On the 25 March 2023, the University of Malta Rowing Club launched its newest additions of coastal rowing boats. During the launch, 4 Quads (four person boats + one coxswain) and 4 Doubles (two-person boats) were presented being the first of their kind in Malta. 

The total amount invested in the purchase of the boats is more than €70,000. A generous part of the costs was covered by the Fund for Social Causes. This fund helps organisations which focus on social, cultural, educational, sports, philanthropic, or religious activities, to grow. Through funds like this, the UM Rowing Club is able to introduce and make the sport of coastal rowing more accessible to the public.

The new boats were used in the World Rowing Tour (hosted in Malta), a first for University of Malta Rowing Club and a first for Malta too! International rowers, from all over the world, as far as Australia, the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Finland, Zimbabwe amongst many other countries.

The event took place between 2 - 15 April. Two groups of forty rowers were rowing along the coastline of Malta and Gozo over a period of a week. The boats used during this event were quads, doubles and even singles (one-person boat) offered by the UM Rowing Club. In addition to the group of rowers, a small group joined as non-rowers, and these participants were given a tour and a taste of Malta’s greatest and historic places. During this Tour participants completed the first circumnavigation of Malta by rowing boat of the century, rowing around 140km in the Club’s new coastal rowing boats.

University Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, noted that through such an investment in the sports sector, by the Social Causes Fund as well as that from the Central Bank of Malta’s aim is to promote sports amongst youths, raise Malta’s profile as a destination for coastal rowing, and showcasing Malta to an international audience through the participation of mixed gender groups in rowing.

Through this investment the Club aims to continue to nurture and foster a community which strives to achieve academic and rowing excellence in the years to come!