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This just in from Marlene Royle!
The 2018-2019 Florida Rowing Center Season's online registration is now open.
Opening day: Friday, 21 December 2018
Closing day: Sunday, 28 April 2019
Click here to register for your session.
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Work with our top notch coaching staff to raise your sculling to the next level.
Read about the Florida Rowing Center's Professional Coaching Staff.
Tuition includes:coaching, videotaping with critique, use of Florida Rowing Center's equipment for the on-water sessions daily hot breakfast with the coaches and other students a Florida Rowing Center T-shirt. A 10% discount is applied if booked one month in advance. We also offer group rates.
For program questions please email: info@floridarowingcenter.com
211 Palm Beach/Treasure Coast PO Box 3588 Lantana, FL 33465
The Gay + Lesbian Rowing Federation hosted a booth at the 2017 World Rowing Championships, 23 September – 01 October 2017. This was the first time GLRF has hosted a booth at a world championship elite event. Examples of elite events would be Junior, Under23, and Senior championships, as well as the Olympics. In non-Olympic years, the World Championships features 21 boat classes. The event spans nine days, with the first day officially counted as the Opening Ceremony, and the competition then follows for the next eight days. To be present for 9 days would have been too costly, so GLRF hosted a vendor booth on the final Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of competition, 29 Sep – 01 Oct 2017.
Sixty nine countries (yes, we know …) brought teams to compete at the event. Although this was the first GLRF experience at a World Championship event, it appeared to go well beyond a high-profile regatta - more like a festival or regional fair. The number of food and non-food vendors, beyond rowing, was amazing. The vendors would change every day, and many folks had nothing to do with rowing. This is understandable in that Sarasota County wanted to involve as many local businesses and residents as they showcased the new rowing venue to world.
Built specifically as a world championship rowing venue, the Nathan Benderson Park rowing facility is the first new rowing venue in North America since the Long Beach Marine stadium was built for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. The venue was built specifically to World Rowing specifications, with 8 competition lanes, and separate warm up and cool down areas, separated by an embankment.
On the first day, the GLRF booth was located in what we described as the Family Fun area. Although there were people and rowers walking by, we really didn’t have the visibility we wanted. The booth was behind the grandstands and all we could do was listen to the screams and cheers. With the encouragement and initiative of the GLRF booth neighbor, Strokeside Designs, we both moved our booth locations to empty booth locations directly in view of the rowing course, and viewing tents. Located exactly at the 1750m. mark, the GLRF booth was perfect to watch the final sprints of some spectacular races. View the booth pics here.
The reception by World Rowing and the regatta committee towards was absolutely professional. We wondered what the reaction might be from the local community and/or the coaches and the athletes. The former were super friendly, and the latter, mostly uninterested. The fact that athletes didn’t mob the GLRF booth isn’t a surprise. Most come to race, and leave. Some coaches studied the booth, and a couple of the coaching staff stopped in for a shirt or two. Even so, having the opportunity to be visible to countless athletes and their coaching and national staff entourage was worthwhile.
The weather in Sarasota was incredibly hot and on some days, unbelievably humid (muggy). A few entries dropped out from the heat. Yes, it rained. The highlight of the event was the opportunity to step out of the booth and talk to the athletes. All of them seemed very accessible and very nonchalant about their elite status.
Rowers will be able to register for the rowing regatta for the Paris 2018 Gay Games starting on 04 September 2017.
Since the regatta is being presented within the Gay Games multi-sport event, rowers will need to register as a participant for the 2018 Gay Games. This means each competitor has to pay a participant fee and a sports fee.
The participant fee is a fixed fee that provides your pass to the Gay Games event, and is currently listed at Euros 160. That fee is time and subscription based and will increase to Euros 175 on 01 Oct 2017 or earlier if subscription levels reach the next benchmark. Even though rowing is only now being opened for registration, Paris 2018 has said rowers must pay the current participant fee of Euros 160 instead of the initial participant fee of Euros 120.
The rowing fee will be offered at a discounted fee of Euros 70 from 04 Sep 2017 - 24 Sep 2017. After that, the rowing sports fee will be Euros 90.
