08/25/2026
45 YEARS OF ARC | IT STARTED WITH ONE BOAT ❤️💙
This year, Austin Rowing Club is celebrating 45 years, and over the coming weeks we’re going to dig into the stories, people, boats, races, and moments that made ARC what it is today.
And where better to start than the very beginning?
ARC started with a single wooden eight and a simple mission: teach any and all how to row.
There was just one problem. The boat wasn’t in Austin.
ARC’s first shell, a donated wooden Donoratico eight, had made its way from New York to Boston and eventually Madison, Wisconsin, where it was still 1,200 miles from its new home.
Months later, two Austinites borrowed a trailer from Oklahoma, drove to Wisconsin, and started the long journey home. Along the way, icy roads sent the trailer and its fragile wooden boat skidding into a ditch, damaging both.
So some of ARC’s earliest recruits weren’t handed oars.
They were handed tools and sandpaper.
Together, they repaired and varnished the boat until it was finally ready for the water. Soon, that wooden eight was traveling up and down Town Lake, attracting experienced rowers and complete beginners who shared the same love of moving a boat through water.
On August 18, 1981, Austin Rowing Club was officially incorporated. Sam Martin was elected ARC’s first president, and membership had already grown to approximately 50 people.
Forty-five years later, we’re still here.
What started with one wooden eight has grown into a community that has introduced generations of Austinites to rowing, paddling, competition, recreation, and Lady Bird Lake.
As we celebrate our 45th anniversary, we’re asking the ARC community to help us continue what those first members started.
❤️ Give $45 for 45 years and help us build the next 45.
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=JJ2BTRXM2L7FE
Were you part of ARC’s early years? We’d love to hear your stories. Share a memory in the comments or post an old ARC photo below!
