Archive

Island Lake Rowing Club hosts Come and Try Day

July 8, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Island Lake Rowing Club welcomed visitors to its Come and Try Day on Saturday, July 3, to give people the experience of rowing across the lake in a narrow boat and to learn about the sport.

Registration filled up quickly when it was announced they would be hosting the open house. There were so many people wanting to give it a try they had to create a wait list.

Rowing is a unique sport that can be done in a single scull with one person or up to eight rowers as you’ve probably seen in the Olympics.

Upon arrival, visitors were given some dry-land instruction on rowing machines that simulate the body movements and rowing techniques that power a craft across the water. They were then given the opportunity to get in a single scull under the watch of a coach and get out on the water.

“This is our open house and open boat day,” explained, Isabella McCloskey, the Club’s marketing and program coordinator. “We’re offering community members and families the chance to try rowing and invite them to see the Club. We start them on our rowing machines (ERG) to try and get the feel of the motion and we can point out different key techniques, elements of rowing. When they get the hang of this, we have a boat resting on tires so they can sit in the boat and move the oars and get the motion of the oars in a boat. They can try it out on dry land before we move them to the water so they know what it’s like before they get in a boat for real.”

The new rowers go out on the lake on ‘rec’ boats which are wider than racing boats and offer a little more stability on the water. Some boats also have pontoons on the sides that add a little more stability.

There were coaches in kayaks offering assistance as well as for safety reasons in case anyone turned over and ended up in the water.

Local resident, Nathalie Zonta, has tried kayaking and canoeing on the lake and thought rowing would be an exciting new challenge.

“We had the rowing machine and practiced basic form, then went to a boat and tried the form on there,” Nathalie said. “You really need to practice with the rowing to start. I had a good time. I didn’t go out to far, maybe mid-lake, and the coach was giving me feedback when I was out there. If there are more chances, I’ll try it again in the future.”

The Island Lake Rowing Club offers both recreational and competitive rowing.’

Readers Comments (0)