Swansea Small Boats Head

Sunday 31st January 2010

The Results are now up for our Winter Head. Many thanks to all our organisers and competitors for an excellent day.
I'm told it was cold outside! :-)

********Severe Weather Conditions - Training Guidlines and Rules*********

The Club is a small (but perfectly formed) group of people living around Swansea and further afield from Falmouth to Loughbourogh

The Club was formed in 1994, to make use of the newly barraged River Tawe. The Barrage on the Tawe gave Swansea over night the second Longest and most consistently rowable piece of water in Wales. After discussions with the local council the Club was sited at the now demolished Morfa Stadium on the edge of the Llansamlet Enterprise zone. We are now located at Swansea Yacht And Sub-Aqua Club in Swansea Marina. It is easily accessible from the M4 and Good rail links to Swansea make the City Club suitable for commuters and Locals alike.

Although the Club is small we have a range of equipment purchased with Junior Development in mind. Our funds were applied for and provided by the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and a Local Sports Development Grant form The Sports Council for Wales. These grants were made some while ago but recently with the expantion of the club we were fortunate to win a donation of £5000 form the Mars Refuel Awards. This award will enable the club to purchase equipment specifically for the younger members of the club, and allow the club to provide the inclusive facility that it strives to achieve. We are very greatful to Mars for this award as it will enable the club to fulfill a key element that the club has been striving to achieve - to allow everyone to take part and 'play' for longer.

We have a good programme of training with specific Novice and Junior Training sessions weekly and Senior and Welsh Squad training sessions by arrangement.

We have had some success in the past at Squad level with two of our Senior Women competing at the Interregional’s, Women's Henley and topping it off by Representing Wales at the Home International/Five Nations Championships in Ghent and Nottingham. The more senior members of the club regularly collaborate with veterans around Wales and far and wide, competing at vet Henley, National vets and FISA Masters (Hamburg 2004 and Strathclyde 2005) . We had a good haul of Gold Medals at the last two.  Check out the Race reviews on the news page for historical reports of races and the photo album for both action and more eclectic shots of the club out and about. The Picture to the right is of two of our juniors being presented with their prize by Olympic silver medalist Tom Lucy at Monmouth Regatta in May this year.

The Club is entering a new era. With major changes to be made with the management and rowing structure in the Club. We are planning to provide the Club with new facilities in the Swansea Area – negotiation are currently taking place at two locations on the river. This will hopefully provide West Wales with the base they sorely need and our thanks go to the Welsh Amateur Rowing Association for considering us in their plans and giving us a way forward.