RYDE Rowing Club have been buoyed by a cash boost towards a boatbuilding project which could also benefit the Isle of Wight's other two rowing clubs.

Geoff Underwood, founder and trustee of Island-based charity, the Wight Aid Foundation, presented Ryde Rowing Club with a cheque for £2,500 towards a new coastal four boatbuilding project at its annual awards dinner on Saturday. 

The club, like others, have an urgent need for a new coastal four and, with very few boat builders making competitive coastal fours currently, the waiting list is more than two years' long.

So Ryde Rowing Club, in partnership with Isle of Wight boatbuilders AB Composites, with the support of the Wight Aid Foundation, will build a new mould for a coastal four.

The move will allow the club — and the Isle of Wight's other two, Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club and Newport — the opportunity to have competitive racing coastal fours built locally by an Island firm.

It is hoped the move will also attract interest from rowing clubs on the mainland.

At the awards dinenr, Mr Underwood also gave a brief explanation of the foundation’s work, whose primary purpose is to provide funding to charities, groups and organisations that aim to improve the lives of people living on the Isle of Wight.