As a small club, we are very lucky to have a boat house full of rowing shells, most recently thanks to a generous grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation but it was not always that way. News Flash We Have A Boat, is a heading from the March 27, 1998 club newsletter ILRC STROKES. The founding committee of the Island Lake Rowing Club started with nothing but the idea of forming a rowing club and worked tirelessly to make that happen.

Their first boat was an 8+ that the St. Catharines Rowing Club agreed to rent to ILRC to get the them started. The boat was named Red Green perhaps due to some nefarious connection to the Canadian TV sitcom of the same name or perhaps to the methods used in keeping the shell afloat. The use of duct tape in repair of the boat has not been confirmed or denied.

In addition to not having a boat, there was no boathouse. They did have a coach boat, but no motor, and there was no dock. For several years rowers had to do a wet launch, where they would carry the boat into the water, knee deep and then climb in, dry off and get ready to row. Another hallmark of those early rowers was their commitment. As now, practices in the early days started early. Since there was only one boat that ideally required 9 people, everyone showed up. If one rower was sick or just couldn’t respond to their alarm clock that morning, they would row a 7+.

The second year of the club's existence saw the hard work of the founding committee pay off in phenomenal growth. New boats (still used) were acquired, repairs made as needed, fitness and training programs offered, the sport introduced to high school rowers and ILRC boats raced in bona fide regattas like the Head of the Trent. While we are truly grateful for the club and facilities we now have, we must remember to extend our gratitude to a small group of people who once pictured rowing shells as a common site on Island Lake.

The founding members of the club are:

Bruce Haw, Svend Wortley, Peter Boeckh, Peter McKinney, Ken Norris, Janie Kirk, Julie Sarazin, Marilyn McCallum, Donna Lacrooy, Jack Lacrooy.