This is Isis. Do you see the logo on her shirt? It’s an eye and a rowing boat in one!
In 2020, a student rowing club from Utrecht called Triton set up Rowing Bllindlink. Rowing Blind is based on the concept of Running Blindlink. The goal is to make the sport of rowing more accessible for visually impaired people and to give this community a chance to experience what it has to offer. Since the establishment of Rowing Blind, it has already expanded to Njordlinkin Leiden, with many more cities in the planning such as Amsterdam and Wageningen.
Together with a rowing “buddy”, an experienced student rower, we teach the participants to row in 8 training sessions. Other activities take place in between training sessions and obviously, there is always time for fun. During the outing to Wakanlink, the buddies were able to experience what it’s like to see nothing at all, which left a great impression on them. The last training session was concluded with a festive barbecue and a final race. Our goal was achieved: we showed 8 visually impaired people and everyone involved that hardly any adjustments are necessary to actively participate in the seeing rowing community.
