Interceltic Watersports Festival, Cornwall 2006

Report from the organisers of the 2nd Interceltic Watersports Festival:

You will soon receive the second Interceltic Watersports Festival Newsletter from our marketing team. This will contain news about Entry and Registration procedures. There are only 12 weeks to go before all your entries have to be with us (3 weeks for the market and diving bookings).

We are writing to you with a few changes to the arrangements for the festival. This information will be on the website in two weeks.

All Festival Locations confirmed! See the attached map for all locations.

Accommodation and Transport
The 'Festival Village' is the main accommodation provider. Cornwall is subsidising the cost of this accommodation and we have booked 420 rooms and paid a deposit. Registration will take place here. The free entertainment every evening will also be here. There will be an excellent festival atmosphere here and we recommend that you stay here if you can. The cost is only £32.00 per person per night (£50.00 for 2 sharing a room), this is an excellent rate for the time of year. Bookings for the Festival Village accommodation include payment for food and entertainment and are done by downloading the form on the Cornwall 2006 website.

Bookings for the campsites are for the accommodation only. These bookings need to be done through Regional Coordinators as a group to avoid large numbers of individual bookings to the providers. Book food separately, again through the Regional Coordinators: louise.pallett@cornwallenterprise.co.uk or ++44(0)1872 322850. Food costs: £17.50 per day per person.

Kayakers and Rowers
Most of your events will take place at Stithians Lake apart from the sea row and the surf kayak. Your two places to stay will be the campsite at Stithians Lake (quite a basic facility) or the Festival Village (for inexpensive comfort!). Transport will be provided from the Festival Village to Stithians every day, and to the sea rowing and kayaking activities.

The Break Day
On Thursday 27th July we are arranging a choice of activities for all competitors to give you a chance to see a bit of Cornwall. These are still to be finalised but will include: trips to the markets in Truro and Falmouth, a trip to the Eden Project, and many more. We will make a small charge to cover our costs for these Break Day Trips.

Finally, The Festival Organising Committee is all looking forward to welcoming you to Cornwall at the end of July. Please do not hesitate to contact the Cornish Coordinators if you have any questions, the best people to contact are:
· Individual sports coordinators for sports questions.
· Accommodation providers for accommodation questions.
· Markets coordinators for information on markets.
All contact details are on the website: intercelticwatersportsfestival.com

9 March 2006: Article on Coastal Rowing

Shoreline throughout the world beckons rowers who enjoy the rougher sea-going variety of rowing and in the growing sport of coastal rowing Guernsey, the Channel Islands, has taken up the task of hosting the FISA coastal rowing challenge for 2006.

Taking place over 2 – 3 September the challenge will be joined by the inaugural British coastal championships and is expected to be the largest such event ever for the Channel Islands with more than 500 rowers and officials expected from around the world.

Local organiser, Tim Prout says that he has already had interest from England, Wales and Ireland with entries also expected from France and Italy. At the event competitors will race along the shoreline with men covering a 12km distance and women racing over an eight km course.

The boats used are specially designed to withstand the rougher conditions of the sea with their design looking much like the wider surf lifesaving boats but with a sliding seat.

Currently coastal rowing is growing throughout Europe while in Great Britain most sea rowing is still the “traditional” fixed seat variety. France has been at the forefront of developing the sliding seat for sea going boats and has been the predominant host of the challenge.

The Coastal Rowing Challenge is one step in a build-up towards the first FISA Coastal Rowing World Championships event planned for 2007.

Coastal Rowing Links

Scottish Coastal Rowing website