University of New Hampshire (UNH) boathouse fire ruled as arson

by Leslie Modica, Foster Daily Democrat on 10 Mar 2010 Members of the University of New Hampshire sailing team barely had to time to grapple with the total loss of their equipment and boats in a Wednesday night fire before learning the fire was arson.

'Why would anybody do this to us?' Former Boat Manager Gregg Griffin said following a news conference Friday morning. 'We haven't done anything to anybody and we are doing a good thing for the community.'

The state fire marshal's office officially confirmed Friday morning that arson was the cause of the fire at the closed-up boathouse off Route 4 near Mendum's Pond in Barrington, reaffirming the suspicions of the handful of team members that were on scene at the fire.

'We knew there wasn't power and we knew we did all of the precautions,' Griffin said.

The blaze destroyed 55 boats, five motors, three launches, trailers and additional equipment — totaling a complete loss for both the sailing team, the UNH Community Sailing Program, a summer program for youths between 6 years old and 18 years old, and a combined junior and senior high school sailing team.

The damage is estimated to exceed $500,000, university spokesman Erika Mantz said.

Since the fire, Diana Weidenbacker, the team's coach of 15 years, said the team has received hundreds of e-mails from people who want to help the team rebuild, along with offers from other sailing teams and yacht clubs who have offered to lend boats and equipment to the team.

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