How EVERYTHING began…
Probably Ave Rowing Boats would not exist if a 15-year-old boy had not traveled from Mozambique to Portugal (Vila do Conde) and had not entered, by mistake (we hope!!) to canoeing on Clube Fluvial Vilacondense.
It did not even take two weeks to realize it was not what he wanted, and immediately switched to the ROWING section. This boy’s name is Leandro Fernandes, and he is the face of Ave Rowing Boats!
We can almost say that this project began in 1990 when Leandro started rowing. Already at that time, he had the dream of creating, of innovating our “traditional” sport of election. And it was exactly with 36 years old that he has made this dream come true!
In 2016, together with his partner José Santos, former rower, and director of Clube Fluvial Vilacondense and fundamental support of what we are today at Ave Rowing Boats, the company formally began, which has been reinventing rowing as we have known it since then.
AVE Method
Lamination
Sanding
Painting
Assemblying
Why AVE?
Firstly, because it is the name of the river of our hometown (Vila do Conde), where we have learned to row and spend much of our time thinking about how to innovate and evolve, so that this project grows strong and robust.
In addition, “Ave” is the Portuguese word for bird, symbolizes movement, freedom and the spirit of a Bird. These are sensations that we want our boats to provide to you, and that’s why we say, “Come fly with us.”
The Team
Currently we have the support of 13 employees from various areas of formation. From painting to assembly, traveling to lamination and through the sanding area, to the offices where accounting and organization management are carried out.
Each one of us has its function, but a common goal. Offer the best experiences and make the dreams of our customers come true through our boats!
Ave’s mission is to develop high quality rowing boats and help develop rowing around the world and bring even more athletes to our fabulous sport. Our slogan “By rowers for rowers”, means exactly what is written. Forming our team, we now have 5 rowers and former rowers! Can you believe it? This means that 38% of our employees’ row or have already rowed.
The fact that our boats are made by rowers for rowers helps us a lot to understand athletes, to look at the most specific details, to improve and to develop new approaches to our products.
