NOLA Coastal Rowing Development Camp

NORC President John Huppi, in bow, Hannah Huppi, Christine Cavallo, and John Olbrys row in the Beach Sprints Trials, June 2021.

New Orleans Rowing Club (NORC) is getting ready to host a coastal rowing development camp in New Orleans, LA this weekend, Feb. 12 and 13, 2022. This camp will host about 24 athletes at the junior, elite, and masters levels.

According to NORC President and Dir. of Junior Rowing John Huppi, “Right now, we believe hosting a development camp in the Gulf South is a critical step towards growing the sport in the United States.”

 To do this, NORC is bringing coastal rowing to the front doorstep of its own experienced flat rowers including junior, elite, and masters programs.

 “Our goal is to get our flat-water rowers to embrace a dual flat water and coastal racing schedule. We also want our athletes to value training in both shells throughout the year. We are seeing a lot of crews from Italy, France and Spain train this way throughout the year with great success at the international level,” explained Huppi.

 Huppi and his wife Hannah, have seen the positive impacts of coastal training firsthand – they were both members of USRowing’s very first Beach Sprints Nationals Team in 2021 and won a bronze World Rowing medal in the Coastal Mixed 4x+ in Oeiras, Portugal. Huppi said “We’ve seen an increase in our flat-water speed because of our experience in coastal equipment and are excited to forge this different way of training in the US.”

New Orleans Rowing Club has been very supportive in exploring coastal opportunities, and New Orleans has the right ingredients to play host to a future international coastal regatta. The City has existing international appeal as a global tourism destination, and also has direct access to coastal water being located on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain.   

During this weekend’s development camp, athletes can practice entry/exit on the soft, sandy substrate and have access to the 11th largest lake in the United States for both endurance and sprint training. The shallow depth of the Lake, combined with prevailing winds from the Gulf of Mexico make this a very protected venue for most of the year. The average wave height is 0-3 feet. Waves in excess of this are caused by large storm events which are occur predominantly in the fall, or cold fronts which predominantly occur in the winter.  

Keep posted, NORC is planning to pivot to a larger coastal rowing development camp in May or June of 2022.