Australian Surf Rowing Boats

[Mark Pearse]

I was prompted to post this as our daughter has just taken up the chaotic & wonderful sport of surf boat rowing. The boats are unusual & interesting, & I'm not sure if the sport is done in other countries. The shape of the boats has become quite particular, to suit rowing out through the surf, round a buoy & back to the beach. It's pretty common for 30-40% of the boats to not finish a race & sometimes worse.

 

The original boats were descended from double ended life boats, & during the 20C became the shape they are now, & even in the 1960s were used to rescue people. These days it is a sport only, as jet skis & surf rescue boards have taken over the rescue part.

 

The boats have a very short & flared bow so they don't nose dive on a wave, & long tapering hulls & a lot of rocker. I imagine most people on the forum are interested in unusual craft, so here's one more. The still photo below shows the hull shape well, & something about what the boats are for, the video shows the fun & chaos of the sport. Incredibly, less people get injured than you would think....it gets pretty wild.

 

summer wishes everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wefalck]

I know from experience what is is like to try to bring a boat off the beach through the surf and I would rather not do it, if I don't have to ...

[Jim Lad]

Nothing like a quiet day relaxing at the beach! 🙂

 

John

[DocRob]

Whew, crazy stuff. I would never set my foot into one of these boats and I´m a surfer. Right now, I´m completely broken after four days of surfing with our son with some great waves here, but the boat thing is (positively?) crazy.

Cheers Rob

[mgdawson]

20 hours ago, Mark Pearse said:

> daughter has just taken up the chaotic & wonderful sport of surf boat rowing.

Which club ?

 

Gotta say the old varnished timber boats were much prettier than the modern plastic ones.

 

Mark

[vossiewulf]

Looks like something I would have enjoyed when I was young and (believed myself to be) fully invincible.

[Rik Thistle]

Mark,

 

It's pretty common for 30-40% of the boats to not finish a race & sometimes worse.

 

I can believe it!

 

The sport looks very challenging but must give an enormous buzz to the participants. I can see it is also a great spectacle so am surprised none of the international TV companies have picked it up, or have they?

 

Richard

 

PS: No life vests, but I suppose everyone out there can swim like a fish 😉

[wefalck]

What would worry me is that the boats are very close and hit each other and the rowers in the water. 

 

I gather life-vests would prevent the rowers in the water to duck through the surf, but on the other hand being knocked unconscious could be fatal ...

 

I would rather watch this from a deck-chair on the beach!

[Rik Thistle]

I gather life-vests would prevent the rowers in the water to duck through the surf, but on the other hand being knocked unconscious could be fatal.

 

Yes, good point. I can see that that a life-vest would be a bit cumbersome and a hindrance in certain situations.  Mark mentioned that jet-skis were used to quickly get to trouble spots. Those things are quick but every second does count.

 

Still, a very interesting competitive sport that I wasn't aware existed. I'll keep my eye out for it in the future.

 

Richard