Entrepreneur Howard Winklevoss is the founder of RowAmerica, an organization dedicated to the advancement of the sport. Watching his twin sons become dedicated and skilled rowers at the Saugatuck Rowing Association (SRA) in Westport, CT, inspired Winklevoss greatly and he immediately fell in love with the sport. In 1997, he started a rowing program at their high school in Greenwich, CT so other students could learn to row.
When the existence of the SRA was threatened in 1998 by the proposed sale of the club’s rented land for condominiums, Winklevoss started RowAmerica and formed a Club Division to purchase the land on which to build and manage a new club instead. The Saugatuck Rowing Club paved the way for the Greenwich Rowing Club in 2002 and the two clubs continue to be the heart of a thriving rowing community in the Fairfield County area with over 1,000 adult and junior members.
With two clubs and a combined fleet of 75 rowing shells from many different manufacturers to maintain, RowAmerica began to focus on the way shells are sold and serviced in the US. Winklevoss, his rowing directors, and staff of fourteen American and international coaches, began to envision change. He met with Drew Harrison and met with designer Klaus Filter and the Xiong family of Flying Eagle Boat Company to lay the groundwork for launching WinTech Racing to make that vision a reality.
WINTECH Racing is now owned by Flying Eagle Boat company and is one of the largest boat builders in existence with a 500,000 square-foot state of the art manufacturing facility and worldwide distribution.