Five nights in Turin, rowed on the Po through the Parco del Valentino from Società Canottieri Armida, with a coaching staff on the water for every session, a private room at Opera35, and dinner with the coaches every evening.
Five nights in Turin, rowed on the Po through the Parco del Valentino from Società Canottieri Armida, with a coaching staff on the water for every session, a private room at Opera35, and dinner with the coaches every evening.
Who this is for
This week is built for single scullers entered in the Silver Skiff. You spend it on the course, rowing from Società Canottieri Armida. The club has rowed the Po since 1869 and is one of the seven behind the race, and its coaches work alongside ours on their own water. Guests come as individuals since the race is for singles, and a club can reserve seats together.
The rowing and swimming standard is in the booking terms.
The week
You arrive and we meet the train at the station. The hotel and the boathouse are a short walk apart along the river. Each day has a full morning session on the course, the work talked through before lunch and a lighter afternoon. Dinner is together each evening. The fourth morning is about the race itself: the start, the lines through the bends and the pacing. The fifth is a race simulation, and you leave with a race plan in your own words.
The week is planned around the water. Sessions and outings can move with weather and conditions.
The coaching
The coaching is the work Sparks has done since 2010: learning when to stay with discomfort, when to attend to effort and how to balance the two. One head coach sets the approach and every coach on the water teaches to it. The aim is that you leave able to read your own rowing and take a sharper approach into your own training.
Over 11 kilometres the question becomes a practical one about how you mean to spend the race.
The hotel and the table
Opera35 is a 38-room hotel on Via della Rocca. Each guest has a room of their own with no single supplement. Dinner is together each evening with the coaches at the table. Breakfast is early on training days.
What is included
- 5 nights in a room of your own at Opera35
- 5 breakfasts
- 4 dinners together, with wine
- 4 lunches on training days
- 4 coached days on the water
- Video of each full session, reviewed with you
- The evening talk
- A single provided and rigged for you
- The race plan you and your coach set down
- A 30-day drill plan built from the week
Not included
- Airfare. Airport transfers. Travel insurance. Personal gear. Dinners on free evenings.
Good to know
- The Po runs through the city and November can bring high water after rain. If the river is unrowable the session moves to the next window or onto land at the club. Sessions move, they do not disappear.
- Rowing standard: as in the booking terms.
- Solo guests always have their own room and are never paired.
- 105-day confirmation: No later than 105 days before departure, Sparks confirms by email whether the week will run. If it will not, you choose a full refund or a transfer to another 2027 departure. Please wait for this email before booking flights.
- $1,000 deposit to reserve. Balance due 90 days before departure.
- Travel insurance covering medical and evacuation is required. Cancel-for-any-reason cover is recommended and offered at checkout. Every guest signs a participation waiver. Gratuities are not expected.
Questions
Reserve a seat
Early Access
Seats are sold in tiers with the lowest price first. Prices are all-in per person, excluding airfare. Tiered pricing rewards early commitment. The current price and the seats remaining at that price are shown above. A $1,000 deposit holds your seat, and the balance is due 90 days before departure.
Before you arrive
Thirty days before departure you receive the welcome packet: the gear list, training suggestions from the coaching staff, the arrival plan and local contacts. Final logistics follow a week before you travel. If you would like to talk the week over first, chat with us in the lower right corner or click here to set up a call.