Dutch generosity gets Odesa rowers back on the water

At the end of September 2024, two boat trailers rolled into the port city of Odesa in Ukraine, carrying 36 boats donated by Dutch rowing clubs. The boats were there to replace the fleet of the Chornomorets Rowing Club, which last year was hit by Russian shelling, destroying the club and its boats.

The arrival of the donated boats was the end of the first stage of a remarkable project set up by members of the Viking Rowing Club in Utrecht and the Royal Maas Yacht Club in Rotterdam. At the end of last year, rower and coach Gert-Jan Oelderik – a member of Royal Maas, who coaches juniors in Utrecht – was shown pictures of the destruction at Chornomorets by one of his rowers, a Ukrainian refugee.

“The shelling was aimed at the railways next to the boathouse, but the Russians are not very precise in their targeting. It was totally flattened, all the boats are gone. I thought we have to do something about it,” Oelderik explained.

A small committee, consisting of Viking members Steven van de Velde and Sven Querngester, and Rutger Mollee as well as Oelderik from Royal Maas, was promptly set up to run the ‘BotenVoorOdesa’ (Boats for Odesa) project. Sona Hospers of ASR Nereus from Amsterdam is also in the core group.

They put together a website and did some publicity in the Dutch rowing community, and within months they had 50 boats ready to be shipped to Ukraine. The boats, ranging from singles to an eight, plus blades, at least one ergometer, spin-bikes and spare parts, were donated by clubs from around the Netherlands.

Oelderik said getting the boats into Ukraine was “a bit of a hassle”, but they received help from a Dutch non-governmental organisation (NGO) called the ‘Lion of Kyiv’ which helps get aid into Ukraine. The NGO helped with paperwork and administration.

“They’re not so used to receiving boats at the border. There were a lot of trucks and lorries with washing machines, hoovers all kinds of equipment coming into Ukraine, but boats they had never seen,” said Oelderik.

The first transport of boats were driven over by professional driver Sybrand Treffers and co-driver Kay de Vries on a large truck, with Oelderik and two students – Joost Recourt of Asopos de Vliet Rowing Club and Sybren Beeksma from Argo Rowing Club – volunteering to take a smaller truck and trailer with the rest of the boats. The convoy headed first to Lviv, where the smaller trailer was taken over by Ukrainian coaches for the remainder of the journey to Odesa.

The shipment has had an instant impact, Oelderik said.

“They already rigged up the boats and are on the water again with junior rowers and veterans,” he said, adding that Chornomorets has also invited another club to come and row in the Dutch boats too.

The donations have continued coming.

“We have still about 30 boats at the Bosbaan in Amsterdam and we’re going to take them to Odesa in November,” added Oelderik. “From the south of Holland, to the north, to the east, to the west, all clubs are really embracing the initiative.”

The experience has been one of pride and emotion for the core team and the Ukrainian teenager who inspired the whole project.

“For him it’s a bit of a difficult situation because he is here, he’s safe, and his former teammates are in Ukraine in Odesa rowing. He’s proud that his club here in the Netherlands is supporting his former teammates and rowing in Ukraine,” Oelderik said.

He said the project had demonstrated the collective support of the Dutch rowing community.

“Rowing’s not a sport for quitters. It’s a sport that’s really about perseverance. Rowers don’t give up, and as we’ve seen there, Ukraine won’t give up,” Oelderik added.

“I didn’t have a lot of doubt if this action would be successful because there’s a lot of solidarity between clubs in Holland, if a club’s starting up it gets boats from other clubs to help. What’s more important for the Ukrainian people is that we’re giving boats but it’s maybe more important that they know they’re not alone. The boats are one thing, but the support is maybe even more worth it.”

Boat donations are still coming in, but Oelderik said the project, which is set up as a foundation, also needs funding. The first transportation cost about €10,000 – for the drivers’ food and accommodation, petrol, and administration – and money is also needed to help rebuild Chornomorets’ destroyed boathouse and to keep boats on the water with spares like wheels for seats and rigger parts. The intention is to keep Boats for Odesa going, and make sure Ukraine’s rowers can stay on the water despite the war that continues to rage around them.

For more information on the project, see https://www.botenvoorodesa.nl/.

Photos: Sybrand Treffers