fall practices before the end of the fall season competitions.

Crew parent Tom Cotton saw the pond’s current six-foot water level drop and its thick winter ice as an opportunity to remove or lower some of the more bothersome rocks and has enlisted volunteers to help him. But progress has been slow.

The Conservation Commission, through the Pond Committee, gave the Bare Hill Rowing Association permission to break up the rocks, but initially only if they used manual tools. During the first weekend of work, Cotton’s volunteers proved that life on a chain gang is difficult, when their sledge hammers had limited success against the unmoving, unbreaking rocks.

After the Conservation Commission modified its permission and allowed an electric jackhammer, eight volunteers—Pond Committee members, crew parents, and a rower—each put in three hours attacking the rocks last Saturday. According to Cotton, they managed to demolish one small rock and knock a few inches off two others. On the advice of an ice fisherman, Cotton borrowed a stonecutting blade in a power saw to score the rocks first, which made the work slightly easier on Sunday. The scoreboard might now read: Crew–1 rock and about 20 inches of chips; Rocks–grudging respect. Both sides tied in the persistence category.

Cotton will be at it again this weekend and Monday with any volunteers who show up. He would like to organize the rock parties in two-hour shifts. Anyone interested in helping should contact him. Cotton did remark that Sunday is Valentine’s Day and though he’ll be on the pond, he didn’t want anyone to end up in divorce court.