skip navigation

Become a Member - Membership Information

Our Members

The club was formed in 2001 by a handful of rowers and has grown to over 100. Many of our active members row competitively forming a racing team that trains and travels to regattas with our club. We also have members who row recreationally for fitness as well as those with physical disabilities who row in our Adaptive Program. Many rowers are here year round but we have others who row seasonally and some visitors who row for several months, or just one month.

Our Facilities 

Our boatyard is located at 800 Blackburn Point Road, Osprey, FL 34229, on Florida's beautiful Intracoastal Waterway near Casey Key. We lease land in Blackburn Point Park, a Sarasota County Park. Our boatyard houses a great selection of boats including sweep eights, 4+, quads, doubles and a large variety of singles, as well as adaptive rower equipment. Launches are available for our coaches and all the other equipment and supplies needed to provide an exceptional rowing experience. The county owned floating dock allows for dry launches. County Park restroom facilities are also on site. 

Membership Dues and Registration

SCRC offers the following memberships to Experienced Rowers and those who have completed our Learn to Row class:

Annual - $650
Annual Single Rack - $800 (subject to rack availability; only by permission of SCRC's Rack Committee)
Seasonal, up to 6 months - $400
Monthly  - $275 a month

To row with us as a member of SCRC, you must  complete the online registration form which will be sent to you by the Membership Director should you be interested in joining. See the link below to request the registration form.

The registration will include :
- completion of waivers of liability
- entry of your USRowing member number  (A USRowing membership is required for all SCRC members. An individual membership is just $15.00)
- dues payment with a credit card. 

You will also be expected to read the SCRC Safety Manual online before registering. Reading this Manual will prepare you to complete the SCRC Safety Assessment (a 10-item test) included in the online registration process. Once the Safety Assessment is completed and you become a member, you will be put in contact with a Volunteer  who will provide you an Orientation and tour of our facilities and equipment, as well as a overview of club rules and expectations.

We need you to Volunteer

We are a volunteer-run club, so we need your help. Annual and seasonal members are expected to provide 12 hours of volunteer service, including at least 8 hours in support of SCRC's Sarasota Invitational Regatta (SIR) held in February. Hosting this major regatta is a year-round project for SCRC, so there are opportunities to volunteer for SIR throughout the year.

Rowing Solo

New members with previous sculling experience wishing to row solo must first learn to safely navigate the waterway by rowing with other club members. Our head Coach will also administer a Captain's Test to ensure you understand safe boat handling and can demonstrate full knowledge of sculling technical skills needed to row solo and navigate the waterways. 

Learning How to Row

People wishing to learn how to row must complete a Learn to Row class (offered periodically). Once graduated, the novice rower may apply for membership and participate in coached sessions open to novices (and to those who need to improve their skills rowing sweep and/or sculling). Novices will row in these designated novice sessions until the coach approves graduating to another rowing program or to open (uncoached) rowing.

Coaching Fees

Access to coaches sessions is now included in SCRC’s annual, seasonal, and monthly membership. Our Learn to Row class (offered periodically) costs $250. 

Open Rowing

With the coach's approval, you may row on your own or with an organized group. If bowing a boat you must have passed the Captain's Test (speak with our head coach for details). Sometimes closed rows may be scheduled, which are limited to certain rowers.

Regattas

Regattas are fun events for rowers of a wide range of abilities, both scull and sweep. At SCRC we encourage members to participate in local and regional regattas with coached sessions during regatta seasons geared towards racing. Starting in February we enter the Sprint Season: 1k races where we row fast and hard! And in the fall we enter Head Race Season, which means longer races over a distance of 5k or more. SCRC has a racing team that specifically trains to race, but we also support other members in putting race boats together for regattas.