RegattaCentral

We are honored to be the oldest rowing club in San Francisco and one of the oldest in the West.  The founding members of the Club were not from the “elite” East Coast college crews, but rather were drawn from the working waterfront occupations of the ‘south end’ of San Francisco.  Back then, San Francisco was bustling with maritime industry with many South Enders working on the hay wharfs.   The scow Alma was one of the ships that frequented these wharfs so its fitting that her home is in Aquatic Park near the South End boathouse.

During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, regattas were held throughout the San Francisco Bay against other clubs like the Pioneer Rowing Club, the Neptune Swimming and Boating Club, the Golden Gate Rowing Club, the North Beach Rowing Club, the Triton Rowing Club, the Acme Athletic Club, the Encinal Boating Club, the Oakleaf Rowing Club, and the Olympic Rowing Club.  Of all of these historic rowing clubs, only the Ariel Rowing Club (1874), the Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club (1877) and the South End Rowing Club (1873) remained by the 1970’s.  With the Ariel Rowing Club being absorbed by the Dolphins in the late 1970’s, only our younger neighbors (the Dolphins) and the South End remain to this day.