Broadly speaking your kids won’t need any of their own rowing equipment. Given the high costs of racing boats, blades (oars) and other items, the club supplies all of this. However you will need to ensure that all participants have suitable clothing depending on the time of year and weather.
The link below (Clothes Checklist) shows the clothing requirements for all sessions and also there is a section for Winter clothing and Summer clothing. Cotton clothing is not permitted for on-water training or racing, it holds too much water and is a safety issue in the event an athlete goes into the water. Lycra leggings (Winter) or shorts (Summer) should be worn. Heavy hoodies are not allowed in the boat and anything with pockets should have zips on it to stop oars getting tangled with clothing during water sessions. The golden rule is to use light layers and enough of them.
Clothing for Regattas / Head of the Rivers
Waterford Boat Club race in an Oxford Blue One Piece (All-In-One) with a white diagonal stripe. The club colours must be worn when racing particularly in the 1K Classic and National Championships. Additionally a white base layer can be worn under this as well (particularly in Winter and Spring). There are base layers with the club crest available from our suppliers below but any white base layer should be fine, just make sure that it’s not too loose.
Clothing for Training (On-Water)
When training on the water it is vital that all of our athletes wear a High-Vis layer on top so that they can easily be spotted on the river, both by our coaches and also by the shipping traffic that regularly use The Suir. The Club recommend that an Orange High-Vis T-Shirt or top is used as this gives the best visibility. You can get Club branded High-Vis from either of our suppliers below – Excel or RivalKit. Optionally for Winter there are High-Vis beanie hats available on those sites as well.
As regards footwear, a pair of sliders or crocs are extremely useful for On-Water training as they are easy to slip on and off when getting in/out of the boat. Runners can be used here as well of course but be warned they will be subject to some harsh treatment. Every athlete should have a pair of runners with them for every session as well (even if they have Crocs/Sliders) as in the event the conditions don’t allow us to go on the water then we’ll be working in the gym or running in the park and crocs/slider aren’t too good for this.
For training the key is tight fitting clothing, light layers and plenty of them in the winter and no heavy clothing that absorbs water and could weigh someone down if they end up in the water.
Clothing for Training (Gym/Bank Sessions)
For Gym or Bank sessions there’s no special clothing required other than t-shirt and shorts or tracksuit and runners. Again you can purchase club branded gear at either of the links below but this isn’t a requirement
Safety and clothing
Please read these extremely important notices regarding clothing
Club Gear Suppliers
WBC have 2 different suppliers for our club branded gear. Note that the vast majority of this gear is completely optional but Club One Pieces (AIOs) or Club Vests are essential for racing.
Racing Kit
RivalKit supply our proper rowing/racing clothing. One-pieces (also known as All-In-Ones/AIOs), Splash Jackets, racing vests and other various other items. The AIOs are essential for racing and representing the club at regattas and RivalKit have an excellent price for these. Everything else on the site is optional but it is very good quality if you’re interested. Parents/Guardians can order the gear directly from the RivalKit website, WBC are not involved in this process and don’t do bulk orders on behalf of members.
Just a word of warning, the RivalKit site says that the lead time is 4-6 weeks but our experience to date has been 12-14 weeks and customer support is very limited. So if you’re looking for items from RivalKit (especially before racing season starts in January) then make sure you order early.
Delivery costs are €12.95 per package regardless of what’s in there. RivalKit do not put initials on clothing items.
Also, WBC have a discount code worth 10% on all our items until the end of Feb 2025 so we urge you to order before then. The Discount Code is GRKCW6V6ECW8
Training Kit
Our other clothing supplier is local company Excel Sports who have a wide range of very reasonably priced training gear. This gear is non-rowing specific and, as with RivalKit, can be ordered directly from the Excel Sports WBC Club Store on their website. Items aren’t held in stock but the turnaround time is only 2 weeks from ordering to delivery.
A very useful add-on to any of the items is that Excel Sports can put initials on most of the clothing items ordered which is especially useful given the piles of clothing that gets lost or left behind in the club. It’s an extra €3.50 per item and well worth it for any of the more expensive items as we frequently pick up loose items with unknown owners after training and regattas.
Brian from Excel Sports will be coming down to the club on Wednesday 11th Sept at 19:00 where he’ll bring down sample items in different sizes so that you can see the items in person and also size them as well. All parents/guardians are welcome to drop down that evening. If you’re not available and interested then you can drop out to Excel Sports (Six Cross Roads Business Park) anytime.
For safety we insist that our athletes wear hi-vis tops on the water. They don’t have to be our WBC branded ones but if you do need to buy one (or probably two) we would recommend the orange ones on this site. We prefer Orange Hi-Vis as it’s by far the easiest to see on the river.
Excel Sports will be coming down to the Club one evening during August 2024 (date TBC) with samples of different items and different sizings so you can try them out before making any decision on buying. Alternatively you can drop into their physical shop at the Six Cross roads Business Park and Brian or Pamela can help you out.
As with RivalKit, the Club themselves are not responsible for ordering, this is between parents/guardians and Excel Sports via their web store.