It is important to note that the rowing page of the Paris 2018 website indicates the maximum participant level is 250 participants. Update 19 Sep 2017: this maximum participant setting was originally posted at 100, and in typical right hand/left hand fashion, the web programmers inputted that as a maximum of 100 when the regatta committee had tried to communicate that number was a minimum. The
Initial indications are that boat rental fees will be included in the rowing sports fee. However, that may change and competitors need to be aware of that fact.
The Paris 2018 website lists exchange rates that are out of date. Listed below are the current exchange rate for rowers. Keep in mind that credit card companies will charge a higher exchange rate than what is listed here, for their profit:
Australia: EU 1 = AUD 1.51
Canada: EU 1 = CAD 1.517.44
Denmark: EU 1 = DKK 1
New Zealand: EU 1 = NZD 1.6
Sweden: EU 1 = SEK 9.50
United Kingdom: EU 1 = GBP 0.92
United States: EU 1 = USD 1.19
The regatta will be held on the Lac de Vaires-sur-Marne (otherwise known as Lac de Chelles-Vaires). The venue, originally built as part of the Paris 2012 bid for the Olympics, will be the site for the 2024 summer Olympics rowing, canoe, and kayak competitions.. The site is currently under construction to add a 250 meter white water slalom course, media spaces, and accommodation for athletes. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2018.
The Paris 2018 regatta will offer events in open and masters categories in the following boat classes:
single (1X)
double (2X)
pair (2-)
quad (4X)
four (4-)
eight (8+)
GLRF members can join the All Oars group for Paris 2018 - http://paris2018regattagroup.glrf.info
Craftsbury is nice but there are some other sculling clinics that are pretty nice. London in the summer is nice. Combine a Tideway Summer Sculling Course with a vacation in England, Scotland, or Wales, and well, you have a very nice getaway planned.
But wait, you haven't tried the grey stuff - it's delicious, ask the dishes! Yes, airfares to Europe are super cheap, and the Brexit effect has made spending in the UK affordable.
What's not to like?!
Tideway Scullers School
Summer Sculling Courses On the Tideway at Chiswick
The Alec Hodges Courses are week-long intensive courses at Tideway Scullers School, the country’s foremost sculling club.
Courses are open to athletes of any sculling ability, both rowers and scullers, adult and junior, including beginners.
Summer course 1: 31 July-4 August
Junior advanced course: 7-11 August
Summer course 2: 14-18 August
Summer course 3: 28 August–1 September
The students will focus primarily on single sculling, working with a team of professional coaches, several with international-level experience. The curriculum will include video analysis, basic rigging, navigation on the tidal Thames, and racing (both time trial and side by side).
The price for the week is £360, if payment is made before 31 May (£375 thereafter). For more details please go to the Sculling Courses page of our website, http://tidewaysculle...cullingcourses/
and download an application form and the introductory membership form, which include the details of how to pay.
For any queries, email us at scullingcourses@tidewayscullers.com
On 06 April 2017, the organizing staff of the 2017 Miami Outgames made the difficult decision to cancel the rowing regatta planned for the 2017 Miami Outgames. The executive committee and the board of directors took the action after comparing the current and projected registration numbers with the fixed costs involved in hosting the event.
Since the event was not being hosted organically by the Miami Rowing Club, the Outgames staff was forced to rent the rowing club facility from the City of Miami Beach. Additionally, the cost of setting the course in Key Biscayne Bay was significant. The organizers had also hired an experienced rowing coach to assist with running the regatta.
In a phone call with the Miami Outgames sports director, Jordan Sellers, GLRF was told that the decision by one, large rowing club to withdraw from the regatta made the regatta appear to be economically ill advised.
The Miami Outgames was particularly saddened to make the decision after having worked so hard to properly structure the regatta after consultations with GLRF. The event had received sanctioning from USRowing, boat rentals had been secured from two US boat manufacturers (a logistical task that was already underway in moving boats from the West Coast to the East Coast), a full jury of referees had been secured, and the event had been registered with Regatta Central (one of the US electronic regatta registration systems).
Rowers who had registered with the 2017 Miami Outgames will be able to receive full refunds, for both the participant fee and the sports. Additionally, boat rental fees paid through Regatta Central will also be refunded.
