Please help us ask the City of Virginia Beach to provide access to local waterways for high school community rowing at a reasonably central location, preferably the existing Thalia Road dock, in time for summer rowing, while a more permanent rowing location is being worked on. We need a home base to access rowable VB waterways and store equipment.

Update June 6: Thank you to our fabulous community!  With your help, we are nearing 1000 signatures in just a few weeks. Please keep sharing this!  While the petition has been circulating, we have been busy meeting with our council members to explain our needs and gain their support.  We are working with the business community to begin fundraising for a boathouse and if needed a dock in a new location.  We are working with the school system’s activities coordinator and the school board to gain their support and explain how rowing furthers the goals of the strategic plan.  We are sharing the strategies our neighboring hampton roads cities have used to get their rowing infrastructures in place.  Want to do more?  Please reach out to your councilperson and let them know you support community rowing in Virginia Beach!

Coastal Virginia Community Rowing was founded to create and expand the interest in rowing in Southeastern Virginia. The mission of the club is to provide the community with the opportunity to train and compete at all rowing levels in a safe and inclusive environment. It is our goal to support and develop athletes through local, regional, national and international racing. Students from Cox, First Colonial, Kellam, Landstown, Catholic, Norfolk Academy, Cape Henry and Maury have trained with CVCRowing with great success in the last 3 years and many have gone on to collegiate rowing on scholarships.

For years our group successfully rowed from the city dock that was purpose-built for rowing at Thalia Road and coexisted without incident with dredge operations because our practice times were before or after dredging activity. Early in the Spring of 2023 the city removed our access as well as access for local kayakers and fishermen due to dredging. An alternate site was proposed but does not allow for overnight storage of our equipment, lacks a suitable dock and the body of water is 1k meters too short so we are not able to make use of the proposed location.

Please help us persuade the city of Virginia Beach to make an accommodation for youth rowing.  Meantime our group is pursuing 2 potential locations for a more permanent rowing facility.

If you'd like to donate to CVCRowing - please visit our Donate page. "Pitching in" to promote the petition goes to help fund Change.org.