comdir@glrf.info Monday, 26 March 2012 11:51
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Hi -

Given your location, you will need to look east or west to find a rowing club. Although a majority of the rowing programs on Long Island are structured towards juniors programs, there are several that offer adult rowing programs. One club that seems fairly close to your location is the East End Rowing club, [www.eastendrowing.com] in Flanders. Further east is the Sag Harbor Community Rowing club, [www.rowsagharbor.org] in Sag Harbor. Then west of you is the Sagamore Rowing Association, [www.sagamorerowing.org] They run two programs, one in Oyster Bay Harbor and one in Northport Harbor in Centerpoint. According to their website, all activities have been shifted to Centerpoint.

Further west, there are a number of adult rowing programs in and around Manhattan and New Jersey. We encourage you to join GLRF (it's free!), and then join the local All Oars Group, Crew New York, [crewnewyork.glrf.info] There you can find discussions about some of the other clubs in the group discussion area.

Hope that helps!

LIguy2012 Wednesday, 28 March 2012 17:22
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Yes! Thanks! I appreciate the information and look forward to rowing once again.

Friday, 13 January 2012 17:19
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Hey John,
It looks like no one has gotten back to you so I'll give it a shot.
In South Florida - WPB/FtLD/Miami - there are 5 rowing venues.

In Miami Beach, you have the extremely organized and very gay-friendly Miami Beach Rowing Club: [www.rowmiamibeach.com] GLRF has several members who row there, and the club has hosted the GLRF Miami Rowing Festival for the past two years. The members, the coaches, and the staff are all very nice and totally accepting.

Further south, across the bridge in Key Biscayne, is the Miami Rowing Center (MRC): [miamirowing.org] GLRF may have one or two member who row out of there but some of our members don't indicate their club. We see the club at rowing regattas around the Southeast and they seem very competitive. Unfortunately, we can't really provide a temperature on the level of gay-friendliness, although in South Florida, the attitude seems pretty easy going.

rowing@glrf.info Friday, 13 January 2012 17:22
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More information:

Now, up your way, there are three opportunities to row: Palm Beach Rowing: [www.palmbeachrowing.org] located on Lake Magnolia. Their reputation is all second hand and aspersions cast are that the club is populated with former national or elite rowers. Their level of acceptance towards gay rowers is unknown although in our research just now, we did discover the image they took in front of the GLRF booth in 2005. (click on SDCC and scroll all the way down, you'll see three rowers smiling with a trophy and acting campy - who knows what their opinions were since the guy with the halter top is a former national team rower and a former model so you know the rule about guys who are extremely good looking ...) Still, it wouldn't hurt to inquire about learn to row programs.

In West Palm Beach, you can find the Florida Rowing Center (FRC) on Lake Wellington. It offers sculling clinics and coaching from a large staff of very accepting and super nice coaches. GLRF had a very small sculling weekend there in late March 2006. FRC runs from December to April and then closes up shop for the rest of the year but they may be a great place to start your rowing development. [www.floridarowingcenter.com]

Friday, 13 January 2012 17:23
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Finally, in Palm Beach Gardens, there is the North Palm Beach Rowing Club: [npbrc.com] They seem to have a year-round program and their website has all the information a rower would need who is looking to join a robust Masters (over the age of 27) rowing program. Depending on where you are located, this might be your best bet for a long term rowing program. If you took two weekend classes at FRC and then joined the NPBRC, you would be doing well. In terms of the level of gay friendliness, we have absolutely no information one way or another. We do know they don't have a secondary reputation as an elite rower hangout, and as far as we know, they have never posed in camp in front of a GLRF booth at a regatta ...

If you do decide to try rowing and you become addicted-to-rowing, we'd love it if you joined our worldwide online community: [register.glrf.info]

Brian Thursday, 4 August 2011 13:46
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Hey Phillip,
Thanks for your inquiry. I used to live in Costa Mesa so I know rowing in the area pretty well.

You basically have two choices: the Long Beach Rowing Association in Belmont Shores - [www.longbeachrowing.org] and the Newport Aquatic Center in the Back Bay of Newport Harbor, [www.newportaquaticcenter.com]

The former offers a much more robust class schedule, and you can choose sweep style or scull style rowing. At Newport, there really isn't a men's team per se, so you would have to take private learn to row lessons from a coach in a scull (2 oars, one person).

With that said, don't be dismayed. You can also go to a rowing camp in Florida, or Vermont, to learn the basics, and then return to Newport to row.

In terms of connecting with a "team," you would probably be better off going with Long Beach, even if it is a bit of a drive. (Hey, I have to drive 35 minutes from Hollywood to Marina Del Rey.)

If you do decide to give it a try and you find you're hooked, I would encourage you to join GLRF so you can connect with a community of rowers in the SoCal area.

Cheers

Cheers, Brian Wednesday, 29 June 2011 14:44
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Hi -
Thanks for your inquiry. Although there are no gay and lesbian rowing clubs or crews in particular, there are a number of GLRF members who row in the NYC area, at various clubs.

Given your location in the Bronx, I would suggest you explore these two links:
Harlem Community Rowing
(they row on the Harlem River on the Bronx side): [www.harlemrivercommunityrowing.org] and click on the learn to row link

We have several GLRF members who row for Harlem River Community Rowing

and
Pelham Community Rowing:
(they row out of Glen Island Park east of the Bronx):
[209.216.43.243]

One of our members is a juniors coach there.

Also, I would suggest joining GLRF and becoming a member of the group Crew New York. Just register and click on Groups - in the All Oars Network.

Laura Thursday, 30 June 2011 05:00
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Thank you Brian for the information.