The sport of rowing looks set to take off as the next big thing if the Bermuda Rowing Association's latest regatta yesterday is anything to go by.

About 30 beginners and experienced rowers descended upon the Association's base at White Island early on Sunday morning to compete in the 500-metre sprint racing event.

They braved the choppy waters and windy conditions to race head-to-head or against the clock around the square course of buoys with everything from boys and men's singles and doubles and girls and women's singles and doubles to mixed doubles and cox fours in competition.

Club president Michael Swain started the Association three years ago because he wanted someone to race against and in that short space of time he has already seen the membership base grow to around 50 and the number of boats increase from two to 13.

The Association members range from 10 to 60-years-old and it has already attracted trainers of the calibre of current rowing world champion Toby Medaris, who races in the Harvard 1st heavyweight crew and will take part in next year's Boat Race wearing the blue of Oxford, and current head coach and former Canadian national champion Jim Ganley, who is currently doing intensive training with members throughout the week.

Swain said: "I went here 15 years ago and bought my own sculling boat, but I wanted someone to race against, so I started the Association, but with the emphasis of getting into the community.

"The values are teamwork and pulling your own weight in a crew and reliability."

With boats setting off around the course and crossing the finishing line left right and centre all the time, Swain and his group of assistants cruising around in the umpire's boat were on hand to lend an encouraging word or two and fish out any unlucky rowers who had tipped over into the deep.

Back on dry land, or the quay to be precise, rowers were preparing to go out on the water or drying themselves off and getting a much needed drink of water, or even discussing their performance and their plans for the next time round.

Natalie Luthi and Will Porteous, who train together, were rowing as a pair and managed to clock an impressive time of three minutes and five seconds.

Luthi first got into the sport because she always wanted to give it a try and is now in her third year.

"I never rowed until three years ago and I saw the opportunity to do it and now I try to get out three times a week," she said.

Meanwhile Porteous has been racing since he was 14 at school in England and at the age of 29 is currently enjoying the status of one of the more experienced members of the Association.

"We are only three years old as a club and if you look at the number of people here compared with what we started with, with two boats, and now we have got many, many more and it is definitely a great sport," he said.

"We only have these races initially, but the idea is to go away to compete in the States on the east coast and Canada where it is a pretty big sport.

"We can then go higher and go to Boston, so hopefully we will be doing that."

Kat Carr only started rowing a month ago and is already experiencing the benefits of the sport such as getting fit and making new friends.

"It is great - it is really fun," she said.

"I think this is just a chance to practise our skills - it is more fun than competitive and it is just something different."

But it is not just about the adult rowers, there is also a healthy contingent of youngsters, of whom 13-year-old Bermudian Marcus Nathan is tipped to be one of the up-and-coming stars of the future.

Nathan has only been rowing for six months, but is already starting to make a big impression.

"I saw somebody rowing across past my house and I just asked about it," he said, by way of explanation as to how he got into the sport. "I am going to keep up my rowing and would love to represent my country one day."

Jasmine Rempel and Alshauntae Hollis are also aiming to go onto bigger and better things in the forthcoming years. Rempel, 16, got involved in the Association through a friend who recommended it to her and is still there two years later.

"You meet a lot of new people and I enjoy the competition," she said. "I am planning to go to more regattas now."

Among the more unusual stories surrounding the Association is that of Brian Motyer, who has been rowing for 26 years, competing in the Masters South East, the Masters Nationals and the Master World Championships. Bermudian Motyer comes back from his home in Florida to see his family on a regular basis, but what makes his tale so interesting is the fact that he trains in an alligator-infested lake back in the US.

"It is certainly an incentive not to fall in the water," he admitted. "It can be a little bit unnerving - you tend to want to go out and catch the calm water.

"I have haven't had a real problem personally with an alligator, but I have had my boat damaged and picked up by an alligator. That was in May and that is the mating season and I was going around one section and there was one point where they all like to gather and I had just stopped there and was wiping my brow and I felt my boat go up and it came down hard in the water with a big thud - I was wondering what on earth had happened."

Another phenomenon is Shane Antoniton, who, at the age of 13, is already making waves in the sport of rowing.

Antoniton is not your typical young rower though - he has found his niche as a cox for the teams of four. "At the start of the Annual Exhibition Summer Camp they had the rowing machines there and the lady in charge of it said I had the technique and that is how I got into it," he said.

"Coach Jim Ganley noticed that I had that ability as a cox and tried to put me in that position as much as possible. Being in a four-person as a cox there is a lot of responsibility being the leader of the boat, so you have to be alert all the time because the conditions can change in an instant and we have to warn the crew as early as possible.

"The most important thing is that you have to speak up and you have to be loud and clear."

Swain and the Association, with the support of the Ministry of Sport, are planning to go one step further than just holding regular regattas like this though and actually install rowing machines in public schools to allow pupils to compete against each other and other schools both in Bermuda and abroad via the internet and so they can base their syllabus for biology, physics, mathematics, geography and IT around the machines and those who show the most promise will be invited to train on Olympic-standard racing and development boats.

The Ministry is also backing the Association's proposals to put their Fitness Trails (circuit training) scheme on Government administered islands. "The Ministry of Sports have already said they will support the idea of rowing machines in schools," said Swain.

"The children will be able to race other schools on the Internet and in England they have built a whole syllabus around these machines, so it will allow them to learn, get an education and get fit at the same time."

The last word went to Ganley, who despite having endured an exhaustive day of instructing and timing all of the competitors, was still keen to promote the values of rowing as sport for all.

"Rowing is just a great sport for anyone to get into and I would thoroughly recommend it," he said. "I believe that rowing helps your long term goals, with teamwork and dedication and it's another great fitness opportunity for Bermudians."

Rowing may still be in its relative infancy as a sporting Bermuda, but one thing is for sure - if the Bermuda Rowing Association get their way it may not be too long before we see the Island competing in the Commonwealth, World or even Olympic Games.

Anyone interested in getting into rowing can contact Michael Swain on 732-4230, e-mail bermudarowing@gmail.com or visit their web-site at www.bermudarowing.com