By MADDY VITALE
Two distinct forms of rowing, one on flat water, one in the ocean, both with members who are passionate about the sport and want to grow and develop their clubs.
On Friday, the South Jersey Coastal Rowing Club (SJCRC) showcased four of its six new coastal sculling boats at a grand opening for its new location.
It will share a boathouse under the 34th Street Bridge in Ocean City with the Under the Bridge Rowing Club, the only community rowing club in Cape May County. The Ocean City High School crew team also uses the boathouse.
Ocean City Crew Captain Jimmy Nelson watched as a rower demonstrated techniques to using a sculling boat.
Nelson, 18, of Ocean City, is also an Upper Township lifeguard. What attracts him to the sport of coastal rowing is the melding between ocean rowing as in his lifeguard races and flat-water rowing for crew, he said.
“I really like the lifeguard races. I love crew and I really did think the coastal boats are a good mix between the two,” Nelson said.
Coastal rowing seems to bridge the gap between open-water and flat-water rowing, such as what high school and college teams do.
The sport is performed in open water, such as the ocean or bay, includes singles, doubles and quad boats in male, female and mixed boat categories.
While Nelson was the only member of Ocean City Crew who attended the event, he said he wouldn’t be surprised if others on crew would want to join the coastal rowing club.
The hope for members of the SJCRC is that it one day becomes an official Olympic Sport.
The rowers hope that athletes such as Nelson, who spends their summers as lifeguards at the Jersey Shore become interested in coastal rowers and eventually represent them on the state, national and international level.
Tom Feaster, a South Jersey Coastal Rowing board member and retired lieutenant with the Sea Isle Beach Patrol, discussed the boats and the sport of coastal rowing to the attendees of the unveiling of the sculling boats at the new location.
He emphasized that Nelson’s showing interest in coastal rowing is what it is all about.
“This is the exciting part for me,” Feaster said. “We need athletes like him to compete.”
While the Olympics are just a possibility, Feaster said, “I think in 2028, you could guarantee at least coastal rowing as an exhibition sport.”
Feaster should know. He has coached three Stewards Foundation coastal crews for the United States at last year’s World Championships in Portugal. One of the crews was the silver medalist in the mixed youth doubles event.
Tom McCann, a retired captain with the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol and board member with the South Jersey Coastal Rowing Club called the partnership between the club and the Under the Bridge Rowing Club, “something very positive.”
“This is really turning out to be a big, great group,” he said. “We will balance each other out nicely.”
Suze DiPietro, president of the Under the Bridge Rowing Club, echoed his sentiment.
“It’s a great partnership,” she said. “Coastal rowing is really a great sport. It is a hybrid between crew and lifeguard races. We are primarily a female club and they are a male club. What is exciting about this is we could do mixed rows.”
While UBRC begins rowing again in April, DiPietro invited South Jersey Coastal Rowing Club members to start whenever they wish and as soon as February. For now, their sculling boats will be housed in another location.
Attorney Joe Grimes and DiPietro are credited for providing SJCRC with a home and equipment, according to Feaster.
Dignitaries who attended the grand opening included Republican Assemblymen Antwan McClellan and Erik Simonsen, Cape May County Commissioner E. Marie Hayes and Ocean City Council President Pete Madden.
