ROWING
THE Irish Offshore Coastal Rowing Championships 2017 will be hosted by Arklow Rowing Club on Saturday 9th and Sunday, September 10th.
Clubs from Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland, will be competing in this event.
The event can be viewed from the south beach.
The start line and finish line will be at “The Cove”.
The first five Irish crews in each event will qualify for the World Offshore Rowing Championships 2017 which will be held this October in Thonon-Les-Bains, France, on Lake Geneva.
The first race in Arklow will be the Mens and Ladies Quads, a coxed crew of four rowers, on Saturday, September 9 at 3pm.
The ladies and mens single scull and double scull finals will be on Sunday, September 10, with the first race starting at 8.20am sharp and races finishing at 12 noon.
The current Ladies Single Scull Offshore World Champion is Monika Dukarska, from Killorglin Rowing Club in Kerry.
Monica will be competing in Arklow to gain her entry to this year’s World Chamionships.
The prize giving, and refreshments, will be held in The Scout Hall on Sunday afternoon, everybody welcome.
We would like to thank our Safety Rib Crews, The Arklow Scouts, The Arklow Lifeboat, The St Johns Ambulance Service, The Arklow Tidy Towns.
Arklow Rowing Club is always open to new members, over the age of 12, with no upper age limit.
If you are interested in a new challenge, or just want to give it a go, please call in to us at our Clubhouse Tuesday or Thursday at 6.30 or Sunday mornings at 9.30.
Eight crews from Arklow Rowing Club competed in the Welsh Open Coastal Rowing Championships on Saturday, September 2.
They returned with three gold and one bronze medal.
Alan Goodison won the Men’s Single Coastal Scull race in fantastic style, Sionna Healy had a clear win in the Ladies Single Coastal Scull race.
Twins, Jamie And Chris Yeomans won gold in the Mens Double Coastal Scull race.
This was their first race and they have only recently celebrated their 18th birthday.
Mary Ann Kent and Doireann O’Reilly won bronze in the Ladies Double Coastal Sculls.
We also had fantastic performances from Vanessa Annesley and Jeanne O’Gorman in the Ladies Single Scull Race and also competing for the first time in the Ladies Doubles, Rachel Ireson and Bronach Healy, Mary Goodison and Xena Jordan (17) who was the youngest competitor of the Championships.
They are all ready for their next competion, the Irish Open Coastal Rowing Championships.
OFFSHORE ROWING
What is Offshore Rowing? Offshore rowing is the extreme version, the adventure side of rowing.
It involves rowing along a sea coast and out into the sea and is one of the fastest growing communities of rowers.
Offshore rowing boats are also used inland on some lakes and rivers where the water tends not to be flat.
Rowing on rough water means that offshore rowing is quite different from the flat-water Olympic style of rowing in a straight line.
Offshore rowers prefer rough water which adds a whole new dimension to the sport with many offshore rowers cherishing the exhilarating aspect of rowing in extreme conditions around a triangular or rectangular course.
Offshore rowing is easier to learn than flat-water rowing, due partly to the stability and robustness of offshore rowing equipment which differs from the Olympic-style boats.
The standard boats are singles (or solo), doubles and coxed quadruple sculls.
But just knowing how to handle an offshore rowing boat is not sufficient to become a good offshore rower.
Crews must be aware of tides and currents, learn about the course’s topography and know what to do in the midst of maritime traffic and in case of bad weather.
World Championships
Each year FISA holds the World Offshore Rowing Championships (called the World Rowing Coastal Championships).
At this event the best club crews from around the world compete against each other.
As there is a restriction on the number of crews each country can send, it is necessary to have a qualifying event at which crews can be ranked.
In Ireland this is the Irish Offshore Rowing Championships which are held in September each year.