The inaugural Auckland Beach Sprints regatta for coxed quads and doubles was held on 29th April at St Helier’s Beach.
Here are some photos.
Auckland Beach Sprints Regatta 2023
Swift Racing NZ National Beach Sprint Champs, Nelson, 2023
Bright and early on January 3, Tahunanui Beach in Nelson was all action. Members of the Nelson Rowing Club converged on the beach from 5.30am to pitch tents, rig coastal boats, set up a buoyed course and prepare for the third edition of the Swift Racing National Beach Sprint Champs.
Over 90 Competitors signed up, representing Clubs from all over NZ*. Participants covered all stages of the rowing journey, from novices through senior school rowers, Club, Elite and Masters rowers. Some entrants had experienced Beach Sprints before, either in Nelson or (in the case of some elites) at World Champs in Wales last October. For many other entrants, this was their first foray into Beach Sprint racing. (more photos below)
Nelson turned on a perfect day – warm, lightly overcast, calm, with a small wave at the shoreline. This was the qualifying regatta for the Bali Beach Games, to be held in August. The Bali Games will include mens and womens solos, and mixed doubles. Emma Twigg qualified for Bali at the World Beach Sprint Champs last October, but there were still spots available for NZ mens’ solo and mixed double, and for all three boats from Australia.
The 2023 event was the third time the Nelson Rowing Club and Swift Racing NZ have delivered National Beach Sprint Champs. Each year has evolved, getting ever closer to World Rowing format. This year featured digital timing equipment, including ‘stop’ buttons, so that each racer had to ‘hit the buzzer’ to stop their clock. That made for some exciting finishes as runners would dive for the line.
A full complement of NZ Registered Race Officials were in attendance, helping deliver a fair and safe event. Mark Weatherall, Community Manager of Rowing NZ, spent the day on the water driving an Umpire boat. Mark also attended the aftermatch, at the Nelson Rowing Club, and presented the medals. Each year the medals are special to this event – in fact this year they were not medals at all, but pet rocks – schist river rocks, local, labelled and unique.
Special thanks to Karmyn Ingram Photography, who travelled over from Picton for the event. Karmyn has put many beautiful images up on Facebook. TVNZ published a short segment about the regatta on the 6pm news on January 3.
Th*Clubs included Avon, Shirley Boys, Canterbury RC, Cure, St Margarets, Cashmere High School, Star, Waikato, Rowing NZ, Cambridge, Wairau, Picton, Hawkes Bay, Nelson.
A 70km row from Awaroa to Nelson
A 70km row from Awaroa to Nelson celebrated two of the Nelson rowing community’s ‘remarkable men’ over the weekend.
The Golden Edge Nelson Rowing Club hosted the first Myles Sellers Memorial Row on Saturday in honour of Nelson man Myles Sellers, who died last year.
Myles’ wife Margarette says the day was emotional, but she and her two daughters are so thankful for the support of the community. She says Myles had a long involvement in the club as a rower going back to his school days and had represented the club at a national level. In more recent times he had reconnected with past rowing friends and had been coaching at the club. “For Myles, it was a way of encouraging people to do a sport that they perhaps thought that they couldn’t do, and giving back to the rowing community.”
Nelson Rowing Club president Grant Wilson says Myles was an outstanding member of the Nelson Rowing Club.
“Rowing was in Myles’ blood. His great uncle was Darcy Hadfield, the first ever NZ Olympic medallist.”
Darcy won the bronze medal in the single scull in 1920 and subsequently went on to hold the Professional World Sculling Championship title.
“When Darcy was a schoolboy growing up at Awaroa, he would often row a 14ft clinker dinghy across 35 miles (56km) of Tasman Bay for a day out in Nelson, sparking the inspiration for Saturday’s event,” Grant says. “The rowing club saw this as a very fitting way to remember Myles by following in Darcy’s footsteps and starting the event from Darcy’s home in Awaroa.”
The memorial row followed the coastline from Wilsons Abel Tasman Meadowbank Homestead at Awaroa with accessible crew changeovers at Kaiteriteri, Ruby Bay, Rabbit Island and then back to the Nelson Rowing Club. Two five-crew coastal rowing boats completed the journey with safety support boats. Margarette rowed two of the legs including heading back into Nelson from Rabbit Island.
Grant says coastal rowing is a new part of the sport and the Coastal Rowing Revolution opens up new rowing experiences in the Te Tau Ihu region. The boats are wider and more stable than flat-water rowing boats which make it easier to learn how to row. It is also attracting past members back into the sport.
“The club is thankful for the support of Myles’ family, members, past members and the team at Wilson’s Abel Tasman that enabled this event to happen,” Grant says.
The rowing club is holding more events in the region and welcomes new members to experience the sport.
Whanganui 25km Coastal Row
COASTAL ROWING – WHANGANUI by Judy Shadbolt, St Georges Rowing Club
On Sunday 27 February, a 25km event was held in coastal boats commencing from the Union Rowing Club, Whanganui. The course was to follow the shoreline along the coast, however,
due to a strong south easterly wind it was decided to row a 12.5km course twice on the river instead.
Four coastal quads were filled with eager participants from various rowing clubs around the country – Whanganui, Nelson, Auckland and Taupo, all ready to rumble by 7am Sunday.
Sunrise was spectacular with a cool breeze already evident as quads were slipped into the water. We were also joined by 3 waka ama crews from down river, a welcome addition to the
fleet.
The course took us under one bridge down river towards to the river mouth where the winds were fairly strong with a reasonable swell, and around a safety boat before heading back up
river with the return leg being against the tide and wind making for a challenging journey. By the time we reached the homeward stretch on the second round the wind had increased quite
dramatically, making the last leg fairly challenging. The water at the final turn towards the river mouth provided sea swells giving us a taste of west coast surf boating – on a smaller scale of
course, nevertheless a sense of what they would experience.
