If you want to join Victoria Lake Rowing Club (VLRC) you will need to go for a “try-out” row before applying for membership. This applies to both novices and people who have rowed before. The purpose of this is:
- For you to see whether you are interested in pursuing the sport
- To allow the club captain and club coach to assess the amount of coaching you require before we can slot you into one of the existing squads.
Here is more information on our try-out rowing sessions.
And now you want to become a member
In terms of Victoria Lake Club’s rules, any person who wishes to row regularly on the lake must:
- be a member of the main club, and
- be a member of one of the rowing clubs based at the lake.
Victoria Lake Rowing Club (VLRC) is the only rowing club at VLC that is open to anyone. There are other clubs at the lake but most of them are school clubs. Ravens Rowing club is also for seniors and masters, but membership of this club has restrictions. Please note that there are specific rules on Junior rowers who join VLRC.
To join VLRC there is a 2 stage process to be followed:
- Apply for membership of the VLC main club
There are a number of membership options (family, single etc.) to join the club. The fees paid to VLC are used to maintain the facilities at the club i.e. the lake, the clubhouse, the ablutions; and they cover administration and security costs. When applying for membership, if you wish to row, you should tick the ROWING section box – this does not give you membership of any of the rowing clubs, and is for administrative purposes only. Once you are accepted as a member of VLC, you can now join the rowing club.
Membership of VLC runs from 1st May to 30th April of each year.
- Apply for membership of the VLC rowing section
There are several options when you join our club:
- You wish to use club boats to row
If you are going to use club boats, the annual fee is R 1400.00 per adult rower. If you are family members of VLC, and at least one parent is a member of VLRC, and you have a child who wishes to row, then the annual fee per child is R 850.00.
- You wish to row your own boat only
If you have your own boat(s), and you are only going to row this boat(s), then you must still join the rowing club. The membership fee per annum for own boat users is R 700.00. (This is over and above the rack fees of R 950.00 per boat per year which you will need to pay to the Germiston Lake Trust – these fees are administered by the Trust, which is completely independent of the rowing club – note that the rack fees of R 950.00 per year are for VLRC members only – members of other clubs pay up to R 1200.00 per year).
- You wish to row your own boat and club boats
In this case, the annual fees are as per club boat users above (R 1400.00 per year for adults and R 850.00 per year for qualifying juniors). You will also have to pay rack fees to GLT at the rate of R860.00 per boat per year for your own boats.
Membership of VLRC runs from 1st June to 31st May of each year.
And if all of this is really confusing, please just contact us and we'll help get you started!