Cinque Ports Rowing Challenge

The area, the challenge, and the community teams.

For more on the subject of ‘community boat building’ see: Why Community Boat Building

The town of Faversham has blazed the trail in the South East of England, by not only building the first St Ayles Skiff in the region(with another nearly complete), but also of creating a new town rowing club to row their skiff(s). By far the biggest achievement to come from Faversham though, is dreaming up the idea of a Rowing Match between all communities willing to build and crew a St Ayles Skiff, within the traditional and historic, ‘Cinque Ports area of influence (and by setting up a community organization to help make it happen, namely ‘Cinque Ports Rowing CIC’).

Here is the introduction from the ‘Faversham Community Boat Build’ Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/541793319724834 :

“The Confederation of Cinque Ports in southeast England was originally established for military and trade purposes; it pre-dates the formation of the Royal Navy and is even mentioned in the Magna Carta.
The Cinque Ports Coastal Rowing Challenge is a celebration of our region’s unique maritime heritage.
Community groups in each of the Cinque Ports and other coastal communities will be challenged to build a rowing skiff and then to enter one or more teams into a coastal rowing match against fellow Cinque Ports members.”

Here is a map of the Confederation of Cinque Ports, and the coastline as it was before the Great Storm of 1287 ( which changed it to more or less the present day coast, which is marked in a blue dashed line). I have marked communities who have or will be involved building and rowing a Skiff on the map, and will keep the map updated. This is the state of play as of September 2021:

_{If the map image looks too small when viewing on a PC, use Ctrl-+ to enlarge}

A Community Boat Build in your town?

“Cinque Ports Rowing CIC is seeking to partner with Councils, Community Organisations, Charitable Trusts and other interested groups to establish Community Boat Build projects across Kent and the wider South East region.From project planning and support, through to skilled tuition, we can help you get your project off the drawing board and bring the vision to life. Get in touch now and let’s start talking!“

hello@cinqueportsrowing.org