Jeff Griffin doesn’t know for sure if the Curling watershed area would be the ideal place for a rowing club to operate from, but he knows the time has come for a better place to call home.
Griffin is the president of the Humber Valley Rowing Club that has operated out of Brake’s Cove for a number of years while Griffin and other avid rowers tried to promote the sport on the west coast of the island.
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“We need to find a quieter, safer location that we can operate out of and that’s why I think the watershed area will be a great opportunity,” Griffin said Wednesday morning.
The idea of finding a new home for the club popped up last summer when former mayor Charles Pender pitched the idea of having the club relocate to the watershed area once the City had carried out its plan to decommission the Curling water supply.
The idea just ended up on the backburner, but then, earlier this month, the City of Corner Brook decided to formally decommission the former Curling water supply.
When Griffin got wind of the news he decided it was time to get the conversation going again about the possibilities.
He received lots of feedback from a number of individuals familiar with the watershed area who suggested it was worth checking into because the venue seemed like a good fit so he’s willing to see where it goes.
Safety is one of the factors in Griffin’s desire to see the club find a new home.
Rowing at the mouth of the Humber River where it meets the ocean is a safety concern for Griffin. Dealing with changing tides, high winds at times and increased pressure on the water from boats and other watercraft in the area over the past couple of years made it easy for him to forge ahead with the plan to find a new home.
The other concern for him is that the rowing club is operating on somebody else’s property with somebody basically doing the club a favour and there’s no guarantees they won’t be ask to pack up some day.
“At any time we can be asked to leave so we’re kind of just sitting on a ticking time bomb before that happens,” he said.
Rowing has struggled to find its niche in local sporting circles so a change of scenery may just be what the club needs to make that happen.
“If it’s something the City is interested in listening too I’m definitely willing to do the groundwork to get this thing off the ground,” he said.
