Austin Rowing Club

Very friendly but kind of crowded and most of the sup boards don’t have tie downs for your stuff. Some of the staff wanted me leave my stuff on a bench.

Row row row your boat. I have no rowing experience. Ok well not exactly NO, I have rowed an old creeky boat fishing as a kid. But this is Real rowing like the Head of the Charles or Oxford Blues or those rowing twins who sued Zuckerberg for their Facebook idea.
I took introductory to rowing classes. Loved the classes and the sport. It is hard work but fun. The teachers are very informative and nice. We learned how to row the boats, Both single and ones with 8 people, how to take the boats out and properly put into the water, and how to take them out and rinse them down. Also learned to row in the erg. (The indoor rowing machine).
If it is summer I recommend the 6:30 am class. Just watch for the Nutria rats in the water– that in itself is motivation enough not to capsize.
Get out there. Practice your team work. Meat great people. Oh and working you legs and abs is an extra plus!

I had so much fun I brought my girlfriend out a day later. You have my business when we come back. Great experience, and cheap too. Paid $ 15 for two hours solo and $ 20 with a friend.

If you’re new to rowing, this is the place for you! Friendly staff, great introduction to rowing program, and access to however many resources you want to take your rowing to the level you want: casual, consistent, or competitive.
If you’re an experienced rower, this is absolutely the place for you! We’ve got a three-​bay boathouse with roller racks, eights, and small boats in all sizes. There’s club equipment enough for people of just about any size, and there’s also an upstairs fitness room as well with weights and ergs.
I joined after a full collegiate rowing career, and the fact that this club hosts all three major regattas in the Central Texas area demonstrates the level of expertise, experience, and volunteer power the club has in aggregate. Club rowing crews self-​organize and row for fun. Competitive master’s rowers practice to win at regattas here and out-​of-​town. There’s a juniors program as well that has put some high-​schoolers on scholarship at D1 programs around the nation.
Finally, lockers and showers are available inside the boathouse, accessible by member-​issued keyfob. This club is the real deal if you’re looking for a rowing experience or rowing culture.

We just rented paddle boards, and it was quick, easy and fun. Everyone else there is obviously way more professional, but for no worries equipment rental, they’re great.

I experienced SUP this summer and loved it! I can’t wait to get out there again in the Spring. Austin Rowing is a great organization and they take the time to go through all the do’s and don’t’s of water safety and technique. Take the family! You can rent kayaks and stand up paddle boards by the hour or for the whole day.

This is my second home. And yes, you will see me check in to this place many times. I’m very proud to be a member of the Austin Rowing Club.
Everytime I come to the boathouse it’s nirvana for me. I leave everything behind and me and my crew row out on Lady Bird Lake.
Everything is secure because members are given the combination to the door and the boathouse. You have a nice view of the lake and of the Congress bridge.
Boathouse comes with bathrooms along with the showers and lockers. Also there’s an area where you can go erging (rowing machine) to perfect your technique. Also there’s a deck out there where crews wait and two docks.

I still can’t quite believe that I get to go out and be one of those people rowing on Town Lake. Me! It feels like such a privilege — for a ridiculously low fee, you can belong to this nonprofit rowing club, but first take the Intro to Rowing Class — it is absolutely worth getting up and outta the house before dawn, if that’s all that your schedule permits. The instructors are amazingly patient and encouraging. There’s a really nice comaraderie amongst everyone. Great workout. Gorgeous setting. Do it!

ARC is, simply put, the embodiment of what a local rowing club is supposed to be. Rowing is a community, and ARC works hard to foster that community spirit and promote the sport of rowing here in Austin by offering programs that work for almost any level of experience, from someone who’s never touched a boat to someone like myself who’s been in the sport for 8 years.
If you’re looking to get into rowing for the first time, ARC is the only reasonable place to go. The intro to rowing course is superb, and the club crew community is full of great people who have all kinds of schedules and are looking for others to row with. The Junior program is extremely well coached and a great opportunity for young athletes to fall in love with the sport.
Having been to dozens of regattas over the years, I’m always impressed with how well put together an ARC event is, and it’s always on the strength of volunteers led by an extremely competent administrative staff.

This is a great club for every level of rower, from novice to elite. They host all the regattas in town and are a great social club.

I went on Free Day of Rowing from 12 noon — 4 PM and I was there 10 minutes to noon. Already there were a lot of eager people that wanted to learn rowing.
To tell you the truth, I’ve always want to row. I regretted the days when I never joined crew at the university. Then again, I wasn’t keen on waking up 5 or 6 am. Each time I drive over the S. 1^st or Congress Bridge I always saw rowers on the Colorado. I thought to myself, I should take advantage of the fact I live close by the river. You have to admit it’s really beautiful. Also when I use to go to the gym, first thing I would seek is the rowing machine. I didn’t bother with anything else.
The instructors were nice and patient, especially when you get in the water. I was freaking out because it would lean over to one side and I thought we were going to capsize. Actually that wasn’t the case but looking back, it was funny. Once I stopped freaking out about capsizing, it was fun and relaxing. And I did get a workout too! It’s low impact which is something I need because I have a history of injuries
Overall I had a great time thanks to Austin Rowing Club.
I signed up for their Intro to Rowing and 3 months of membership. I’ll be out there rowing starting May.

