Bishops Rowing Club
“Bishops Diocesan Rowing Club has, for generations, been a home for young men at one of Cape Town’s most distinguished schools. Rowing feeds the soul, builds resilience and teaches young men to thrive when time is scarce, demands are high and the water is unforgiving. It is a sport that challenges the individual, strengthens the crew and, ultimately, shapes young men.”
Bishops Head Coach Timeline
1976 – 1977: Tim Rideout
1978 – 1985: Unknown
1986: John Peake/Nick Dunlop
1991 – 1992: Gary Williams
1993 – 1995: Unknown
1996 – 1999: Harold Blum
2000 – 2003: Unknown
2004: Keith Mason
2005: Jamie Pike
2006: Chris Vermaak
2007: Matt Pierce
2008-2010: Tyrone Delaney
2010 – 2016: Sam Wells
2017 – 2021: Brad Smith
Brad Smith (Bishops: 2017 – current)
Brad has been involved with rowing since 1998, when he started at St Andrews College, Makhanda. His rowing career saw him row at the Junior World Championships, Lithuania; the Student World Games, France; U23s in Netherlands and Belgium. Brad began his coaching career at Radley College, UK, as a Gap student. He first began teaching and running a rowing club in 2009 at Jeppe High School, Johannesburg. From there, he worked at St Benedict’s from 2013-2016, where he also coached a coxed four and coxless pair to Junior World Champs.
Brad moved to Cape town at the beginning of 2017, where he began his role as an educator and Master-in-Charge of Rowing at Bishops Diocesan College. During his time at Bishop’s, Brad has whipped the club into shape, producing consistent results and establishing respect for the sport in a School that is focused on everything but. Most excitingly plans to implement a rowing tank are in the pipeline!
Infrastructure & Fleet
Bishops Rowing Club is known, within the Western Cape Rowing community, to have one of the most comprehensive fleets. A top-flight fleet does not always lead to victory, however, the 1% benefit brought by boat quality, can make the difference between winning a losing.
Sculls (1x):
Bishops recently invested in 4 news sculls, bringing the total to 13. Swift designs hardy, elegant and practical sculls, which are ideal for our youngsters. Further, the improvement in small boats betters the student’s opportunity to move the boat and thus become more effective in bigger crew boats.
Quads (4x+) & Fours (4+ & 4-):
Bishops Rowing club is proud of our flagship boat, the USP Hudson coxed four. Bought in 2020, this is our newest coxed four and Currently, known as ‘Shark’ the boats naming rights are still available! This category of boat classes comprises – four quads, four coxed fours and two coxless fours.
Doubles (2x) & Pairs (2-):
Fillipi is amongst one of the first boat names that any young man learns in his rowing career. The striking stripe and cut of the boat are distinct! Bishops have four Fillipi pairs for the seniors, a swift and John Waugh further. The juniors only use pairs from U16 upwards and have the use of three doubles.
Octpules (8x+) & Eights (8+):
Three Octs for the younger gents on being a Swift provides sound building blocks to learn how to move the bigger boats. A newly refurbished True Blue is probably one of the older boats in the club and no longer a sore sight! The sticking fully dark Blue Hudson is apt for the lighter U16’s, incredibly quick off the line. The Open age group is treated to two state of the art Fillipi Eights Avatar and Merlion Blue.
Open day 2021 – Zeekoevlei