I'm new to the Open Water website and wanted to tell you how glad I am to have found it! You guys are doing a terrific job in providing the open water rowing community with a place to gather and disseminate information pertaining to the sport/art/lifestyle of open water rowing. Keep up the great work!

On another note, my colleagues and I are looking to establish an annual Maui rowing regatta. I gather you read the posting I just sent to OWR's forum, soliciting feedback from potential competitors and event organizers (many thanks for including it in the Forum!) ...Wondering if you might have any input for us.

Specifically, wondering if you know of any airlines able to transport rowing shells? [My guess is that there are probably none, in which case we would need to have a fleet of boats available for competitors.] Can you give us an idea on how some other national and international regattas deal with the boat issue; i.e., do they provide them or are competitors expected to bring or secure their own? I would imagine that elite racers are very particular about their equipment and insist on racing their own shells. How do they get them around to the various regattas that are not within driving range?

Also, what type of prize money would you think would be required in order to justify a rower to want to make the long journey over to Maui (other than the fact that the race would be in Maui!).

Do you know of any boat manufacturers or distributors that would likely be interested in sponsoring a Maui regatta? We're looking at making this an international event with media coverage, If we are successful in attracting world-class racers, we may be able to secure coverage significant media coverage (ESPN?!).

One thing I overlooked mentioning in the posting to the forum is that the water conditions in west Maui are ideal for rowing most of the year. Except for times of south swell activity, inshore waters (up to about a mile offshore, actually) on Maui's west shore are very placid, akin to a lake or harbor. The weather, as you might suspect, is sunny and hot most of the year with light to moderate tradewinds which help keep things cool.

Ka'anapali is a world-class resort destination with several large hotels, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment. Two of these hotels have indicated their support in terms of reduced room rates for our competitors, once we get the event off the ground.

In closing, I'd like to thank you for your time and hope to hear back from you in due course.................

Rock Holliday Maui Rowing Club Maui. Hawai'i

-- Rock Holliday (knpmaui@excite.com), August 16, 2001

Answers

Somehow stumbled on to a note about rowing on Maui. I'll be visiting from Florida in August and would like to come see where your club rows. Thanks, Rick

-- Rick McClure (rickrows@hotmail.com), July 24, 2003.