Wow, I can’t believe I never reviewed this place!
I joined this club about a year ago, at the same time I joined the Texas Rowing Center, because I was undecided as to which was better — and my philosophy when it comes to food and many other things is, when in doubt, get both!
A year later, I can’t believe it was even a contest. If you’re mostly interested in paddling canoes or kayaks, then definitely TRC is the way to go, because ARC doesn’t have those. In almost all other respects, ARC is much better.
What is ARC? It’s the Austin Rowing Club! Don’t let the name scare you, it’s not some elitist private organization — anyone can join, we just make you take lessons first so you don’t fall in or hurt yourself. (If you know how to row, you can skip the lessons, you just need to get checked out by a coach and shown how to check boats in and out, etc.)
There are two kinds of rowing — sweep, where you have a bunch of people each rowing with one oar, and scull, where one or more people each have two oars. Some people like one, some like the other, some like both.
I like both, because while they’re mechanically very similar the experiences are totally different. When I scull, I can work out as hard as I want, or, more usually, just row serenely along the river. It’s a really peaceful experience at night when it’s dark or in the morning right after sunrise. (I do have to admit, right now it’s not so much fun in the afternoon with this 107 degree weather). You can take out a boat whenever you want, whether it’s noon or midnight.
Sweep is different — you have a crew, usually 8 people plus a cox. You do what you’re told, and try your hardest to work as a team. I find that I work out much harder in my sweep boat than I do any other time, and yet it doesn’t feel as hard, I guess because you’re doing everything together.
The other great part about ARC, other than the rowing experience, is the people — everyone is incredibly friendly. When I was first taking lessons I was pretty intimidated by all these people that seemed to know what they were doing, but you soon realize how helpful and friendly everyone is, especially to beginners. It can also be a pretty social place if that’s what you’re looking for; some of the crews go out drinking together afterwards, some have held general happy hours after the evening row, and you can meet a lot of people just by subbing with other boats. Everyone loves their subs, because otherwise they’d be uneven or not able to go out at all :)
So, if you ever wondered at those long boats in the river and thought about giving rowing a try, do! There are lessons every month to introduce people to rowing — a sport that is not only great exercise, working all your major muscle groups at once, but can be both incredibly peaceful and incredibly exciting, especially if you choose to race.
(BTW, if you have kids in school, ARC also has juniors programs, both for PE credit and competitive programs… also some summer camps I think).
Edit: Kimberly K. sent a message saying she’d gotten the impression ARC was full of competitive people just out of college… cut throat competition I think were the words she used. Well, if you’ve seen a boat full of really young totally ripped people going really fast… it’s probably not us, at least most of us. The St. Edwards crew program uses our boathouse and equipment, maybe it was them. Several college varsity crews from up north also row from ARC on occasion, particularly in the winter and spring (Austin is actually one of the top rowing destinations in the country); most of them bring their own gear but some use ARC gear. Or maybe it was our juniors, they look really young and go really fast.
Our competitive master’s crews also go fast, but they don’t look that young, and I haven’t noticed any cut-​throat competition, at least among the women’s crews, they’ve always seemed really friendly when I see them on the dock waiting to go out… the men’s crews row in the mornings so I don’t know what they’re like.
Your typical recreational crew at ARC is older, usually a mix of ages except for a couple of senior (60+ I think) boats and is in it for the fun and exercise, not the competition. I’d actually say people fresh out of college are underrepresented. And pregnant women… I’ve never seen anyone more than five months pregnant rowing… I think it’s because it gets hard to get in the boat and bend forward to row (but I could be wrong, some of the guys here look like they’re nine months pregnant and seem to do fine).
Call for info you’re interested… we’re usually friendly to people that just walk by, but sometimes everyone is just busy getting boats in and out of the water, and we don’t have a sales staff to handle walk-​ins like the commercial rowing places do.

For a community based rowing organization, ARC is outfitted well with excellent boats, amazing coaches and a commitment to the community. Their youth rowing programs have been ranked best in the region for years are nationally competing. The adult Learn to Row programs are superb and the club offers amazing opportunities for improving rowing skills. I love this club, I love the people and I share it’s commitment to excellence.

When I moved here 5 years ago… I didn’t know anyone in Austin. I had rowed in college and had been meaning to get back in a boat. I checked our all 3 rowing facilities in Austin and decided to join ARC for several reasons:
1) I was a sweep rower in school (that’s rowing with one oar in hand with 7 other folks in your boat, or 3 usually) and ARC was the only program that had eights and fours (still have more of that than the other clubs)
2) it is a non-​profit (the others are not) and it is run by a volunteer board, not an individual… Members have a say in how things are run.
3) more boats than the others
4) the people
If you have never rowed on a crew, you are missing one of the great human experiences. It is brutally challanging while demanding grace, and requires you to completely give as an individual while working so closely as a team. My crew mates are some of the best friends I will ever have.
The ARC supports that spirit of lasting community. I am lucky to be a part of that.
If you are looking for a lasting experience and not just a day trip out, ARC will feel like home.