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Best all around cities for rowing

Posted: June 28th, 2007, 10:59 am
by mikemoore
I'd like to hear votes for the best all around cities for Masters rowing. The criteria are employment opportunities, overall quality of life and one or more rowing teams open to new members.

Posted: June 29th, 2007, 10:08 am
by Ducatista
Huh, I thought you'd get a bunch of responses to this one. So I'll jump in, even though I don't think my burg is exactly a rowing magnet.

I love my adopted hometown of Madison, WI. I live right downtown, on a narrow isthmus between two lakes. (Do a Google Image Search for "Lake Mendota" or "Lake Monona" and you'll get a good sense of our watery bookends.) Good job market, kick-butt quality of life, and I believe Mendota Rowing Club is always open to new members of all ages. Beyond rowing, Madison is a pretty active city all around... routinely voted best (or one of the best) for walking, biking, blah blah blah by the likes of Outside and Prevention.

Of course, our rowing season is about two weeks long (you could always take up ice boating in the off-season), and I don't know how the club stacks up to others... but Madison is a fantastic place to live.

Posted: June 29th, 2007, 10:21 am
by Tyn
Lots of water in Gouda

Posted: June 29th, 2007, 1:35 pm
by Joanvb
Since you've asked :D ...
Long Beach, California. Year-round rowing.
Late November:
ImageImage
Early January:
ImageImage (last 1000 of the race course...home of the 1932 Olympic rowing venue)
Erg room (erg indoors or out, you can see some outside of the windows):
Image

The Long Beach Rowing Association - New members welcome every day!
http://longbeachrowing.org/

Posted: June 29th, 2007, 2:58 pm
by jbell
I'll throw in my two cents and say that either Philadelphia or Boston or two of the nicest places to row. Usually nice flat water, very spacious, tons of other crews. It doesn't get much better. As far as racing is concerned, I like Mercer, NJ. Beautiful race course.

Posted: June 30th, 2007, 11:52 am
by ancho
In Spain, if you like a small town, Banyoles:
Image
If you prefer a bigger city, Sevilla:
Image Image

Posted: June 30th, 2007, 1:20 pm
by Tyn
Hi Ancho,

Still alive and kickin'

created a new forum for you!

on forum in het nederlands!

it's called forum in het spaans, somethimg like ' foro por Espangnol'

or , whatever


Your own little corner on this forum,
What about that?

Perhaps I will create some other small corners,
like a nerd corner, an old bat corner, lovely people corner, etc, etc

Love you back!

Posted: June 30th, 2007, 2:00 pm
by Tyn
BTW:

I'm moving to Joan's place!!

Posted: June 30th, 2007, 3:24 pm
by Joanvb
:lol:
Bring cheese, please. :)

Re: Best all around cities for rowing

Posted: July 2nd, 2007, 12:35 am
by Rockin Roland
mikemoore wrote:I'd like to hear votes for the best all around cities for Masters rowing. The criteria are employment opportunities, overall quality of life and one or more rowing teams open to new members.
Why? Are you planning on moving to a more ideal rowing lifestyle?

For a start you can cross all the northern USA, Canadian and northern European cities off the list. They are only part time rowers because they can't row in winter.

In my opinion the ideal place to live and row would need to have all of the following to qualify:

a) Climate that allows you to row safely 365 days of the year.

b) Reliable flat water for most of those 365 days (which rules out most cities with lakes or windy cities like Chicago)

c) An area where your rowing is rarely interupted by water skiers, idiots with motor boats, dragon boats or large vessels that create rough water.

d) An abundance of rowing clubs in the area that cater for your age group and standard of rowing.

e) A city where you can easily get a job that pays well without having to work longer than 38 hours per week and offers at least four weeks annual leave.

f) A city that is easy to get around safely and without traffic congestions by car, public transport and on a bicycle.

g) A city where the cost of living (food, housing, transport etc) is affordable for the average wage earner.

h) A city that has a very low crime rate and where only the police and underworld crime figures have guns.

i) A city that has low air polution or toxic health risks.

Realistically how many cities do you think we have left after the above criteria for elimination?

I know that Melbourne, Australia (where I live) qualifies. I've travelled extensively around the world and have only seen a few other cities they qualify.

Posted: July 2nd, 2007, 6:32 am
by ancho
Hey, Roland!
You're speaking of Banyoles.
Or of Sevilla (except fopr the traffic jams... :roll: )
How do you measure the heights downunder?

Cheers!
:D

Posted: July 2nd, 2007, 6:33 am
by ancho
Thanks, Tyn,
bee'n a bit busy lately, will have to catch up with "my forum"...

Tot zieks!

good posts

Posted: July 2nd, 2007, 9:03 am
by mikemoore
thanks, great suggestions so far, keep them coming, any particular rowing organizations you'd like to plug?

Posted: July 3rd, 2007, 10:27 am
by TXGirlRower
I'm new to rowing but think our beloved "Keep It Wierd" Austin, Texas is a fantastic city and a great place to row.
Rowing 365 Days a Year! Except on *rare* occasions when we're having floods that close down all the local bodies of water like we are now (community outside of Austin received over 19" of rain in 24 hours and it just keeps coming!)

Posted: July 6th, 2007, 8:21 am
by robhen
Dont believe Rockin Roland when it comes to Melbourne. The weather is shocking - you can have four seasons in the one day. And the river is so dirty that it flows backwards. There are no decent rowing courses in the state.

I would advocate rowing in Sydney, Aus. One of the world most beautiful cities. Site of the 2000 Olympics. In fact, in June we had the Australian Masters on the Olympic rowing course surely one of the best courses in the world. There were three days of flat water and temp was around 20 degrees celcius, not bad for winter.

At my club has, St George, we have the best water in Sydney to row in.

The World Masters Games will be held in Sydney in 2009 - start training.