Hi all,

Following on from the inaugural quarterly update in January, there now follows.. as you may have anticipated by now… the second quarterly update! The idea is to keep all you lovely members of St. Michael’s Rowing Club up to speed with what’s going on within the club committee and the wider world where it’s relevant to what we do. The first update is pasted below for any new members, or for anyone who missed it.

Topics this time around..

  • Celtic Challenge
  • New Members
  • Boatshed Refurbishment
  • Boats and Equipment
  • Training and racing
  • Fundraising
  • ECRC matters
  • Long Race
  • Committee and Subcommittee goings on

Celtic Challenge

With just 3 weekends to go, our 2 teams, 6 crews, and 24 rowers preparing for the Celtic Challenge rowing race are in full swing. You may have noticed some of our members training in an orange fibreglass boat. This is a welsh longboat, on loan from Porthmadog Rowing Club in North Wales, and will be returned by way of the race itself! The other team is rowing a skiff. Let’s leave them in no doubt that they have the support of the whole club behind them in their adventure. They will be fundraising 50/50 for the rowing club and the RNLI, as per previous years.

New Members

Our April Open day was the busiest in the club’s history. A big welcome to all our new members, and a huge thanks to all the existing members who helped out on the night, often way beyond what they’d signed up for! Great club spirit on display.

Boatshed Refurbishment

Most of you will have seen by now the fruits of our winter boatshed refurb. We now have a dry, clean, and well-lit place to keep our race boats and equipment. Huge thanks to the subcommittee who made this possible (AS CG GR KS BW), to https://www.reganroofing.ie/ for a top notch job (it wasn’t an easy one), to all you members for making it possible financially (more on that below), and to everyone who helped with the ‘move in’ day at the end of March. We got some good coverage in the Dun Laoghaire Gazette, in Afloat Magazine. , and of course a post on our own Facebook page

Boats and Equipment

Following on from last quarter, the application for a 2017 Sports Capital Grant was lodged in respect of a new skiff, trailer, and oars. A big thanks to Secretary Martin for this. Fingers crossed now! We are also in the process of putting in an application with the DLR County Council Community Grants for funding towards our own regatta, a small ‘launch’ boat and outboard for coaching, and a 2nd launching trolley. The committee has committed to purchasing a second launching trolley in any event, should our grant application be successful or not.

With some snagging to do, and the season already starting to take its toll on boats and equipment, we will be starting up weekly boat maintenance on Saturdays from 10-12 starting this Easter Saturday! Sessions will be headed up by Maintenance Coordinator Chris Greene, and all members of all abilities are welcome and encouraged to come down. All hours will count towards your winter ‘17-‘18 log, and those sweet sweet reduced membership fees for 2018! So come help get those boats and equipment healthy and safe so they can serve you out on the waves.

The ‘All Ireland’ fibreglass boat, which had been on loan to us from the Irish Coastal Rowing Federation, was recently returned to the ICRF on request. We got a good few years out of our one year loan to be fair!

Training and racing

As mentioned in previous communications, we’ll be holding to the 2-session pattern for the remainder of April, and then extending to a 3rd session from May onwards, which should really help with the current squeeze. Following popular demand, we’ll also be making available to all regular longer Saturday rowing sessions, again from the start of May. These will be timed to run after maintenance sessions. As for racing, don’t forget to fill in your regatta availability for the captain and selectors HERE as they will soon be selecting crews for 2017 based on an agreed 2016 Rowing Plan, which includes the option of mid and long-distance races. And that all-important ECRC regatta calendar can be found here.

Fundraising

A massive massive well done to the whole club for the Fundraising Race Night we put on at the start of the month. Initial figures show that we may have raised around €4,500, which will go a long way towards the matching funding required (~€6k) to match the grant we got (~€16k) for the boatshed refurb (~€22k). What a fun night too. Huge thanks to everyone who bought and sold horses in March, betted on the night, made eejits of themselves in the auction race, took bets on the tote, PA’d (Gary), prepared behind the scenes (Enya, Sonja, Jane). But a particular thank you is owed to the relentless, irrepressible Aisling Lahiffe (Social and Fundraising Coordinator) who lit the fire under this project from day 1 and saw it through with joy and professionalism.

