Herne Bay Amateur Rowing Club originally founded in 1887, affiliated to C.A.R.A. in 1924. C.A.R.A stands for Coastal Amateur Rowing Association, this is the main organisation founded to bring coastal clubs in Kent and Sussex together to compete.  The boathouse and club are located by Hampton Pier (1500 metres West of Herne Bay Pier).

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About Coastal Rowing

If your experience of competitive rowing is based on 'river' rowing, either through participation or watching coverage of The Boat Race or Redgrave etc. then you'll know the basics of the sport but there are a few differences when rowing on the sea.

The following should answer some of the most often asked questions regarding coastal rowing, e.g. do you need special boats, are they the same as river racing boats, can I use a river boat on the sea? etc.

Coastal Boats

Until very recently all coastal boats were wooden. Until 2010 HB's latest pair boat was a wooden boat built by club member Stewart Webb in 2004 and is our last wooden boat.

Our latest plastic boats, a four and a pair, were built by Rossiter and early indications are encouraging. This was after a couple of Burgashell IVs (the first company to commit to building coastal boats commercially) which seem to be ageing more rapidly than wooden boats.

The actual shape of a coastal boat is shorter and wider than a river boat and they are more robust. This is both to cope with the conditions at sea and the race format of a coastal regatta (see below) which requires the boat to turn sharply. For the same reason the Four boats have very large rudders compared to the matchbox sized ones seen on river boats (coastal pairs have no rudder at all).
Finally, bow side and stroke side are the other way round. A coastal stroke's oar is on the starboard side while bow rows on the Port side.

Coastal Racing

Coastal regattas are held over courses of at least 2000 metres in length, parallel to the shore. The start line is also the finish line so the course incorporates at least one complete turn, performed at speed around marker buoys.
Statuses for racing. Coastal rowing retains the racing statuses long ago replaced on the river of Junior, Junior Senior and Senior. These categories relate not to age but to the success of a crew in the previous seasons. If a Junior crew win a qualifying event they have to race at the higher level the following season. This applies to both fours and pairs racing.
Additionally there are categories of Novice for those, new to the sport, who've not yet won a race (2 qualifying wins at Novice makes you a junior) and Veteran for crews who are all aged over 40 and have not won a status race that season. Ladies crews have their own races at Junior and Senior - Novice racing is mixed. Sculling (1 person 2 oars) status is separate so a Senior oarsman can compete in Junior sculls.