Recovering crewman ready to rejoin rowing benefit

After spending most of Tuesday in the hospital on an IV drip, Rick Shalvoy said he is ready to rejoin the fundraising crew that is trying to row around Long Island.

"I'm feeling great," said Shalvoy, who no longer wants to predict a finish date for the journey that has been plagued by illnesses and difficult weather conditions. "The way this event is going, I won't even go there ... but at some point, this event is going to be completed."

The effort is a benefit to wounded service members and to honor a Coast Guard petty officer from Smithtown who was killed in the Persian Gulf.

Shalvoy, 57, of Long Beach, and three others set out west from West Neck Beach in Cold Spring Harbor Monday in a 24-foot skiff with the goal of rowing around Long Island, a 300-mile trip. But after stormy weather and rough seas Monday night and Tuesday morning off the waters of Long Beach, Shalvoy and Chris Rizopoulos, 37, of Coram, were hospitalized with dehydration and seasickness.

The original four-man crew consisted of Shalvoy, Rizopoulos, Chris Cuddihy of Riverhead and his son, Ryan.

Originally, the plan was to make the event a nonstop row, Shalvoy said, finishing back at West Neck Beach Thursday.

According to their website, roundislandrow.com, the Cuddihys and a new rower, Brian Banks, 25, a Jones Beach lifeguard from Merrick, were in the water west of Fair Harbor, on the south shore of Fire Island, just before noon Wednesday.

"It's no longer a nonstop event" as originally planned, Shalvoy said. Patricia Cuddihy planned to meet the boat last night at the Coast Guard station in Moriches, where the rowers will spend the night, with requested chicken Parmesan sandwiches. "They're pretty beat," she said. "They need a good night's rest."