About the Halifax Rowing Association

Rowing in our local community of Daytona Beach meant nothing but images of long oars with even longer boats competing in the Olympics. In the early 90’s, Paul Quinn was teaching at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and decided to start a rowing program at the school, which is now ERAU Crew.

From that shaky beginning, rowing in used boats off the muddy banks of a canal, Rowing began in Daytona Beach. As he pushed for more community support, Paul saw the need for community participation. Word of mouth brought T.P. Plimpton, Denis Shelley and Paul together to talk rowing. From that conversation in 1994, the Halifax Rowing Association was formed.

As we moved from that small canal into our new boathouse several years later, the Club steadily grew, primarily teaching sculling. The Club also hired David Bird as a part time manager but quickly filled the role as coach.

Dave took us to the next level of developing a sweep program that taught people of all ages to row in the sport’s larger boats. We also developed a much more competitive club that successfully competes in regattas around the Southeast.

Now, as we continue to move forward, our Club has committed to a higher level of excellence in rowing by hiring a full time coach/manager. With this continued growth, the Halifax Rowing Association is on its way to enhancing its slate of programming, expanding on its already successful Masters Program, with Junior and Adaptive Rowing.

It is an exciting time to be part of our Club - We hope you join us soon.