Charles Hauss is a member of the 2018 WRCC organizing committee, based in Lachine, Quebec. He has been championing coastal rowing since 2010 in his home province and across Canada.

He is also a dealer for Euro Diffusion in Canada and instrumental in increasing the number of coastal boats from coast to coast.

Charles founded the Lachine Coastal Regatta as well as the Lachine Canal Head race. He is also an RCA and FISA umpire.

“Coastal rowing really started in Alma when the Lac-St.-Jean marathon was stopped because of some strong winds that caused many boats to capsize in 2010,” Hauss said.

As we count down to the World Rowing Coastal Championships in October in Canada, we are sharing stories from coastal competitors from around the world, including a contingent from Denmark. Here’s the story of one club that will be joining us in Sidney for 2018 WRCC.

Submitted by Mark van Herk, KVIK Rowing Club
Copenhagen, Denmark

We’ve been getting lots of questions about how the beach start at the 2018 World Rowing Coastal Championships will work.

So we asked Julien Bahain, Regatta Director – Technical to fill us in.

Hint: There is no running involved!

1. Why did the organizing committee want to do a beach start?

When visiting potential sites during the bid process, Bazan Bay offered the best characteristics for a beach start. It features a long, straight, gently sloping pebbly beach, perfectly suitable for a beach start. It is worth noting that this would be the first-ever standing beach start at a World Rowing Coastal Championships.

Anne Buckingham is what you could call one of the super volunteers of rowing.

She’s currently involved with Henley Women’s Regatta, Henley Masters Regatta, the Head of the Charles and the Leander Club, as well as occasionally doing commentary at other regattas. For her day job, she’s an in-house lawyer for a security printing company.

And fortunately for the Organizing Committee of the 2018 World Rowing Coastal Championships, she’s going to drop by Victoria on her way to Boston.

For a group of rowers from Hong Kong, the 2018 World Rowing Coastal Championships will be a sneak peek of what will be in store for them when they host the regatta in 2019.

We reached out to Wan Ng, Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee for 2019 WRCC to find out more.

The 2017 World Rowing Coastal Championships were held in Thonon-les-Bains, France.

Coastal rowing or “aviron de mer” is huge in France as you can see from this video from the Championnat de France d’Aviron de Mer 2018 Plougonvelin or French coastal rowing championships.

We are looking forward to welcoming teams from across France to compete in Victoria in October, including these two!

       

We have boats! With close to 20 volunteers in total, we unloaded the 4 quads, 4 doubles and 4 singles in less than 1.5 hours.

The boats all went into a local barn where tires awaited. The excitement was unwrapping all the boats. It was like Christmas morning!

 

Photos and reporting from Marla Weston and Annette O’Shea, 2018 WRCC organizing committee

Some of our 2018 WRCC organizing committee took time off from getting ready for the championships to be part of the annual Alert Bay 360.  

Here’s how organizers describe Alert Bay 360: an eco-tourism based event which encourages a healthy lifestyle, and helps our local businesses. This is an event which showcases not only Cormorant Island and those who live here, but also the culture and the many wonders found on Northern Vancouver Island.

Michael Knowles is President and Captain of the Skullers Rowing Club, a Bahamian elite team member based in Exuma, Bahamas. We are looking forward to meeting him in Victoria in October.

Here’s Michael sharing the story of his club and the journey that will bring him to the World Rowing Coastal Championships.

We’re pretty new, history-wise. It all started back in 2015. At the time, I was involved in coaching track and field and was searching for something new to bring to my small island here in the Bahamas.

We are very excited to read the growing list of competitors from around the world who have already signed up for the 2018 World Rowing Coastal Championships! When a member of the South End Rowing Club in San Francisco commented on social media about having just registered, we reached out to find out more.

Thanks to Kim Peirano for the write-up and to Kim and Joe Boone for the spectacular photos. The orange bridge is San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate Bridge and the silver bridge is the Bay Bridge.

An update from Annette O’Shea of the Salish Sea Coastal Rowing Club in Vancouver, B.C., Canada

‘The focus is not on the rower, and it’s not on the boat, it’s on the ocean’ – Annette O’Shea

Eight of us are training to compete at the 2018 World Rowing Coastal Championships so far. We have a couple of singles and doubles, although we would love to enter a quad.

Every Saturday night for two hours, we practice racing – regardless of the weather or water conditions, so we have gone out in some pretty big water.

As we count down to the World Rowing Coastal Championships in October in Canada, we are sharing stories from coastal competitors from around the world, including here in Canada.

Nikos and his twin brother Apostolos had great success as international rowers from 2004 to 2012, with gold, silver and bronze medals at the European and World Championships.

While the 2018 World Rowing Coastal Championships revolve around the sport of rowing, they have also provided an opportunity for organizers to make some important cultural connections.

‘An amazing adventure’: U.S. rower Ben Booth shares his love of coastal rowing

The Czech Republic had a breakthrough year in 2016 when the men’s quad won gold at the World Rowing Coastal Championship, something that continues to inspire coastal rowers in that country.

“It was big success for a country without sea,” says Vítězslav Huja.