Established in 2016, the club now offers morning work-outs in quad and double shells and opportunities for both recreation and competition. Learn-to-row sessions introduce novices to the sport, and informal mentoring familiarizes those who have rowed elsewhere, whether sweep or sculling, with Sequim Bay and the club’s boats. Occasional coached rows offer continuing training.

Our adult crew goes out almost every day of the year, weather permitting. Sessions are about 90 minutes long, including launching boats, a row of about 8,000 meters, and returning boats to the dock. Rowers share responsibilities as coxswain and chase boat operator. 

Sequim Bay is protected by Travis Spit, so the water is often mirror-smooth. Weather conditions are watched carefully and safety is emphasized. Club boats are always accompanied by a chase boat run by an experienced boater with a radio to communicate with each boat. Rowers wear personal floatation devices and take float tests at a local pool prior to starting rowing with the club. For specific requirements of the swim test click here.

The rowing program began in 2016 after Dennis Miller and the late John Halberg, Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association founder and former University of Washington rower, had spent about a year determining how rowing could be started in Sequim. Halberg agreed to provide a quad shell, and Miller worked with that era’s yacht club commodores Jean Heessels-Petit and Durkee Richards to coordinate club sponsorship of the program. 

Initiated with about a dozen beginners, the sculling group has grown to more than two dozen masters rowers in a wide range of ages.