Ways to row

Offshore rowing

Offshore rowing takes the speed of sliding-seat rowing out onto open water. Boats are wider and tougher than Olympic river boats and are built to handle waves, wind and swell.

Internationally it is called coastal rowing. In Ireland we call it offshore, to tell it apart from our traditional fixed-seat coastal rowing.

Seats: Sliding seat, two oars each
Boats: Single, double, coxed quad
Racing: Several kilometres with turns
Water: Sea, bays and big lakes

What is offshore rowing?

Offshore rowers scull: each rower has two oars and sits on a sliding seat, so the legs, back and arms all drive the boat. The boats have watertight compartments and are self-bailing, so water that comes over the side drains away.

Races can be rowed over several kilometres on a course with turning buoys. Choosing your line, handling the waves and getting around the turns well are just as important as fitness, which is why offshore rowing is sometimes called the BMX of rowing.

The boats

The boats are built to international World Rowing coastal rules. Racing boats from makers such as Swift are a familiar sight at Irish offshore regattas.

Single (C1x): one sculler who rows, steers and navigates alone.
Double (C2x): two scullers, including mixed crews.
Coxed quad (C4x+): four scullers and a cox.

A Rosscarbery offshore quad racing at the Castletownbere endurance regatta, August 2026

Offshore racing in Ireland

Rowing Ireland set up its Offshore Division in 2017, and the first Irish Offshore Rowing Championships were held in Arklow that year. The discipline has grown quickly since.
Irish Offshore Rowing Championships: the national championships each September.
Endurance events: longer races such as Castletownbere and Kenmare.
Irish crews also race at the World Rowing Coastal Championships and the European Rowing Coastal Championships. To row for Ireland at the European Championships you have to qualify, but clubs can also enter crews under their own club name.

Progressing to offshore

New rowers learn the basics in the coastal yawls on the Lagoon first. As their skills grow, they move on to sculling in offshore boats, starting in a stable crew boat such as the quad, before progressing to doubles, singles and beach sprints.

Rosscarbery offshore

Rosscarbery rowers race offshore at junior and adult level, from under-14 quads to senior singles.

Rosscarbery has won Irish Offshore Rowing titles in the men's single (2020 and 2021) and the mixed double (2020 and 2023). In 2021 Kealan Mannix won the men's single at the Irish Offshore Rowing Championships in Bantry, then represented Ireland at the World Rowing Coastal Championships in Portugal, where he reached the A final.