Author: Rowing PEI

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Red Island Rowgatta as a competitor or volunteer!  It was a fantastic event.

Special thanks to Alan and Patricia for sponsoring the delicious club meal, organized beautifully by Lori Fitzpatrick.

Also to Lori, Kiera and Jamie for sponsoring the breakfast, on behalf of the Canada Games training team!

Many thanks to our friends from PEI Ground Search and Rescue, the staff at Brudenell Provincial Park, Montague and Brudenell Marinas, Garden Isle Farms for the potato prize bags, trailer drivers Alan, Rob and Chris and the 30+ volunteers who made this event possible!

Here are a few photo highlights! We have many more to come, as well as video and drone footage from Pat Martel Video!!

Maybe even a viewing party sometime this fall!

Red Island Rowgatta 2021 Results – prepared by Marti Hopson and Fiona Moak with help from starter Daphne Dumont and timers Sterling Schnatz, Wendy Chappell, Verna Ryan, Krista Cassell and Chris Harris

Saturday August 21, 2021

1000 m sprints 

Top Quad- 1. Mary/ Chrissy / Corinne / Cassidy (4:30)

Junior Men’s single – 1. Tom (4:58) 2. Nick (5:03) 3. Joe (5:38)

Junior Women’s double – 1. Emily and Kiera (5:19)

Masters Women’s single – 1. Corinne (5:17)

Masters Women’s double – 1. Alysaa/ Kailee (5:18) 2. Mary / Chrissy (5:35)

Coastal Endurance

Junior Men’s single – 1. Tom (18:19)

Junior Men’s double – 1. Tom/Luke (19:39)

Masters Women’s single – 1. Corinne (18:55)

Masters Women’s double  – 1. Corinne/ Cassidy (16:58) 2. Kailee / Alyssa (17:01) 3. Mary/ Chrissy (19:00) 4. Verna / Elliott (mixed- 23:00) 5. Krista / Jayne (31:33)

Beach Sprints

Single – 1. Jordanne  2. Joe

Double – 1. Tom/Nick (Don) 2. Kailee/ Alyssa 3. Emily Kiera 4. Cassidy / Corinne

Team Relay ! The Blues

Call for Volunteer Board Treasurer – Rowing PEI

Rowing PEI is seeking a volunteer to sit on the Board of Directors and serve as Treasurer. 

Rowing PEI is the not-for-profit governing body for rowing in Prince Edward Island and one of Atlantic Canada’s most vibrant rowing clubs. Created in 2010, Rowing PEI has been working to grow the sport of rowing for Island adults and youth, supporting both recreational rowing and training for excellence at the regional and national levels. 

Rowing PEI offers flatwater rowing, which many are familiar with from the Olympics, as well as coastal rowing, a fast-growing sport that takes advantage of the windy, choppy waters of Charlottetown Harbour. When the winter temperatures push us off the water, we turn to indoor rowing, joining virtual rowing events with rowers from across Canada. 

The Treasurer will be joining Rowing PEI at an exciting time. With the Olympics on the horizon and our junior team currently training for the 2022 Canada Games, there is potential to significantly develop and grow the organization. 

The Treasurer is responsible for the following:

• Performs financial planning and risk management for Rowing PEI;
• Coordinates and accounts for membership dues and all fundraising activities;
• Records all receipts and disbursements of Rowing PEI;
• Submits an accurate financial statement to the President at the date established by the Board of Directors at year-end and any interim statements as required by the Board of Directors;
• Cooperates with and informs the Board of Directors of major financial matters concerning Rowing PEI;
• Arranges for financial statements to be available to the Board of Directors;
• Prepares and administers yearly budgets and quarterly reviews for the Board of Directors;
• Supports funding applications and reporting;
• Supports and advises short-term and long-term financial planning; and
• Attends regular board meetings (approximately 10/year), AGM and committee meetings, as appropriate. 

The Treasurer should bring financial management experience, ideally as an accountant or similar. An interest in sport and/or recreation would be ideal, but is not required. 

To be considered for nomination to the Rowing PEI Board of Directors, please submit a letter of interest and biography or resume to the Present of Rowing PEI, Sparrow McGowan at sparrow.mcgowan@gmail.com. Any enquiries can be directed similarly. The position is currently vacant and will be open until filled. 