For some members, it was their first outing in a coastal boat and by all accounts, one they would repeat. Coastal rowing allows crews to row in more challenging conditions as the boats
are built to handle bigger seas and the experience is one not forgotten in a hurry.
On behalf of the clubs who were represented, we wish to thank Union RC for their organisation and we look forward to further similar events.
Types of coastal rowing boat
I have provided a focus on the basic dimensions of the boats used in this type of rowing.
Because the sport is so new to New Zealand it is unlikely many will be aware of what the sport is, and the boat differences between Coastal and traditional flat-water rowing in New Zealand.
In many aspects Coastal Rowing assists several areas of rowing that have been a challenge for rowers in the learning pathway to racing/rowing flat water boats as well as bringing a unique flavour of its own. This is a bonus over and above its racing in a category of its own.
Novice Rowing
They provide an easy pathway for novices learning to row. Their extra width provides stability which allows much faster technique coaching.
For Masters they provide instant stability that assists those with limited flexibility.
Tour/Adventure Rowing
The boats are designed to be “unswampable” allowing for greater safety when engaging in rowing adventures, they also accommodate a much larger range of the population because of their large volume. It is very difficult to adequately boat people over 100kg average in flat water boats.
This has opened up a much larger range of “adventure” possibilities because the boats’ sea-keeping abilities have significantly improved from the previous designs.
World Rowing Coastal endurance and Beach sprint racing
Here the boats come into their own, as previously mentioned the large volume means racing is held in very rough conditions and adds to the excitement and complexity of being a fast coastal racer, without sacrificing safety. Not only do navigation skills come into play but the ability to catch and ride waves as well as strength and endurance play a part.
Below is a chart giving the basic differences in size and weight to flat water boats. The Oars and sculls used are by and large the same both in size and design and this is true for most of the fittings, shoes, foot stretchers etc. It is valid to note however that these boats are relatively new to the rowing family and significant development is ongoing to customise them within the rules.
Please note also that the World Rowing (FISA) rulebook goes into greater detail on the minimum width rule to eliminate narrow boats with wide decks from attempting to compete with an advantage. If you have aspirations to design your own boat, check the rules!!
As always if you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch. greg@customcarbon.co.nz
This article first appeared in the Legion of Rowers newsletter
Coastal Rowing is Coming!!!
Greg Reid is a committee member for Legion of Rowers and a dedicated coastal rowing enthusiast.
I am excited to see the sport finally gaining momentum here in New Zealand, each Legion newsletter the intention is to give you more and more information about the sport of Coastal Rowing both here in New Zealand and overseas.
In 2005 I attended and raced in the first FISA World Coastal Rowing Challenge in Noli, Liguria Italy. Since then, the sport has continued to grow led mainly by France and Italy until the last 10 years.
I also attended and raced in Guernsey, Channel Islands in 2006 (where we transported and raced our own boats), San Remo, Italy in 2008 in the Quad, Plymouth, England in 2009, Istanbul, Turkey in 2010, Bari, Italy in 2012, and Monaco in 2016.
The sport particularly suits masters as the boats are easy to balance, don’t have to be stored in a boatshed and can be used on most waterways in most sea conditions. In fact, the rougher the sea state gets the more the coastal rowers enjoy it!!
The sport has been hosted in all sorts of places and attracts more and more participants each year. More recently the Beach Sprint event has been introduced to further showcase this exciting version of rowing.
Notably this year New Zealand was represented by a surfboat rower Martin Wouters who financed his way to Portugal to compete.
Recent regattas
FISA held the 2021 World Coastal Rowing Championships and 2021 Beach Sprint Championships in Oeiras, Portugal early in October.
The traditional 6km Endurance races were held in good coastal sea conditions with spectacular boat clashes on the turning buoys as up to 20 crews converged after 1.5km to round the first buoy. The 2019 Hong Kong’s Men’s singles champion even fell out of his boat on the first turn in the CM1x and got back in and recovered to 4th position!!
The Beach Sprints are in their second year as an official World Championship event with Hong Kong in 2019 being the first time it was held. Considerable work has been done to make this event format exciting and close racing. Some of the Finals Gold and Silver medals were decided by less than 0.5 of a second!
New Zealand Beach Sprints 2022
The Nelson Rowing Club held a trial event last year and is advertising the second edition this year as follows…. Nelson Rowing Club are well advanced in the planning of their Coastal Rowing Champs Beach Sprints event on January 3, 2022 at Tahuna Beach in Nelson. This follows a successful inaugural event last summer. NRC warn it will be an earlyish start (8am), so you will need to be in Nelson the night before. The event will run in line with FISA World Rowing protocols, as seen at the recent World Champs in Portugal. There are heaps of videos of the World Champs on Youtube. All rowers are welcome to register, events will be in Swift Coxed Coastal Quads. Bring your own crew or join a blended crew to try this fun variation of rowing.
Register or get more info by contacting NRC – events@nelsonrowing.co.nz, or follow Nelson Rowing Club on Facebook for regular updates.
Row Coastal NZ is Swift Racing’s NZ Distributor and is expecting delivery of a full range of coastal rowing boats before Christmas. Further info at www.rowcoastal.co.nz or ph Sally 021-435 722
Kanghua Coastal Boats are Kanghua’s NZ Distributor of coastal boats. Further info https://kanghua.nz/ or ph Kevin 021-706 617
I have been building and rowing Coastal Rowing boats for 22 years and if you require further information don’t hesitate to contact me at greg@customcarbon.co.nz or ph Greg 021-0238 2519. Regards Greg Reid.