ECRC matters

Since the last quarterly update, the new East Coast Rowing Council rulebook has been released – https://eastcoastrowing.ie/rulebook/ . Additional rules for 2017 are marked with footnotes at the bottom of the relevant page. You may also be aware of drama afoot in rowing politics at a national level between Rowing Ireland and the Irish Coastal Rowing Federation going their separate ways – statements here and here. I won’t bore you with the details, and who knows how this will resolve, but as an interim measure, we are affiliating directly to Rowing Ireland in order to get access to Garda Vetting for those working with our youth crews. We retain our affiliation to the ICRF via the ECRC.

Long Race

Some detail follows on this topic, as there is strong interest from across the club membership. If you are new to the club this may be turgid stuff!

You may be aware that St. Michael’s RC have down the years hosted a race called the Hobblers’ Challenge, a long distance race out of DL harbour to commemorate the hobblers of old from whom we get our sport and boats. The race was run almost annually from the late 1990s to the mid-2000s, predominantly on a course out to the Kish Lighthouse and back, but a few times around Dalkey Island instead. The race was revived in 2010 as an annual race on the Kish Course. In 2012, Several crews in the Hobblers Challenge race got into weather-related difficulties. Emergency services were called and a rescue operation ensued. There were some injuries and loss of equipment, but thankfully everyone got home safely. Accounts here and here.

A report was prepared within the club, in consultation with other stakeholders, and the report made recommendations around the running of the race on its established course, and also recommended that alternative routes be investigated. The race was successfully held on the Kish Course in 2014, with a preferred biennial model emerging. In advance of the 2016 fixture, a subcommittee consisting of committee and non-committee members was established to look at a number of alternative courses, and following discussions with relevant authorities, a preferred 25km course of Dun Laoghaire-Poolbeg-ESB towers-Poolbeg-Coliemore-Dun Laoghaire (map) was presented. The club committee decided to proceed with this course, but following reservations from some committee members, it was agreed that it not be called the Hobblers Challenge. Unfortunately, the 2016 organising subcommittee ran out of time to put the race in place, so it had to be shelved.

At the March 2017 club committee meeting, it was agreed to pick up where the 2016 subcommittee left off, and proceed with the 2016 course on Saturday 9th September. A subcommittee to organise this is in the process of being set up – see Michael’s recent weekly email. It promises to be a fantastic race, so do get involved if you have an interest!

Committee and Subcommittee goings on

The club committee has met every month since the AGM, the most recent being Wed 5th April. By way of a quick reminder, your committee are; Captain-Hilary Lovejoy, Chairperson-Ger Ryan, General Secretary – Martin Dowd,  Membership Secretary – Michael McCurtain, Treasurer – Amy Smith, Maintenance Coordinator – Chris Greene, Fundraising and Social – Aisling Lahiffe, Safety and logistics – Cathy Brooks, Youth Officer –  Katie Gaynor. Do get in touch by way of the club email, or on the slip, if you have any input or suggestions, or would like to help out with club activities.

There are currently a number of subcommittees in place handling specific parts of club activities:

  • Home Regatta (9th July) Subcommittee – RA CC GR CD JH.
  • Family Challenge (28th May – an in-club fun day for related and nearly-related crews) Subcommittee – AI, CG, CB, TBC
  • Long Race (9th September) Subcommittee – TBC
  • Selection committee (putting together crews etc.) –  HL, CG, DE, and DC.
  • East Coast Rowing Council Reps – HL, KA, DC

So that’s it from me until the next quarterly Chairperson’s update in July. We’ll be half way through the season by then sure. Who knows what tales there will be to tell!

Yours rowingly,

Ger Ryan,  Club Chairperson, St. Michael’s Rowing Club – Dun Laoghaire.