Letter: Recreational Rowing Might Be the Answer

Published on: 12 Jun, 2025
Updated on: 12 Jun, 2025

From David Roberts

Warning: the following is a homage to the sport of rowing and a shameless advertisement for my local sports club. Look away now if that sounds boring. I can assure you, though, that it isn’t.

Weyfarers Rowing Club (www.weyfarers.org.uk) happens to be one of just a handful of recreational and touring rowing clubs in the UK (Goring is the only other one on the River Thames). Based in Weybridge, it was formed by and for people who think rowing should actually be fun, rather than the gruelling ordeal supplied by many competitive clubs.

Unfortunately, rowing has a rather off-putting and elitist image, reinforced by the silly hype surrounding the Oxford/Cambridge boat races. Weyfarers is different. Outings can be as strenuous as participants wish, and there are ample opportunities row in regattas and races.

But members are not obliged to get up at crack of dawn or to row in extreme conditions or set crews. They can row as little or as often as they like, whenever they like. Ranking high among the reasons to row are endorphins and gossip. It is well established medically that two of the keys to good mental and physical health are social connectedness and regular exercise.

Recreational rowing offers both in spades. Socially, Weyfarers is diverse, with slightly more female members than male. Most tend to be in their 50s, 60s and 70s although many are younger. One seriously good rower is 82. Another is completely blind. Some are new to rowing and others have returned to it in retirement. A small club-house provides a social hub.

Physically, rowing is one of only four non-impact sports I know of. But unlike cyclists, rowers don’t have to choke on fumes or dodge HGVs. Unlike swimmers, they don’t get soaked in chlorine or raw sewage. And they generally go faster and stay drier than kayakers.

This smooth kind of exercise is especially suited to older joints. It’s also a full-body workout, perhaps excluding only the calves and trapezius muscles. Contrary to popular belief, rowers don’t so much pull with the arms as push with the legs, exploiting the biggest muscles in the body.

Also contrary to popular belief, rowing involves more brain than brawn. You obviously need a degree of strength, flexibility and stamina.

But the sport’s real magic comes from the subtle rhythms set up as various parts move at different speeds in different directions: the controlled slide of the seat, the motion of the rower relative to the water and the bank, the speeding up and down of the hull with each stroke, the back-and-forth (and twist) of the oar handles, the faster sweep of the blades through the water, the varying resistance of the river’s flow and currents felt through the oars, and the push of the wind as the boat moves around several axes.

So, although rowing involves repetitive motions, these variations all require constant, tiny tweaks to balance the boat, with no two rowing strokes ever being the same. This is quite different from rowing on a static machine at the gym and is something that can foster a mood of almost hypnotic concentration. The nearest thing for me is skiing.

More prosaically, rowing is perhaps well suited to contrarians, including people like me who lack the competitiveness gene and hated sport at school.

For a start, it’s the only sport done entirely backwards. No – I don’t count tug-of-war, which is more a game than a sport, in which only the stronger team goes backwards. Nor do I count the backstroke which, like all swimming, is performed head-first rather than in reverse gear.

Second, although rowing is (usually) a team sport, the teamwork involved is relative. There’s no need for an opposing team to beat and “winning” is always defined by efficient rowing, which above all means synchronised timing and poise.

A single sculler

Rowers spend a lot of time silently looking at the back of a crewmate’s head, quite unlike the noisy jostling on a football or rugby field. While conversation in the boat is fine, it is not compulsory. And if being in a crew proves too sociable, the proficient introvert can always go out alone in a single scull.

Third, rowing is unashamedly retro. As a practical means of transport, it is completely obsolete. The technology involved has barely changed since the 1840s. The kit is studiedly unglamorous. While kayakers dress up like RoboCop or Crocodile Dundee, rowers seek out the shabbiest old sports clothes they can find.

Like cyclists, they disdain motorised propulsion and find an inherent satisfaction in moving under their own steam. They will never be replaced by AI.

Finally, there are great non-sporting attractions in just being out on the river in all weathers.

There’s something atavistic about flowing water, overlaid by cultural associations. You don’t have to be a romantic to imagine the Romans or Vikings plying this same waterway – the M4 of pre-modern England – or Henry VIII being rowed in style upstream from Hampton Court, perhaps taking a break at Oatlands Palace before turning left up the River Wey to Woking Palace.

Today, the Thames is infinitely quieter than the roads around it, with abundant waterfowl, the occasional kingfisher and, recently, even an adventurous harbour seal.

Weyfarers’ other big activity is tours of other rivers in the UK and abroad, which often last several days. Forget river cruises: without the club, I would never have seen obscure corners of France, Germany, Switzerland, Lithuania or rowed 75 miles down the Douro in Portugal.

