Members of Vero Beach Rowing swapped their oars for shovels last Wednesday afternoon at a Groundbreaking Ceremony for the nonprofit’s Community Boathouse at MacWilliam Park and Boat Ramp. The organization has raised all but $225,000 of its $2.5 million capital campaign to fund the project.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Todd Young, VBR president. He noted that the organization got its start in 2008 with five people rowing in the main canal in Fellsmere, before moving in 2013 to the foot of the Alma Lee Loy Bridge and finally in 2017 to MacWilliam Park.

Now a countywide program, Vero Beach Rowing has grown to include adult and youth programming, Learn to Row events, a dragon boat team, summer rowing camps and partnerships with other nonprofits, such as Rowing Beyond Diagnosis, which is a collaborative effort with Friends After Diagnosis.

While the rowing term ‘a clean row’ means there is little to no splash, this club’s dictum is: “We’re making waves. Rowing is growing in Vero Beach.”

“I can’t tell you how excited I am about today,” said Brian Colgan, newly hired as VBR director of rowing. “In about eight months’ time, we’ll have this tremendous asset that will really transform rowing in our community. All we have to do is fill it up with boats and fill it up with rowers, and we’ll take the country by storm.”

The Community Boathouse, to be built by Proctor Construction, will enable VBR to further its goal of promoting and teaching the sport of rowing as a means to develop physical fitness, personal character and a cooperative ethic through competitive and recreational rowing programs.

Joe Amlong, an Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, credited rowing clubs for his success as a rower.

“The only reason I have that gold is because of boat clubs,” said Amlong. “This will be the sixth boat club in my life, and I really think it’s a great one. I’m amazed at what you’ve accomplished here.”

After VBR board members and Proctor Construction representatives “launched” the project by turning the first spades of dirt, youth rowers concluded the occasion with a rowing demonstration.

For more information, visit verobeachrowing.org.