New club for whitewater rowing in Amsterdam: “Too busy on the Amstel”
White water rowing in a boat specially designed for the sea: it has recently become possible in Amsterdam. Three rowing clubs in the city are jointly opening a new coastal rowing club on IJburg. The founders hope to make the emerging sport popular in Amsterdam as well: “It’s fantastic to feel the waves under the boat.”
The club was founded by rowing clubs De Amstel, De Hoop and water sports association IJburg. “Coastal rowing started in the Netherlands a few years ago,” says Ewout Barendregt, one of the initiators of the new club. “On IJburg you can only row in this way, because the water here is much wilder than on the Amstel.”
“This is what I do it for. The waves, the space, the nature,” says one of the rowers during a workout. Diverting to the IJ doesn’t sit well with him for other reasons either. It is becoming busier on the Amstel, partly due to tourism. “With all the boat traffic, it is sometimes quite difficult to row well on the Amstel.”
“Coastal rowing is a bit like mountain biking, but on the water”
Coastal rowing boats are specially designed for use at sea. For example, they are sturdier and wider than ‘normal’ rowing boats for calm water. “In shore rowing you really play with all the elements. With the waves, with the wind, and at sea even with the currents of the water. That really drains me,” says a rower who has been sailing competitions for a few years.
Fast growth
The sport first came to the Netherlands around 2017. Marjolein and Noor are already rowing competitions at home and abroad. “We suddenly got the idea, started a boat and started. That this is going to grow very much.”
Also initiative to grow good sides with the five years: “We started a year ago and we already have about thirty. It is ten years ago.” Whether they have been the largest water sports club in the city for more than five years? “That would of course be very nice.”
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