GLRF hosted a vendor's table at the 2016 USRowing convention. This was the first year that GLRF has hosted a vendor's booth/table at the convention.
The impetus for the display was the promotion of the GLRF Global Inclusion and Acceptance Campaign. The display table included the 2017 Gods of Rowing Calendars, the Rower's Pledge t-shirts, beanies, hoodies, and the new Rower's Pledge sticker. Much like a safe space sticker, the Rower's Pledge sticker is meant to be displayed at boathouses and clubs to indicate the open acceptance of gay and lesbian rowers.
The Rower's Pledge theme is meant to be a straight/gay neutral shirt that promotes the inclusion and acceptance of gay and lesbian rowers in any rowing programme, and complements the Inclusion and Acceptance Campaign.
USRowing is the national governing body for rowing in the United States. The convention meeting moves around each year to give attendees a chance to see other rowing venues. This year, the host was the Pioneer Valley Rowing Club. They host three programs: a junior's program, a master's program, and a dragon boat program.
The Florida Rowing Center is eagerly awaiting the completion of their new boathouse on Lake Wellington in West Palm Beach Florida. The boathouse is part of a new community center complex and will feature two boat bays. For those FRC alumni who are holding their breath, the boathouse is located just feet away from the old outdoor awning where the sculls were housed.
The fully enclosed boathouse has two roll up doors and wheeled racks for the brand new shells that are featured at the start of each season.
Speaking of which, the 2016 - 2017 season opening day is 16 Dec 2016 and will run through 30 Apr 2017.
The rowing center offers three programs:
3-day session
4-day session
7-day session
Within those programs, the center offers three class options:
Sculling Camp
Beginner, Learn-to-scull
Experienced sculler
Each participant receives individualized coaching, videotaping with critique and take-home video, use of the rowing center's equipment, daily hot breakfast, and of course, a FRC t-shirt.
The
2017 World Outgames has opened registration for the 26 May - 04 June 2017 event.
Early bird participant registration is available now through 29 August 2016 (well, ... they said in the announcement ... before 30 August 2016) for US$150. They are also offering a deferred payment plan of 40/30/30, with 40% due upfront and then the balance due, in equal payments, in the next 60 days, or 40% due now, 30% due in another 30 days, and then the final 30% due in another 30 days after that.
On 30 August 2016, the participant registration fee will be US$250. Keep in mind that we are emphasizing 'participant' because there are two fees, a general participant fee that allows one individual to just be part of the World Outgames, as in participate. Then there are sport-specific fees for each sport. For rowing, the sports fee is US$125. From our read, it appears each participant can register for as many rowing events as they want.
We started a registration because a search of the website does not actually show either the participation fee or the individual sports fees. The participant registration fee information came from an email.
As usual for rowing events at gay multi-sport events, there is no rowing-industry electronic registration. Instead you register yourself as a participant and then you select one or more sports. Attached are several printscreens of the registration process to prepare you for how the registration works. For rowers, you can check up to three forms of rowing:
rowing (which means for single scullers)
rowing pairs (which means for those wanting to row in a 2x or a 2-)
rowing teams (which applies to those wanting to row in a 4+ or an 8+)
The registration part of the website appears to be running on a separate software script. There does not appear to be any help screens or FAQ or help pop up buttons. For individual rowers who will all eventually be registering, the registration screens can be/will be daunting/confusing. What we suggest is to just register your participant part first, and then come back to add your rowing selections later. Why? If you check all three forms of rowing, the system wants to know your team name or team captain, or wants you to create a team, right then. If you don't have that information yet, you're stuck. The form won't move you along to pay. You keep getting an error code.
If you don't pay and save, it appears everything is saved as a cookie so if you return and click register, you will be right where you left off. Oh, one other thing - there doesn't appear to be any published refund policy so plan for the worst ... no refunds.
Now, about the venue:
The information you see when you click on the the venue link is a mish mash of two rowing clubs. Literally!
1. The images show the building for the Miami Beach Rowing Club, which is in Miami Beach.
2. The venue says 'Miami Rowing Club.' Look for the stadium icon below the images. That is a completely different rowing club that is two long bridges away from Miami Beach.
