Shalvoy resumes 300-mile fundraising row in LI waters

Rick Shalvoy decided to keep rowing.

Shalvoy, a 57-year-old former lifeguard who was knocked out by dehydration last Tuesday from a four-man attempt to circumnavigate Long Island, re-entered the waters Friday, the day after a fellow crew member called off the journey, Shalvoy's wife, Holli Dunayer-Shalvoy, said Monday.

The 300-mile journey, to raise funds for wounded military veterans, began last Monday at a beach in Lloyd Harbor. The boat took a counterclockwise route and hit such rough seas that Shalvoy, of Long Beach, and teammate Chris Rizopoulos, 37, of Coram, were sickened. On Tuesday, they were treated at Long Beach Medical Center. He required three intravenous bags of fluid, his wife said.

Teammates Chris Cuddihy, 56, and his son Ryan Cuddihy, 28, both of Riverhead, with replacement rower Brian Banks, 25, of Merrick, continued and pulled into Moriches Inlet on Wednesday night. Banks returned to work Thursday and Cuddihy attempted to resume the journey solo by kayak but called it off when he encountered rough surf.

Shalvoy left Moriches Inlet on his own Friday and, as he rowed past East Hampton, "the other lifeguards rode their boats to greet him and to bring him Gatorade and food to keep him strong," his wife said. "They were cheering him from the beach at Hither Hills, clapping him through."

He slept at the Montauk Coast Guard Station on Saturday night, she said.

Shalvoy, who has circumnavigated the island for other causes in recent years, has been rowing 14 to 16 hours a day through pouring rain and adverse currents, his wife said. Monday morning he reached Mattituck inlet.

"The waves were pretty intense from what I heard, but I have faith," she said. "This is not an ordinary rower. Rick is a spiritual warrior; this is coming right out of his heart."