What it takes to establish a coastal rowing club: OARCA’s Story 

What it takes to establish a coastal rowing club: OARCA’s Story 

Rowing BC’s Coastal Rowing Committee is made up of a variety of interested individuals from within the rowing community, including Marla Weston and Michelle Boss from the Board of OARCA – currently BC’s only coastal-specific rowing club. This month we had a chance to explore with Marla and Michelle what the formation and evolution of OARCA have looked like in more detail. 

Marla’s coastal rowing journey began two decades ago in England, where the sport was already thriving. The lively weekend regattas, launching from the beach in coxed fours, were pure joy. Back in Canada around 2007, her enthusiasm for this component of the sport spread quickly to Michelle and others in the rowing community in Victoria, and their shared passion led to experimenting with coastal rowing on the ocean using the RCA Touring Fleet that existed at the time, and participating in open regattas using wider boats. Michelle was the first Canadian to attend the World Rowing Coastal Championships when they were hosted in Turkey in 2010. It didn’t take long before this core group of keen coastal rowers had purchased their own equipment and were trying to figure out what could be next. 

The idea for a coastal rowing club sparked when they were asked to host the World Rowing Coastal Championships in Victoria in 2018. With only nine months to prepare, they formed OARCA, and with a core group of coastal rowing enthusiasts and hundreds of volunteers, they pulled off the event with astonishing success. Open Aviron Coastal Rowing Association, or OARCA as it is more commonly known, has had the Mission since its inception “To promote, support, encourage and present the sport of Open Water and Coastal Rowing in British Columbia and Canada”. In doing so, OARCA has been an early leader in bringing together rowing community members from across all of Canada for important discussions about how to move the sport as a whole forward. An important legacy of having hosted the World Rowing Coastal Championships was the equipment it enabled OARCA to acquire. With both equipment and expertise in hand, OARCA transitioned in 2023 from being a Special Association to being a Club so that they could start directly delivering programs. 

OARCA has been instrumental in securing a base for coastal rowing in BC. A recent success has been the creation of an equipment storage space right on the waterfront at Tulista Park in partnership with the Town of Sidney, BC. This access to equipment has made it possible for existing OARCA rowers to more easily get on the water, and opened the doors for introduction to rowing programs to be hosted for the community. OARCA is grateful for financial support from RCA and the Community Sport for All Initiative Grant from the Federal Government for making these program ideas a reality. This year, OARCA has worked with UVIC to create BC’s first university student club dedicated to coastal rowing. These students will be able to access coastal rowing in a club format through equipment at Cadboro Bay thanks to the work of UVIC Rowing and OARCA, in partnership with the school itself. OARCA has also been a leader in creating competitive events for coastal rowers, hosting the Cadborosaurus Regatta and Western Canadian Beach Sprints each year for the past three years. Like any small club, OARCA has faced the challenge of having only a few people available to take on a large amount of work, both to keep the club functioning and in order to take on these other endeavors. Thankfully none of their invested members have voiced wanting to retire from it just yet!

OARCA hopes that they are just the start of a wave of interest in coastal rowing, and that one day in the not-too-distant future there will be more coastal rowing happening at existing rowing clubs, and potential new coastal-specific clubs in appropriate locations across the province. Having created a club and pulled off an International event in only nine months, OARCA’s founding members know it can be possible for other keen groups of rowers too! 

This is an important moment in time for coastal rowing with beach sprints now included in the program for the 2028 LA Olympics. This creates an opportunity through which to substantially increase awareness for this component of sport. With insight gained from the Rowing BC Coastal Rowing Committee, Rowing BC is working on new initiatives to help expand the interest in coastal rowing in BC. Keep an eye out for more information in the months ahead!

Rowing BC offers a variety of support to all Member Organizations on an on-going basis. This can look and feel different based on what your organization currently needs. If you are dealing with a challenge or feel like you’re reinventing the wheel, reach out so we can help! Contact memberservices@rowingbc.ca.