From Ely to Venice and beyond: the 2026 Vogalonga
May 24th marked Venice’s 50th Vogalonga (Italian for ‘long row’), a 30-kilometer route between Venice’s lagoon, its small islands, and the magnificent Grand Canal: a non-competitive journey that celebrates the beauty and tradition of Venice and promotes the use of sustainable boats to protect Venice from waves caused by speedboats and jet skis.
Isle of Ely teamed up with Broxbourne Rowing Club to row 11 crews in recreational quads amongst over 8,000 other rowers in over 2,000 rowing or paddling boats of all shapes and sizes.
Although the route is 30-kilometers, many invited guests had to boat from either Mestre or Fusina, adding another 6-8 kilometers each way, but offering the opportunity to row a full marathon!
Our flotilla boated from Fusina and made for the starting point at Piazza San Marco via Giudecca Canal. The tide in the lagoon was exceptionally low and made for rather choppy waters, but crews quickly adapted to conditions, rowing in pairs to keep boats steady and bailing when waves got too friendly, which was quite often.
Once clear of San Marco and the mass of other boats, our crews settled into a good rhythm, enjoying the views from lively waters and stopping here and there to swap coxes and keep hydrated, fed, and protected from the sun. Burano was the halfway point and made for a great place for raiding parties to get some gelato and other essentials. The course carried on along Murano’s north shore instead of through the island itself, with some of the crews discovering Murano glass spoils on the beach!
Boats carried on from Murano back towards Cannaregio Canal at the top end of Venice via Canale de Fondamente Nuove. And that’s where the party began. Hundreds of boats waiting to enter the narrow Cannaregio Canal and navigate through an even more narrow bridge (Ponte de Tre Archi). It was less a queue and more a wedge, or post lunch mosh pit with boats as one person put it, but things eventually got moving.
Once clear of Cannaregio, boats entered Venice’s Grand Canal, the homestretch to the finish at Piazza San Marco, passing under Rialto Bridge and taking care to avoid lively Gondoliers and vaporettos. The party was well underway at Piazza San Marco for those who boated from inside Venice, but our crews continued on back to Fusina for our own post marathon party. Sadly, a couple of boats had to pull into some smaller canals off Giudecca Canal for safe harbour from the increasingly more powerful waves and rush hour traffic. We thankfully kept in good communication with all boats and were able to warn our last boat to steer clear of Giudecca and find a safe way back via the Grand Canal if they could. Spinning their boat at San Marco during rush hour was no easy feat, topped only by rowing back up the Grand Canal, Cannaregio, and to the calming refuge of the north lagoon. From there they carried on the last long stretch back to Fusina, their only near miss being the jumping fish. The extra stretch meant they managed (together as a crew from two clubs for the first time) to pull off rowing a half-century (50-kilometers)!
The afterparty was well deserved, but the work kept on the next day and the next until our boats safely moored in Venice were brought over to the docks for loading and bringing back home by our tenacious trailering party.
