- May 2, 2024
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The Flagler Rowing Club, composed of Flagler and Volusia County residents, recently held its first practice at its new location for current and potential new members. The club began in Ormond Beach last year, but, due to the parks or spaces not being large enough to accommodate a boathouse, the parents decided to look elsewhere, thus moving to Flagler County at Herschel King Park.
“Coach Patricia Redman knew some adult rowers in Flagler who were looking for a club with kids, boats and a truck and trailer, and we had all of that,” said Anne Lunsford, one of the club’s organizers. “They asked if we were interested in going to Flagler. Now, we’re in recruit mode for primarily all of Flagler. “It’s great for kids, a prestigious Ivy League sport. There are tons of college scholarships available, its’ a very well respected and disciplined sport, and, in addition to that, it's great fun, building teamwork (we've all seen the posters) and providing a full body workout while cruising along Flagler's scenic stretch of the Intracoastal Waterway, where dolphin and manatee are frequent training partners!”
In its infancy, Flagler Rowing already has a long-term goal of building a boathouse in the future, but, until then, a storage fence is the immediate need. Each time the rowers go out to practice, they use half an hour to put on riggings and another 30 minutes to take them off because they have to store their boats offsite, and they can’t go down the highway with rigs on them.
“As you can imagine, that’s a lot of wear-and-tear on the equipment,” Lunsford said. “They lose a lot of screws, nuts and bolts, and it’s just time consuming. That’s why our initial need right now is permission from the county to let us build a fence, so that we can keep our boats fully rigged, and all we would have to do, when we come to practice, is pick them up and put them in the water.”
Some of the clubs’ rowers, who will be coaching younger or inexperienced rowers, are professionals who have competed in national and international competition and those who have coached Olympic rowers. The club is open to all ages, starting from sixth grade to adult, and anyone is welcome to attend a practice to learn more about the sport.
“A lot of times, kids and adults find that they didn’t really fit or weren’t realty good in the other sports like basketball or football, but they really love rowing,” Redman said. “It’s a great sport for people who usually don’t fit in those kinds of athletic competitions. And it’s good because it’s a low impact sport that you can participate in for life - our oldest member is 77!”
