By David Kendall

Almost every Saturday, a group slowly gathers by a dock tied to a ship-shaped floating restaurant near the Tteoksam Resort Station on subway line No. 7. An armada of duckbilled paddle boats is anchored to the other side, but the rowers are set on breaking free from the paddle boats’ tiny confines. This is the Hangang Rowing Club, and these people aim to row up and down the Hangang River as far as they can go during a 3-hour round trip.

Most members found their way to the club via a search in Naver. For me, it was one line, “New members invited join our rowing club,” followed by a phone number. It stood out alone on a Hangeul-filled banner tied to a rack of long hulls. With the Hangang River bicycle path growing ever more crowded, the wide-open waters of the Hangang River itself beckoned. I'm glad I made the call.

Kim Tae Suk is the CEO of Rowing Korea and Kim Hyeon-pil is the CEO of Outdoors Korea. They started the rowing club in 2013 after importing five 15-meter coxed 8 boats from China. “I'm not a player who learned to adjust. Rowing seemed the most suitable program. It was really nice to have a group that had to pull together as a team, which taught itself to train and educate others,” said Kim Tae Suk, adding that, “It's a great sport to learn about harmony.”

One boat holds eight rowers, synchronized by a coxswain who watches from the stern. In addition to renting boats to companies and schools for teambuilding exercises, Rowing Korea arranges free programs for the disabled, Kim Tae Suk said.



Presently, the club has around 30 regular members. Ages range from 232 to 60, with the average around 34. Apart from three people from the U.S., Scotland and Canada, they are all Korean, and about 70 percent male and 30 percent female. "Four years ago when I joined, we nearly always took out all five boats,” said Kim Dong Hyun, a 35-year-old IT engineer. One to three boats is the norm today. He attributes the drop off to economic and time constraints. According to Kim Dong Hyun, the club rows year-round, cancelling only when conditions are too rough to gather enough rowers. Three or four times in the winter, the club rents a gym and brings in rowing machines for members to practice on, said Kim Eiryun, a philosophy major.

A year-long membership is KRW 400,000. Exercise is the main attraction. “Sixty percent of rowing is all in the legs,” says textile employee Maria, extolling the holistic nature of the sport. She has been rowing for about a year and a half. Park Y. Grace, a manager at a game company, tried rowing for the first time last Saturday, paying the KRW 40,000 one-time fee. She found the introductory instruction very helpful and enjoyed being out on the river, but has too many commitments to join.

It's common to have one boat for beginners and one or two boats for more experienced rowers, but no one has to worry about keeping up. Frequent rest periods break up the three-hour exercise session, and anyone who feels tired or gets a cramp can simply raise their oar until ready to row again. Members who want to push themselves can do so in friendly races that sometimes occur between members. An annual 5-km race between the Banpo and Cheongdam bridges was inaugurated this August.

Socializing and the wide, unobstructed views are also big draws. Staying in synch is the hardest part, but even before reaching the dock, communication can be a problem. Reliance on the Naver Café social networking site means cancellations may go unnoticed, especially by non-Koreans who sometimes have trouble logging into the private chat rooms. Even though messages are posted in both Korean and English in Naver and through Kakao, a Meetup.com page was set up as well to offer a means of payment for tourists unable using local banking software.

The club typically meets at 8 a.m. on Saturdays, but times and locations can change. It's always good to RSVP by Wednesday. More information about the Hangang Rowing Club can be found at the Naver and Meetup sites. Apart from rowing, the docks lining the Hangang River near Tteoksam Resort Station also offer waterskiing, windsurfing, kayaking and SUP-boarding in the summer.

A long-time resident, David Kendall is presently a PR Manager at a Seoul-based law firm. He also does freelance editing and writing through kendallediting.com.