To learn more about Rowing PEI, please visit our website at www.rowingpei.ca or facebook.com/RowingPEI.

Rowing PEI AGM Agenda 

Rowing PEI Annual General Meeting
Saturday March 6, 2021 from 10 a.m. to noon.
To be held virtually on Zoom

1. Call to order and roll call

2. Approval of the minutes of the 2019 Annual General Meeting

3. Review of business arising out of those minutes that will not be covered in reports

4. President’s report

5. Strategic Planning process

6. Review 2020 annual statements

7. Appointment of accountant

8. Amendments to by-laws, if any

9. Election of officers

10. Any other business

11. Adjournment

2019 Annual General Meeting – Rowing PEI

Saturday March 7, 2020

10:00 a.m. House of Sport Royalty Centre, Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Minutes prepared by Nancy Russell

Present : Daphne Dumont, Nancy Russell, Brian Higgins, Sparrow McGowan, Alex Forbes, Ernie Morello, Sterling Schnatz, Jamie Moran, Alan Hilburg and Patricia Caporaso (on the phone)

1. Welcome from President Daphne Dumont

2. Confirmation of quorum – according to the bylaws, we need 10% of the membership of 60 members. Eight are present, meeting the quorum requirement.

3. Brief introductions

Jamie Moran – golf pro at Belvedere Golf Club, moved to PEI from Newfoundland. Daughter Kiera is one of our junior rowers.

Patricia Caporaso -has rowed since childhood in Argentina – involved in agribusiness – teaches at Georgetown University

Alan Hilburg – not a rower but has a row boat built by his son – runs a global consulting company specializing in communications, branding and corporate crisis management

4. Motion to approve minutes from 2017 AGM held March 17, 2018

Nancy moves that the minutes be approved as circulated, Brian Higgins seconds.

Carried.

5. Business arising that will not be covered – there was none identified

6. Treasurer’s Report

6.1 Brian Higgins moves to adopt 2019 annual statements prepared by Todd Gaudin

Seconded by Sparrow McGowan.

Carried.

Revenues were generally up, including addition of junior program, more performance funding connected to junior rowers.

Spent $13k on equipment, including $8k on the Wintech trailer.

Spent $48k compared to $24k the year before. Depleted our reserves – spent $6k more than we took in.

Ended the year with $9k in the bank.

Should we be depreciating? Todd suggests we continue doing it as we have.

Equipment disposal – used oars.

Daphne thanked Brian for applying for grants and reporting on them.

6.2 Review of 2020-2021 draft budget

Core and performance funding are a 3 year cycle – we know what they will be for 2020 and 2021 seasons

HST rebate – exceed our goal already and there is potential for more

Membership fees are going up on April 1st to $350

First fee increase since 2016 – what we pay to RCA went up from $20 to $24 per person

Membership fees of $11,800 – that’s conservative

Coaching fees are new this year.

Projected revenues of $41.8k – similar to last year

Yacht club fees – we pay for a corporate membership and two slips

New rowing course installation at Brudenell and Charlottetown – budgeted $2.5k but it will go past that

Thanks to Ernie for applying for the federal job grant and handling for last 4 years

Plan is to find new sources of revenue

Brian motion: to approve the budget as put forward by the treasurer

Seconded by Ernie Morello

Carried

6.3 Motion that Todd Gaudin continue as accountant

Moved by Brian Higgins

Seconded by Alex Forbes

Carried

7. Program reports

a. Masters Competitive program – Sparrow – had 9 people participating in the morning sessions this past year in the mornings. Missed having a coach so looking forward to having a coach.

Competed at the Red Island Regatta.

This year – if the weather doesn’t permit rowing, we will do dryland training instead.

Alex is looking for a location for that training.

They are hiring a new manager at the CYC.

