Like with any club, value for our members is derived simply by enagaging with one another. In our case this engagement often involves rowing a particular wooden boat called a St Ayles Skiff. The skiff has 4 rowers who each use a single oar from a fixed seat postion. The boat is 22 feet long and has a coxswain who steers and oversees the rowing process.
We enjoy rowing on our local waterways such as the Hopkins and Merri Rivers. Often rowing is purely a social and leaisure activity. This often involves taking a picnic, tying up on reed bed and watching the natural world while enjoying a cuppa, food and conversation.
If you want to give rowing a try we will endeavour to make it work for you regardless of your experience and age and any fcators that you think may limit you. It's all about having a try and very likely enjoying the experience.
The Skiff Club is about to finish building and launch its second boat and this will enable even more people to enjoy the pleasures of rowing.
As well as rowing for fun we get involved in a variety of events that are staged by ourselves, other boating and skiff groups in the region as well as by the burgeoning national association, the St Ayles Skiff Community Rowing Association of Australia. This may involve rowing in regattas or participating in adventure rows or 'raids' as they are fondly called given the Scandinavian ancestry of the class.
We try to get on one of the local rivers on a weekly basis. Late February '24 will see several of our members travel to Sale with our skiff "Fast Messenger" to participate in the raid called the Steamers Run which is 100km over 4 days through the Gippsland Lake's system from Sale to Lakes Entrance. We are also starting to train for the event called the 'Australian Five', A 5 km row involving a 2.5km stretch to a turn and return to the starting point. So clocking up 5 km as fast as you can, to be recorded by an app such as RunKeeper and compared with crews competing on their local waterway all around the country. This event will be staged in April 2024. We hope to do a Glenelg River row over several days, perhaps in May. Beyond these events there will always be social rowing. Other boating groups such as the Port Fairy Sail & Oar group and the Promoting Portland Maritime Heritage group hold events and we strive to get involved in these as well.
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Warrnambool