Oar Stories from Vero Beach Rowing

For thousands of years, humans have been propelling themselves on the waters of the Indian River. From the cypress dugout canoes of the Ais indigenous people to the carbon fiber–reinforced shells of today’s crews, humans have used their strength with an oar to go as fast as possible, whether to outrun an enemy, capture dinner, or win a gold medal.

And, like the tight community of Vero’s ancient river-borne Ais, who hunted cooperatively in their boats and induced fear in would-be encroachers, the rowing powerhouse that Vero Beach Rowing has become stems from its members’ rock-solid sense of community and their love of and respect for the sport, the Indian River, and one another.

As a rower, one always has “a seat in the boat” anywhere in the world. It’s a quiet recognition of a like-minded person who pushes through the sometimes vomit-inducing rigorous training, has “caught a crab,” capsized, collided, or exulted in a medal. Whether you scull, sweep, or cox, you belong. A single is not alone; an eight is one. If you row in an eight, a double, or a quad, each one of those shells is a community unto itself—a tight-knit, synchronized collection of individuals who cede their individuality to the greater organism that is the “crew.”

Within these boats, in every seat, is a story, a narrative that generates the power, that motivates the push through the predawn darkness on the river or on the ergometer at
5 a.m. and ultimately across a finish line. People’s reasons for rowing are myriad; what unites them are both the macro and micro communities to which they belong. This is what makes the boat fly.

Head coach Julio Sanchez’s first order of business with aspiring “masters” rowers (aged 21 years and up) in the Learn to Row program is to discover their motivation to row. “Why do they challenge themselves like that?” asks Sanchez, who came to Vero Beach Rowing in 2021. “Most come from a crisis like a lost job or a divorce. They tell me the whole history of their lives. When you identify the cause, you can then build the confidence.”

Sometimes there are three generations in the same octuple (an eight in which each rower has two oars, plus a coxswain to steer). “We are not technically focused on rowing. We build the confidence,” says the 48-year old Argentinian, who rows and coaches the New Zealand style. Confidence, it seems, wins hearts, minds, and races.

Madison Waddle, the club’s program manager and a coach, says of Learn to Row that the participants “find community before they find a spot on a team. All are welcome at practices, all help each other with carrying the equipment down from the boathouse to the dock and back.”

The club requires that adult rowers do 12 hours of volunteering per season and all youth rowers’ parents do 10 hours per season. The masters help out with Learn to Row programs, the Row Beyond Diagnosis program, and the Samaritan Soup Bowl. They also help clean up the yard around the boathouse, wash rags, and take out the trash. Parents do a lot when their rowers participate in regattas: seeing to hospitality, cooking food for the kids, filling up the water jugs, fundraising, and pitching the team tent. At Christmas-time, the juniors make a float for the Vero Beach Christmas Parade. “Everyone marches, kids and masters together. Julio drives the trailer,” Waddle explains.

The club offers Row Beyond Diagnosis, tailored specifically to women diagnosed with or recovering from cancer, in partnership with Friends After Diagnosis in Vero Beach. It is taught in groups of eight women at a time (in the octuple). “When they come to us, they are very shy, very scared. We try to give them the confidence,” says Sanchez. A number of women who started in the program row regularly—a profound statement on how rowing has positively impacted their lives.

Jimmy Michael, current president of VBR, started rowing in high school in Cleveland. When his architecture business brought him to Vero Beach, he and other enthusiasts started a club at the C-54 Canal in Fellsmere. The group signed a lease for an area under the 17th Street Bridge near the water treatment facility in 2013. Then, in 2016, the club moved to its current site with a boatyard and dock, an ideal location north of the Merrill Barber Bridge where the water is protected by spoil islands. Fundraising followed, and the Toffey Rowing Center was built and outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment in 2020.

Says Sanchez of those early days, “It was a new club with many new fancy boats and equipment. The rowers, the board, they didn’t know what to do with what they had.” With patience and enthusiasm, the new coach introduced positive change.

Sanchez brings his boundless energy and confidence building to all the rowers in the club’s programs. From the juniors (7th through 12th grades), masters, Learn to Row, Row Beyond Diagnosis, summer camps, and outreach programs, there are communities within communities for everyone at this boathouse. There are currently around 200 active rowers ranging from 7th graders to masters in their 80s. The split is approximately 50-50. When Sanchez first arrived, the split was 20 percent youth and 80 percent masters, totaling about 70 rowers.

Shotsi Lajoie has been rowing since 1974, her sophomore year in college. She was on Notre Dame’s first female varsity team, which won the first women’s trophy for the university. In 2012 she attended the 40th reunion of Title IX at Notre Dame to celebrate. “They asked us to form an eight to row in the Head of the Charles in 2013. I invited everyone here to Vero Beach—12 or 13 plus our original Coach Clete. We are now in our 12th year of the NDames alumnae rowers coming down here to train,” she says. Lajoie, past president of the rowing club, is also responsible for bringing the current Notre Dame varsity women’s crew team to train in the spring.

The junior program has grown dramatically since the electrifying Argentinian took over. Students from all different schools in the county row together, form new bonds, and blossom. When teaching juniors how to row, safety is the priority. “It’s very safe, this place,” he says, referring to the club’s location.

Building trust, not only with the students but with their parents, is essential. Every new middle school rower receives a copy of Delaplaine’s Novice Rowing Guide for Parents. Sanchez writes a comment to each rower in his or her copy. Knowing every rower’s name and mannerisms, he equips them to problem-solve on the water. “When you are teaching, first you teach them what to do, second is you give them a problem they have to solve, like a boat coming with a big wake. Third, you need to tell them what they need to know to perform well. As a rowing coach you can get frustrated really quickly; most important is the empathy with the rowers,” he explains.

In knowing what motivates his rowers and their stories, Sanchez has a talent for assembling crews: “You do crews by the relationship with each other. If they are friends, they will row fast.”

Zadie Diniz, a 2024 graduate of Vero Beach High School, started rowing five years ago, in her seventh-grade year. “When I joined the team, I was one of four middle schoolers,” she explains at the boathouse before practice. “My best friend got me to row. We’ve been rowing ever since. We row lightweight together. Out of nine seniors, five have committed to college for rowing.” Diniz will be rowing for Stanford, her best friend for Wisconsin—two collegiate rowing powerhouses.

“I think it’s been incredible to watch people come out of their shell and find their personality,” Diniz says of new junior rowers. “Julio, he’s really made sure there’s a sense of respect. He’s never tolerated a bad attitude. We appreciate each other. He’s always positive, with contagious energy, very welcoming right away. He makes everyone feel they can be very good at rowing. A lot of times, rowers are discouraged based on their height and build. Julio sees potential in everyone!”

Lajoie agrees: “Our cohort is ages 13 to 90. There’s a community for you! It’s friendships, we help each other out. It enriches your life. You can’t even imagine it.”