Woodbridge Coastal Rowing Club
Exploring the river Deben and beyond
This morning new WCRC members Caro and Jo joined Cathie, Fiona, Beryl and Julian for a blustery trip on the river Deben. The crew took advantage a convenient high tide and can be seen resting on the shore upstream of the Wilford Bridge before returning home.
The full journey took them for the Longshed upstream to the iron railway bridge (almost) and back again.
A good time was had by all!
Photos are thanks to Malcolm
On the 4th May 2019 the Woodbridge Coastal Rowing Club came alive. The recently formed committee and first handful of members celebrated when the newly built St Ayles Skiff was named and launched for the very first time.
The naming ceremony was introduced by Pete Clay from the Woodbridge Riverside Trust and Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company and then led by Sue Cox, daughter of Claude Whisstock who previously owned the Whisstock’s Boat Building site where the skiff has been lovingly built. The committee, crews and other visitors raised a glass at the appropriate moment when the boat and river were blessed to
Once named ‘Whisstock’ was launched on the river Deben for the first time, accompanied by the Blakeney CRC in their own St Ayles Skiff, the ‘Hoo Canoo’ made by Just 42 and also launched on the same day and Sae Wylfing the half length Sutton Hoo Ship crewed by the Deben Rowing Club.
On the 27th April a number of committee and club members attended the ‘Eastern Region Rowing Council’, – Coastal Sharing Good Practice conference at the Marconi Sailing Club in Steeple, Essex. The conference included sessions on seamanship, weather, tides, safety, techniques, knot tying and radio usage. This provided a very good grounding for anyone wanting to navigate the river Deben and some useful contacts in the local area.
Following an initial get together at The Cherry Tree public house on the 30th January, six willing volunteers have stepped forward to help set up the club by making sure that all the paperwork is in place before we start.
Yesterday the new committee members met to discuss things like membership fees, booking, insurance, British Rowing affiliation, club kit etc. But most importantly we have penciled in a date to launch the new St Ayles Skiff and get the club underway. Although there is still a lot to do it is great to know that the start is in sight and we hope to have lots of people come and support the launch over Easter (more details to follow).
On Saturday 21st April a group of Blakeney Coastal Rowers kindly brought one of their St Ayles Skiffs to Woodbridge to help celebrate the opening of the new Longshed. The rowers spent much of the day explaining how the boats are made from kits over a frame which takes a team of boat builders about 700 hours to complete.
After the grand opening they very kindly took groups of potential Woodbridge Coastal Rowers out on the water for a quick paddle on the river. As you can see it was a glorious day and everyone who ‘had a go’ came off the water very keen to join the local club.
Every club needs an identity, even a club in the making!
After several iterations and gathering the views of many local people the final design for the Woodbridge Coastal logo has been agreed and subsequently added to a sweatshirt ready for the launch of the club on April 21st.
The artwork was designed by www.graphicgene.co.uk and the sweatshirt made by www.godfrey.co.uk
A meeting of the Harkers Yard group resulted in a number of things being agreed
