Sucé-Sur-Erdre 2025

The 2025 Annual CIVV Gathering was hosted by the Rowing Club de Sucé-sur-Erdre in the small French town of the same name. The program spanned four days, beginning with the welcome party on Wednesday evening and ending with the goodbye lunch on Saturday afternoon. In between we rowed more than 33km along, to quote Napoleon, the most beautiful river in France.

The welcome party, hosted in the Sucé club house, included not just excellent wine and local cidre, but also an introduction of the weekend program. Denis, the architect of the weekend and head of communications for the rowing club, explained the rowing plans for the next three days, as well as the weather, and began establishing boat assignments. While the hosts organized, CIVV members who had not seen each other in a year were able to catch up – the room echoed with calls of „oh nice to see you again!“ in many different languages. Members from a variety of European cities were in attendance, from Oxford, Treviso, Amsterdam, Paris, Köln, Frankfurt, Padua, and Venice.

Thursday began at 8:30 with the boats being put in the water. While this was a practiced process for the seven club boats provided , it was the first time the CIVV Caorlina entered the Erdre, but the process went smoothly thanks to Dimitri’s excellent driving. After a quick safety briefing, again by Denis, nine boats began their way to a picnic area near Nort-sur-Erdre. The route, about 10km in length, took us north along the Erdre. The rowing was smooth, the lush vegetation along the river was beautiful, and the energy of the group was high. We reached our picnic spot, lunched together on sandwiches and salad, and exchanged stories and updates about the year.

Our row back to the club house in the afternoon was a little harder; the wind worked against us. The community feeling remained strong though as people checked in on other boats, and made sure we were all reaching our destination safe and sound. From an educational standpoint, it was also amazing to see how people mastered the winds, and what techniques different boats required from different rowers. All nine boats arrived, and there was general merriment; we had survived an epic 20km row. Beer and crackers helped keep the mood up. The evening was free, and I am sure I speak for more then just myself when I say we slept well that night.

Friday morning we were divided into two groups – one which rowed the boats to Nantes, and the other, which would row the boats back. As a result, we were a smaller group, with four boats: the CIVV Caorlina, the two Gondolas Antonella and Va E Spera, each equipped for four rowers, and the gondolinà San Marco. With slight headwind, the morning party conquered the 13,5km to Nantes, working up an excellent appetite for our lunch. At times, we felt like celebrities cruising down the river as locals and tourists alike took photos and videos of us.

We joined with the morning tour group at the Jardain du Japon on the Île-de-Versailles. Here we took our first group photo, added below, with hyperlinks to identify each person by their name if you hover over their face.

The afternoon city tour of Nantes lead by Catherine, Brigitte and Estelle allowed us to appreciate the historical context of the region far better. The castle, the cathedral, and the story of the rerouting of the Erdre were fascinating.

In the evening, dinner was hosted at Salle de la Papinière in Sucé-sur-Erdre. After aperitifs, the CIVV General Meeting, beginning with a speech by new president Dimitri Nicolaidis as well as a report from the board of directors. The following dinner was wonderful: once again, the room rang with multilingual chords as languages flowed between tables, people translating for each other, and delighting in their new connections.

On Saturday morning, it was time for the climax of the weekend: the regatta. In randomized teams, pairs rowed in the white sandolos Diadora. The regatta times are listed in order of time: