Pocock Rowing Center

Our daughter has been a member of the Pocock Junior team for the last 3 years and her experience there has been hands down the best ever. The culture, understanding of youth, technical capabilities, overall fitness training and team bonding are among the highlights of their program, all because of the amazing capabilities of the coaches and the mentoring roles they play for the juniors. Besides turning out great athletes, Pocock’s juniors leave there as thoughtful, competent individuals who know what it takes to be contributing team members. Although her graduation is bittersweet because she is leaving a stellar program behind, we are thrilled that this program is available to the many juniors in the community. You are doing your child a disservice if you don’t sign them up for crew and if you don’t do it at Pocock.

Great class. Loved all the instructors and had a wonderful time learning to row. Being out on the water was wonderful. Relaxing and exercise at the same time. Will be signing up for the next classes to continue sculling.

I’ve rowed and been a member of Vesper BC in Philadelphia, Potomac BC in DC, Union and Cambridge in Boston. If your sole experience is a learn to row class, you may be forgiven for not knowing what a real rowing club looks like.
The only rowing club in Seattle that is comparable to the best in other cities is Pocock. Its a real rowing club — not a business where you have to take a class to get in a boat. The members run the place, and the focus is on ‘pulling hard, going fast, and having fun’. You can take a class if you want, and members range from beginners to Olympians. The age range is from 12 to into the 80’s. The main emphasis is competition, but many members just like to row. A key distinction revolves around rigid scheduling — or not. At the PRC you can just take out a single or a double or a four with some friends on whatever schedule you want. No need to sign up for a class, again — unless you want to.
Competitively — for masters — the PRC has no peer. The Junior program is excellent. People training for the Olympics in Seattle train at the PRC. The land-​training facilities are far superior to what others offer.
If you want a place to hold your wedding — try one of the other places. If you want a place to learn to row well or continue your rowing — this is it.

I have been rowing at PRC for 9 months now. I started from the very basic Learn to Row (LTR) class, which taught all the basics of rowing, progressing through various levels of the intermediate class (sculling), moving from quads to being on the water on my own.
Most of the people I have met are very nice, mellow and easy-​going; everybody is just out to have a nice time on the water. I have learned not only rowing skills from coaches, but also from interactions with people from various background and in various stages of their lives. Over time and through being in the same boat, I have got to know and bond with many interesting people. The sport also teaches you how to be a good team player, a good student, a good leader, etc. Occasionally we would see «students» who are not really up for being coached…
PRC is a great place for rowers to grow. It has many different kinds of programs that let people discover and further their interests (sculling/​sweep rowing, single/​teams, compete or just for fun). They are also continuously improving and developing. Several rowers in the intermediate sculling class indicated interest in sweep rowing a few months back but there were only experienced and competitive teams available, but now we have a team for beginners!
The age range of rowers at the center is very broad, so know that it’s never too late or too early to start.

I decided to check out the rowing class after finding it on
. I was looking for something fun to learn, and at $ 50 for 6, 2-​hour classes, it seemed to be a fantastic deal.
We spent the first session on rowing machines and watching a safety video, and while I wanted to be outside, it was really an important step in knowing what to do once we got out on the water. The next couple of classes got us into a training barge, where we could practice our rowing style, without having to worry about (literally) rocking the boat. By the time we got into the actual rowing shell, though we were all a little nervous, we had enough of the fundamentals down to have a great time and keep learning without much frustration.
August was the perfect time to take the class, as it was warm and beautiful out on the water, with amazing views of Seattle, but I think it’d be fun anytime of year.
Did I mention it was only $ 50 for 12 hours? Very worth it!

I just yesterday completed the Learn To Row course, with instructor Will. Everyone I encountered was friendly and helpful. I am very much looking forward to moving to the next level and continuing with PRC.
Pros: Friendly, outgoing, knowledgeable instructor and staff. Good value for money (12 hours of LTR tutelege, spread over 3 weekends, for $ 50!). Nice facilities and amenities. Everyone looks fit and happy to be there. Lots of parking!
Cons (not their fault, but notable): Right under the I5 bridge means it’s kinda loud. Also, there’s lots of water traffic.
I give PRC two thumbs up!

PRC is home to all ages of rowers from beginner to world class. It’s a great community that is very welcoming to anyone who wants to row. The facility is excellent and, while it’s a bit noisy when you launch due to the I5 bridge overhead, you can quickly get to quiet, calm water even on some of the windiest days.
PRC is a great place to learn rowing for the first time. You are coached very patiently and expertly by the same coaches who have rowed competitively at the college and olympic levels and who also coach world class athletes /​rowers today. So you start with the best instruction and it only gets better from there!
Our son is in the Jrs program and they took home so many trophies and medals this year that they’re going to have to build a new case to display them all! Junior Rowing is a great sport where young women and men athletes are treated equally and are in a very positive environment.
You can’t find a better place than PRC for rowing.

The Pocock Rowing Center (PRC) is home to a number of rowing teams. (List here –
) The teams vary in their goal, from very competitive to recreational fitness. Learn-​to-​row as well as various levels of sculling/​sweep classes are available.
Each team hosted in Pocock use the common facilities (ergs, racing shells) with exception of a few teams that buy their own oars and boats. Each team manage their own coaching needs and hires its own coach and sets its own practice times. So the different teams are very independent of each other and each deals with Pocock Rowing Center individually.
How the whole program works is that you first pay a due to the rowing center to become a PRC member. You are then an «Independent» who does not belong to one of the said teams. You can use «club boats» and oars that are owned by the rowing center. Then to join a team, you must qualify in terms of rowing experience, and pay another fee to the team on top of the membership fees paid to the Pocock Rowing Center. These team fees are determined by the team that you join and takes care of coaching, lights, other misc equipment, and launch usage. When I rowed for the Pocock Rowing Center Men, the total monthly fees out of my pocket was about $ 110, which is very much on par with other area clubs.
Teams hosted by Pocock vary in their competitiveness and goals. The Masters Men team is very competitive, attends national and regional races, and has reputation of winning a lot of them.