Through a club contact, I have even rowed in the Argentinian Andes. Having a specialised motive to travel like this is a refreshing alternative to bland package tourism or following the latest YouTube influencer.

If all this has piqued your curiosity, therefore, take a look at the website and get in touch. For beginners, the next course starts soon: https://www.weyfarers.org.uk/pages/learntorow2.php.

Responses to Letter: Recreational Rowing Might Be the Answer

Diane Harris Reply

June 12, 2025 at 5:50 pm

Great club atmosphere, ticks all the boxes for me. You can do as little or as much as you like. Beginners courses running now.
Caroline Freeman Reply

June 13, 2025 at 7:27 am

Interestiing article!
John Lomas Reply

June 15, 2025 at 11:13 am

There used to be Leroy’s boathouse offering commercial canoe and skiff hire, but it seems there is nowhere like that on any part of the Wey now. I seem to remember there was also a similar enterprise near Ash Vale.

Are the commercial boathouses, (Skiffs, Canoes, Punts and Slipper Launches) on the Thames still in business or has that market subsided altogether?
- David Roberts Reply
  
  June 16, 2025 at 10:15 pm
  
  The Wey is a weedy little river compared with the Thames, and is only just wide enough for a rowing quad, although Weyfarers do use the lower part of the Wey if the Thames floods in the winter.
  
  On our lovely reach of the Thames where we row between Shepperton and Sunbury locks, traditional riverside businesses are almost all gone. I’ve seen a couple of slipper launches but never a single punt. Victorian pictures show that every riverside house once had a punt. Nowadays the banks are lined by expensive plastic motor cruisers which are rarely used and often left to sink at their moorings. Motorised river traffic has diminished hugely since Covid and the cost of living crisis, while the swans have multiplied. New navigation hazards include SUPs (stand-up paddleboards) and “wild” swimmers, who risk death not only from water pollution but by being knocked out by our steel riggers travelling at 10mph four inches above the water.
  
  There are recreational rowing skiff, sailing and canoe/kayak clubs on our reach. Rowing a heavy wooden skiff with no sliding seat is easy on the legs but very tough on the back, so not for me thanks!
Caroline Freeman Reply

June 16, 2025 at 10:26 pm

Rowing really is a great sport – good for physical and mental health! Weyfarers is a very social club. Come and join us!
Caroline Turnbull Reply

June 17, 2025 at 12:17 am

Also worth noting is that membership of Weyfarers is much cheaper than belonging to a gym or taking part in many other sports. After the initial “learn to row” course, additional coaching is free and you don’t have to buy expensive equipment as the boats are provided by the club. There are outings every day of the week and two evenings a week in summer. Everyone is welcome so come and join us!
Nigel Base Reply

June 17, 2025 at 11:47 am

Very interesting article. Looks like we have the perfect weather for it.
Chrissie Elam Reply

June 19, 2025 at 4:36 pm

Weyfarers is a lovely club. The rowing times are flexible and suited for all. The club is conscious of the varying rowing capabilities and caters for everyone. It’s inclusive and supports each person. The camaraderie is extended to each member.

What better place to be than on the Thames enjoying all that it has to offer!
Joan Pride Reply

June 20, 2025 at 8:30 am

Weyfarers recreational rowing club also offers an opportunity to observe nature at close quarters. Herons, kingfishers, kites and more recently seals.
John Lomas Reply

June 20, 2025 at 7:24 pm

The Weybridge area seems a long way above the highest normal salt water part of the Thames. How many weirs have the seals had to negotiate to get that far? I wonder if they are going to change their habitat to Fresh Water.
- David Roberts Reply
  
  June 23, 2025 at 8:41 pm
  
  Three. But fish “ladders” have been installed at each lock (and at the junction with the Wey). Are seals a sign that the rivers are getting cleaner and now contain more fish? Or is it that the estuary has got dirtier and they are now coming upriver in search of food?
Joan Pride Reply

June 23, 2025 at 9:11 pm

Weyfarers are truly fortunate to be able to row on the Wey navigation during the winter. Rowing in such close proximity to horses, joggers, walkers, and dogs is entertaining for all of us.

National Trust volunteers ensure the waterway is kept clear of fallen trees. The narrow bridges and winding river has resulted in huge improvement in all areas of boat handling.

We are always warmly welcomed welcomed by Byfleet Boat Club who facilitate our winter membership.
Cathy Hobday Reply

June 23, 2025 at 10:20 pm

A wonderful persuasive article about the benefits and real pleasures of recreational rowing throughout all the seasons in an inclusive friendly well run club.