New Coastal Rowing Boat

Aim

We want to revitalise our club, through a Junior start rowing scheme to get kids back out on the water

Who are we?

Whitehead Coastal Rowing Club is a community based club, set up in late 2018. We currently have around 65 adult members and 14 juniors. We row in 4 person boats, and promote rowing for friendly competition, social rowing, fitness and mental health.

What better way is there to clear the head than to get out on the water in beautiful Whitehead, row with friends and take in the scenery and wildlife.

Club outing to the Gobbins Coast Path

We row in Whitehead bay between April and October, rowing most nights and weekends if the weather and tides allow. We don't row as set crews, but members can sign up to row which ensures crews change around and everyone gets to know everyone, ensuring a friendly atmosphere across the club.

For those who wish to race, we enter both regatta races - lane racing against 5 other boats to a buoy and back - courses over 800m to 1.2km. These take place along the Antrim coast and are friendly affairs (boats and crews are often lent to ensure everyone gets a race). We also enter the All-Irelands in August when 20-30 clubs meet up over 3 days for some more serious racing.

The other races are longer endurance events. We run a 10 mile Islandmagee Challenge from Browns Bay to Whitehead. We also try to enter boats in the Boyne Challenge and Lambeg Challenge every year - long distance events of around 10 miles on the open sea.

For members who do not wish to race, we organise regular outings for general fitness and for all abilities and rowing levels so everyone can benefit no matter what their fitness level and age. We have also taken boats to the North coast to row past the Giants Causeway, rowed on the Lagan, and are planning a trip to the Fermanagh Lakeland.

Our latest initiative is to set up a Junior section for under 18's. We currently have 14 members and 10 who row regularly. We plan to increase numbers in 2023, and also get the Juniors rowing in their first regatta at the end of June.

During the winter, we continue our training with regular sessions on rowing machines and circuits to keep fitness, and keep the member spirit going.

Community impact

The club involves itself in the community. We ran the Santa Grotto for the Victorian Street Fair on 2 occasions, ran fundraisers for local community projects and have organised "Try Row" Sessions as part of the Whitehead festival every year, as well as the "Music in Mind" mental health event in 2022.

We are happy to help out other organisations where we can. This isn't just about competing, but being part of the local community.

Santa Grotto - 2021

Why are we crowdfunding?

The club had only been running for 18 months when the Covid pandemic lockdown happened. This was at the start of our rowing season, and meant we lost almost a years on-water activity. The following year was also impacted quite heavily, and whilst we did row, some of our members were not keen to participate in close proximity to other members. We did lose some members, however it delayed a lot of our plans for 2 years, and affected much of our fundraising efforts, as our usual events in doors could not be easily held.

We finally started our Junior section in 2022, and we currently have 10 regular members, but we want to try and expand this further. We held a successful summer scheme in August 2022, and many of these Juniors have continued to row into the autumn. We have high levels of autism and ADHD within our junior section, and this is a unique outlet for these kids. However, to ensure we can get all our juniors out, particularly if we increase the section, we want to introduce a structured training scheme to introduce new juniors to rowing, and build up to their first regatta in June if they wish to race.  Our long term goal would be another boat which would enable us to increase our capacity and get both the junior section rowing, and still give adult rowing opportunities. 

Our project initiative will include:

A "Start Rowing" scheme for new junior members in the spring which will introduce juniors from Whitehead to rowing, and give the opportunity to race if they wish in the club regatta in June. We ran a scheme called Shore2Oar before lockdown, and we will use this format for the new juniors.

https://www.facebook.com/ShoreToOar

We will take groups of new junior members and take them through a series of introductory sessions to rowing and fitness. This will include weekly sessions on rowing machines and a skierg machine, plus gentle weights and stretching. This will improve fitness and core strength, and also embed correct rowing technique. As the weather improves, we will then get them out on the water and start rowing along with more experienced rowers, and finally bring 4 novices together in a boat to row as a crew. we will also teach basic sea safety and an understanding of tides and weather to keep them safe.

To support this scheme, we will be looking to purchase a new boat which will enable our new juniors to get out rowing more regularly without restricting the evenings they can row.

Complimentary Schemes

Although not part of the project we will also be running the following initiatives which will keep the club running and help support the new juniors joining.

A "Start Racing" scheme for any junior member who wishes to take part in club regattas so they can take their rowing to the next level, and improve their fitness in a controlled environment.

For any of our new novices Juniors, and existing juniors who wish to take their rowing to the next level, we will introduce a start racing course. This will involve more rowing machine and fitness training into the summer to build fitness and stamina. Out on the water, we will increase the tempo out on the water, with sprints, racing starts and turns, but still make sure it is fun for all involved. To add variety to the on-shore 

A "Rowing Coxswain" scheme for existing club members to give an opportunity to learn how to take control of a rowing boat, and take a crew out and return in safe conditions. This will include on water training and practice, and shore side theory on tides and weather to ensure all outings are as safe and controlled as possible.

Without new coxswains, we will be limited on how many outings we can put on per week.

Rowing back from Blackhead lighthouse

How we'll spend the money raised

To get new junior members out on the water, we need to give them access to training equipment. This will allow us to embed technique for new rowers, and as they progress to train when they do not have access to the water due to weather conditions, or shorter evenings.

We will therefore be looking to buy fitness equipment including Concept2 rowing machines, a Ski Erg machine and smaller weight dumbells and kettlebells.

Costs towards extending our use of the community centre for fitness training.

To increase a sense of club belonging and advertise ourselves when we are training or at events, we would also look to purchase a branded gazebo and new banners. These would also be used at a club open day when we would encourage the public and new juniors to have a go and maybe take rowing further.

We also need to get our members the required training to interact with young people safely, so will avail of child protection training and AccessNI checks.

To enable the club to get new juniors out on the water, we plan to buy a new boat. This will cost between  7000 and  8500 depending on whether we source either a second hand or new boat.

Stretch funding will go towards new oars.

How you can play your part

You can help support through our pledge page

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don't delay if you're going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won't need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

This project successfully funded on 8th April 2023