Would love to add more indoor rowing machines.

b. Junior Competitive program and Canada Games planning

Exciting to have a junior program again – beneficial to all of the club. We had 7 junior rowers and have added a few over the winter.  We are excited to have Chantelle Hanley as the 2021 CSG coach. We have never had a performance-certified coach and have always had to apply for an exemption. Nancy is manager. We had to submit CSG selection criteria to the PEI government Health Department, Sport Division. The goal is to compete at 3 regattas in 2020 and to continue to bring in new junior rowers, not just for the Canada Games but on an ongoing basis. We will also have a one week summer camp, as a pilot project in 2020.

c. Coastal program

Sparrow and Daphne attended RCA meetings where there is huge interest in coastal rowing. RCA wants to get more rowers into coastal rowing as it is seen as more accessible – want to attract surfers, beach-y athletes.

World Junior Olympics in 2021 – coastal will be an event.

RCA is holding various regattas across the country – Halifax/Kingston/ out west

Liteboats are being purchased and brought to Canada for World qualifying regattas and will be available after the competition for purchase. They are another manufacturer of coastal boats. (Our boats are made by another company in France called EuroDiffusion.) The dream is to have coastal boats someday manufactured in Canada.

Nancy is part of the Row Nova Scotia coastal committee, which is growing the sport in that province. They are planning a coastal regatta on Sunday July 5th in Lunenburg. Their goal is to invest in a trailer of coastal boats that can travel across the province to promote coastal rowing.

d. Red Island Regatta was a success and will return in 2020.

We have installed a 2,000 metre race course permanently on the Brudenell River in front of the resort. Hired a surveyor, so it was more expensive than projected.

Still need to sink the ropes to the anchor screws.

We will have sprints on Saturday morning, long coastal races Saturday PM. (4 kms) Beach sprints Sunday morning, 8 a.m. until noon.

Linda Lee will again be the Chief Umpire.

The start is closer to the Island.

Have to decide how to use the 2km course.

The only other 2k course is in Cape Breton and it’s not always in so this has huge potential.

Thanks to Alex and Brian and Stephen Murray for their hard work – the “ice team”!!

E. Indoor Rowing –  First ever Indoor Rowing Day in Canada was a huge success.

PEI had 50 participants who rowed more than 200 kilometres.

Want to “own” indoor rowing. Connected to our rowing community but also outreach.

e. Umpire development training

Report from Mary-Lynne Bruvels, our umpire coordinator, who was selected to be an umpire at the Canadian University Rowing Championships. This was a huge coup for PEI. Stephen has put his name in for the National Rowing Championships in September 2020.

There is also an online training session available to anyone who is interested.

f. Coach development and participation

Jordanne Buote is a candidate for the Canada Summer Games Women in Coaching Apprenticeship program.

Sparrow McGowan, Cassidy Doucette, Corinne Giasson-Jean and Nancy Russell are trained as Learn to Row coaches and have done RCA Coach Weekend One.

RCA Every Coach Certified will require criminal record checks and online training for all coaches.

g. Learn to Row program

We will now start in May at Synergy. Have created L2 training to follow Learn to Row.

Goal is to create “community” to support goal of retention

Have a “fun” excursion as their final row.

h. Registration date – Saturday April 25, 2020 10:00 a.m. to noon at House of Sport. This will be more of an “open house” as most people register online. We will do free lessons on the indoor rowing machine.

9. Other Reports

a. National RCA issues – Sparrow and Daphne reporting on national conference in Ottawa

Need concussion policy and pre-season education.

Will be posted on our website.

b. Infrastructure committee – has been established

Made repairs to dolly for coastal quad

Creating new metal racks for flatwater boats

We have a second outboard engine- 6 hp

Discussed a second safety boat

CYC spent $250k dredging – marina wants to lease more spaces

There are some murmurings of moving Rowing PEI to C dock – offering us 60 linear feet of launching space. We are on a CADC water lot –  the federal government owns the water – in this case, CADC owns the land where we are.

We will send a letter to the board of the Charlottetown Yacht Club outlining the positive benefits of our relationship and potentially meet with the board.

c. Planning session with Karolyn Godfrey – very successful – hope to generate more volunteers this season

d. Shannon MacAulay – Invited to a Rowing Canada training camp in February 2020, may compete internationally. Shannon is a well known athlete and a Kid Sport ambassador supports our goal of raising the profile of rowing on P.E.I. She is being encouraged to compete in coastal rowing.

e. Rowing the World – tour group July 20-24 2020 in Charlottetown and Brudenell . This is the third tour organized by the private company, operated by Ruth Marr. Last year, there were 7 participants from the US and Denmark. We have a capacity of 12 seats. Rowing PEI leases the boats to RTW and we are also paid a guide fee per day.  Last year, we made about $700. It’s also a good promotion for Rowing PEI.

f. Charlottetown harbour safety committee – continuing in 2020. The goal is to have a speed limit/no wake zone in the harbour. The committee has been working with Transport Canada. Have been told to have an education campaign first, with signage and posters in 2020.

