The Bay of Plenty Coast Rowing Club will host a coastal rowing regatta at Pāpāmoa Beach on December 6. Photo / Brent Smart
Waves, speed and a new Olympic discipline are coming to Pāpāmoa Beach, as the Bay of Plenty hosts its first coastal rowing regatta.
The event marks a major milestone for the sport, which is gaining momentum in New Zealand and will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028.
Unlike traditional flat-water rowing, coastal rowing takes place on open water — surf beaches, rougher seas and unpredictable conditions.
Round two of the 2025/2026 Beach Sprints NZ Summer Series will be hosted by the Bay of Plenty Coast Rowing Club on December 6.
Beach sprint events include a beach start, a sprint to the boat, a high-speed row of 250m around buoys and a final dash up the sand to the finish line.
ACG Tauranga student Tallulah Kubaisi-Gallagher, 15, rows with the Bay of Plenty Coast Rowing Club and has one season of coastal rowing under her belt.
“I started because my old double partner used to cox one of the open teams, so I went along and did a double and some quads with some others from the club.”
Tallulah will be competing in the upcoming regatta and said she was initially “really scared” to try coastal rowing.
“We tipped our first race and that got the fear factor over and done with, so it was really enjoyable after that.”
In her first season, coastal rowing took Tallulah to Malta and Australia, where she won gold at the Australian Beach Sprint Coastal Rowing Championships in Sydney.
“It might look similar to rowing, but every row is different, and you can lose a race with one wrong wave.”
She said the vibe of the sport was “good fun”, and when she wasn’t racing, spectators would be on the beach watching and cheering.
“It brings more fun to rowing, it’s short and fast.”
The “spectator-friendly” form of the sport is drawing interest from Olympians such as Michael Brake, who picked up coastal rowing in 2022.
The dual Olympian won gold at Tokyo 2020 in the men’s rowing eight, and said coastal rowing was growing organically.
“We’re getting a lot of positive, like-minded people coming together and everyone just mucks in to make it happen.”
Brake said unlike flat-water rowing, where you only see the last 200m of a race, in coastal rowing, you can watch a race in its entirety.
“It’s a lot more spectator-friendly. For starters, you’re sitting on the beach, not a grass bank, and you’re right in the exciting zone to see all the wave breaks, flips and spinouts.”
He said the fundamentals of the sport were 75% the same, but the physiology was different.
“There’s running, getting in and out of the boat, which you don’t do in a flat water race, there’s navigating, it’s not sailing navigating, but you need to look where you’re going.
“There are the waves as well, which is the obvious one.”
Brake said athletes typically needed to be more explosive and powerful.
“It’s like the BMX to cycling or the sevens to 15s.”
Olympic rowing gold medallist Emma Twigg underscored the sport’s rise and won the women’s solo title at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Turkey.
She beat defending champion Magdalena Lobnig of Austria in November.
Bay of Plenty Coast Rowing Club treasurer Julie Samuelson said the growth of the sport and her club was unbelievable.
“It’s actually on steroids at the moment.”
Samuelson said Twigg’s gold medal would create more interest in the sport.
“Once coastal rowing becomes as recognisable as traditional rowing does, there’s going to be a real upsurge of people wanting to actually join the sport.”
She said the upcoming regatta in Pāpāmoa was a “great opportunity” to introduce coastal rowing to spectators and rowers alike.
“It’s new, it’s exciting. It doesn’t require as much training as your classic flat water rowing. It’s very short, and there’s a real excitement about it.
“Come down to Pāpāmoa Beach and see what it’s all about.”
Round 1: November 22, Ōrewa Beach
Round 2: December 6, Pāpāmoa Beach (in association with Bay of Plenty Coast RC)
Round 3: February 6, Ōhope Beach (in association with Whakatāne RC)
Round 4: March 14, North Island Champs, Titahi Bay (in association with Porirua RC)
Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.