3. The address also shows Key Biscayne, which is the postal address of the 'Miami Rowing Club.' Actually the Miami Rowing Club is on Virgina Key, which is before Key Biscayne but hey, that's just details. Take a look at the map. Zoom out. You'll see the locations of Miami Beach and Virginia Key.
Add a comment if you're confused, or you just want to hash tag a thought or two or say the system is rigged ... :huh:
When rowing was cancelled as an event at the 2015 Eurogames in Stockholm, the 34 rowers who had originally registered for the event were left with non-refundable airline tickets and the option of requesting a refund for their Eurogames registration or participating in another event. The choices were not appealing and two GLRF members from Denmark, @adtan and @runegartner, decided to organize an alternate event. After contacting two local rowing clubs, Stockholms Roddförening and Hammarby Roddförening, Adrian and Rune were able to organize two alternate events: a rowing tour around Stockholm and a regatta at Magelungen rowing course.
The rowing tour, which was held on Friday, 07 August, using boats provided by the clubs, launched two flotillas, one from Stockholms Roddförening and the other from Hammarby Roddförening, at 10h00. . Some of the boats were the classic 4x+ inrigger which easily handled the sometimes large swells encountered outside the shelter of the islands, but four brave rowers held a steady course in spite of some large waves, in a quad racing shell. Because of the count, one rower showed everyone the meaning of coastal rowing, by taking to the waters in a single coastal rower.
The perfect summer weather allowed the rowers to experience Stockholm and its many islands from its best side: the water. Large tankers, ferries, powerboats, and water scooters zoomed around the boats, with smiles and hand waving ... and without regard to the wake they created .... The warm northern sun seduced two rowers to jump into the water when the Roddförening flotilla stopped for a break in the middle of the open water way. We'll leave it to GLRF members @runegartner and @boyd0094 to say whether the decision was insane or delightfully refreshing ...
The two flotillas approached from opposite sides of Stockholm, and eventually the boats rowed around Djurgården and rendezvoused at Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde for a picnic. Friends and husbands met up with the rowers for the lunch. The gathering had a very international makeup: Swedes, Danes, Englishmen, Dutchmen, Germans, a Hungarian, a Nigerian, and an American. After a long and relaxing rest on a grassy knoll, far above the geese dung near the shore (Canadian Geese is one more immigration problem that European countries are facing ...), some rowers switched out boats so they could enjoy a different return boat trip and the two flotillas landed, as planned, at 15h00.
The regatta, which was organized with support from the Gay and Lesbian Rowing Federation (GLRF), was held on Saturday 8th August. The rowers raced in three boat categories: coxless fours (4-), double sculls (2x) and quads (4x) over 500 m. The crews competed against each other across age and gender categories using handicaps based on FISA Masters ideal racing times. Eighteen crews participated – including a local double scull crew from Stockholm. Magelungen provided a beautiful and calm setting with perfect rowing conditions and a buoyed, six-lane course for the many close races. Faced with no medals, GLRF went to work to create a medal worthy of the regatta's location and the skill of the gathered rowers. The result were big, huge medals with a pink and blue coat of arms design and a Swedish colored neck ribbons of blue and gold.
After the regatta was over, the rowers gathered at the Eurogames outdoor closing ceremony and with their medals on display, it seemed like every eyeball in the gathering turn and ogled: what is this, who is this? Wow .... Yeah, we're rowers. Get in line ... and we'll teach you how to row or just give you a quick course in how to ... st***e. :)
All of the rowers owe a huge thanks to Stockholms Roddförening and Hammarby Roddförening – and Robert Vigert @robertvigert in particular – for making the two rowing events such a success and an unforgettable experience!
The sports director of the 2015 Eurogames, Micke Forslin, notified the rowers registered for the regatta that it was cancelled. The reason for the cancellation was the lack of adequate registrations (only 28 rowers had registered).
The organizers of the regatta offered their sincerest apologies for not being able to host the event. They advised all registrants that they could see a a full refund on their registration fee.
Attempts are currently underway to salvage some kind of rowing event for the rowers who are currently registered.
[Edit: Two alternate events have now been organized for rowers, a recreational row around the islands of Stockholm, and a scratch regatta at Magelungen.]