G. Future partnerships to explore – Sparrow and Corinne went to a women in sport event, talked to people in rugby. They are based at Queen Elizabeth Park. Could we work together to build a clubhouse.  They also helped us moving boats. Keen to do things with us. We’ve started to pay them for moving our boats.

H. Summer student application – Brian has put in the application. We have a junior rower, Sohrab Saegh, who is graduating from Grade 12 and would be an excellent candidate.

10. Nomination report –

Slate: New president Sparrow McGowan, past president Daphne Dumont, secretary Nancy Russell, treasurer Brian Higgins, Alex Forbes member at large.

Members at large – Jamie Moran, Alan Hilburg.

Daphne asked three times if there are any further nominations. There were none.

Moved by Daphne – slate is accepted as presented.

Alan will be on PEI from April 1-10, then second week of June until November 1st.

Thanks to Daphne who has been part of Rowing PEI since incorporation in 2011.

Has offered to help as needed in the years ahead. Daphne has been a wonderful ambassador for rowing.

11. Any other business – First meeting of the board will be Thursday April 2nd, details to follow. Nancy will prepare a contact list for the new board.

12. Thanks and adjournment

Daphne adjourned

Minutes prepared by Nancy Russell

Bylaw amendments 2021

PROPOSED BY: Board of Directors

That the by-laws of Rowing Prince Edward Island be amended as follow:

Section 3:

The head office of the club will be at 40 Enman Crescent, Charlottetown, Queens County, Province of Prince Edward Island, C1E 1E6.

Section 6 (b):

All officers shall serve terms of one year and may not serve more than three consecutive terms (2011), except for the Treasurer and Secretary, who may serve five consecutive terms (added 2015 and 2021).

That the following addition be made to the by-laws of Rowing Prince Edward Island:

Appendix “A”, 6 (g): In between Annual Meetings, the Board of Directors may appoint an individual or individuals to vacant member-at-large and/or officer positions on the Board of Directors up to the maximum allowable number of board members. The term of any such interim appointment shall run until the next Annual Meeting, and shall count as a one-year term if the interim appointment is longer than six months.

Rowing PEI is hiring! If you would like to spend two summers on our lovely Island AND learn all about coastal rowing while you’re here, please take a look at our call for Expressions of Interest!

Questions: Contact our president Sparrow McGowan at rowingpei@gmail.com

Call-for-Expressions-of-Interest_Rowing-PEI_Coaching-Opportunity

Rowing PEI is very fortunate to have had another successful application to the Canada Summer Jobs program in 2020, our 5th year in a row!

In July, Sohrab Saegh began working for us as our summer student and you have, no doubt, seen him around the docks and in the safety boat!

Sohrab, or Rob, began rowing in 2019 and is a member of the Canada Games training team, preparing for the 2021 Games in the Niagara region next August.

Sohrab graduated from the international baccalaureate program at Colonel Gray high school in 2020 and will be studying philosophy at UPEI in September, with the goal of law school in a few years.  We are hoping he will head to McGill which has a great rowing program!!

Until then, Sohrab will be busy this summer, learning rigging, boat and oar maintenance and other valuable skills, under the guidance of head coach Chantelle Hanley. He will also be training as a Learn to Row coach, and has been an important member of our LTR team in July and August. He also drives the safety boat a lot, for which we are very thankful!

And, of course, other duties as required!  Including inflating giant buoys!!

Rowing PEI would like to acknowledge the support of the Government of Canada in allowing us to hire Sohrab this summer.

August Member Update

Hi Rowing PEI Members!

We hope you have been enjoying the start of the 2020 Rowing season! We’ve now been on the water for just over six weeks and we have even more time ahead of us.

