VICTORIA

Coastal Rowing Williamstown (CReW)

Location: Williamstown, Victoria, Australia

About:

Mission Statement

Involve members of the community of Hobson’s Bay and surrounding Western suburbs in coastal rowing activities using St Ayles Skiffs.

 Focus on and engage women, youth and isolated people in the community.

 Encourage community engagement through rowing, maintaining the skiff and working as a team to learn with others new skills in boat building and water safety.

 Connect with other St Ayles Skiffs groups  locally and internationally

Coastal Rowing Williamstown(CReW) is a group of nine women who met in 2017  after a poster was distributed in Williamstown asking for women who were interested in building a ST Ayles Skiff Rowing boat resulting in learning new skills in boat building. The boat comes in a kit form and cannot be owned by individuals, only by communities. So therefore the community participation is a main focus with this group. The plan is for community members living in the Western suburbs to have access to the boat to row in the future.

The CReW members are a group of women from a range of professional backgrounds and ages They initially raised funds from the Hobson’s Bay Council and the Outlets Co-operative to pay for the kit. The women who have joined the group have participated for many reasons. They have learnt how to row using a borrowed Skiff, but importantly it has enabled them to learn new skills in boat building processes such as using electrical tools, hand tools and boat maintenance. Importantly the group have formed trusting, strong relationships and the ability to make team decisions.

The group has the generous support and expertise of a local boat builder, his partner and colleagues who are located at the Seawork’s boatsheds in Williamstown. The boat was launched on the 23rd of November,2019  in Williamstown with many community members attending the event. The local Newport bagpipe band played and many people expressed interest in attending come and try days at the post launch BBQ.The boat is called Thursday as it has been built over three years on a Thursday evening.

The next phase in this already established community project is to advertise, connect with and involve many more community women in the process of learning how to row a St Ayle’s Skiff and how to maintain the boat in a good and safe condition. Also education people in water safety, boat safety, first aid sessions  and rowing lessons are being planned later in 2020..The committee is currently assessing funding opportunities to be able to access funding to pay for rent for storage , equipment and workshop activities.

In 2020 CReW  was successful in obtaining funding to train women from Cultural  and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds (CALD)  in Water Safety , First Aid and rowing techniques. Due to COVID 19 restrictions we are anticipating this will happen in the middle of 2021.

In the meantime the foundation members are busy training in the beautiful Williamstown Bay in preparation for the Regattas in 2021 ,where we will be representing Williamstown and hoping for a win!

Contacts:

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1736083513330349/

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