With the opening of the Atlantic bubble, we were thrilled to have our performance coach, Chantelle Hanley join us from New Brunswick. Chantelle supported us through our winter training and it’s even better to have her here in person. If you’re following our Instagram or Facebook accounts, you will often see the juniors out with her in the early morning hours.

As of July 20, we were able to start our Learn to Row program. We saw unprecedented interest in rowing this year and have welcomed 24 new rowers to the club, which has made for a very busy schedule on the water. Luckily, the weather has been in our favour almost every day, allowing everyone to work towards their L2.

Thank you to everyone for adapting so well to this year’s new COVID restrictions. The attention to washing and sanitizing the equipment has been fantastic. We are very lucky to currently have no known active cases on the Island, but as Dr. Morrison has said “We are not out of the woods and we cannot afford to let our guard down.” Please continue to wash your hands, maintain six feet distance from others and wear your masks when that’s not possible – and always on the dock.

Please also continue to follow the self-assessment checklist and stay home should you develop any symptoms.

For the month of August, we are making some small changes to the schedule. We will no longer have rowing Mondays or Wednesdays after 6pm. Those days are race nights for the Yacht Club and it has proven too busy near the marina to operate safely. In order to open up a few more time slots, we will divide Tuesday and Thursday evening into two rows: 5:30-7:00pm and 7:00-8:30pm. Please ensure you allow time to return to the docks and wash your equipment before the next row starts.

Keep an eye on Signup Genius! We will add additional rows where possible. Let us know if there is a time you would like to row that is not currently available and we will do our best to accommodate where possible.

As I’m sure many of you already predicted, we have officially cancelled the Red Island Regatta for 2020. Events are currently not sanctioned by Rowing Canada and so we will not be able to go forward with this year’s event. We look forward to welcoming you and rowers from across the Atlantic to the 2021 Red Island Regatta!

If you have suggestions for how we can do anything better, please let us know. And, we’re always looking for extra support, so if you have time to volunteer, please reach out!

Your Rowing PEI board – Sparrow McGowan, Nancy Russell, Brian Higgins, Alex Forbes, Daphne Dumont, Jamie Moran and Alan Hilburg

Thanks to the Canada Summer Jobs 2020 program, Rowing PEI is looking to hire a Rowing Program Coordinator.

Here are the details.

Position:  Rowing Program Coordinator

Conditions of employment:

8 week contract, 35 hours per week (varied hours/weeks)

Salary $ 13.00/hr

Start date June 15, 2020

Location of employment: Charlottetown Yacht Club (CYC) on the Charlottetown waterfront and Brudenell Resort

Job summary

Rowing Prince Edward Island  is the non-profit provincial governing body for the sport of rowing in Prince Edward Island.

The successful applicant will assist in:

-providing rowing instruction and training times for members of Rowing PEI

-promoting the sport of rowing to the public

-assisting with the additional cleaning and sanitizing protocol as described in the club’s “return to rowing” plan, as submitted to the Chief Public Health Office and Sport PEI

Daily duties would include maintaining equipment, assisting with launching of boats, ensuring all safety policies of the club are being followed by all participants, operating the safety boat, and providing Learn to Row Coaching. 

Administrative duties will include maintaining logs of all boats on the water, when launched and when returned, and noting any damage or maintenance required by the rowing shells as well as the safety boat. 

Other duties would include the installation and removal of marker buoys to establish training and racing courses on the water.

-Assisting with the organization and delivery of our national sanctioned rowing regatta to be held August 22 and 23, 2020 *pending permission from Chief Public Health Office

Job requirements

The position will require the following qualifications, or willingness to obtain them as part of the summer employment:

-a valid pleasure craft operator’s licence;

-first aid training certificate;

-boat safety training; *will be provided

-LTR coach training or rowing experience;

-valid driver’s licence

The applicant must be between 15 and 30 years of age.

The applicant must be a Canadian citizen.

Other Skills:  Experience in client services and/or coaching a team

Bilingual an asset

Applicants must be able to swim

*The successful candidate will also need to obtain a Criminal Record Check. Rowing PEI will pay for the online application fee.

Application: Please send a letter and a resume to rowingpei@gmail.com

Deadline to apply: June 10, 2020