Kelly, who recently moved to the area from Ulladulla, runs a kayak and surf craft store on Albatross Road and moved club members with the naming of his slick new craft.

“Ray Jones is one of the coaches here at the Shoalhaven club and he’s just been diagnosed with cancer,” Kelly said.

Some of the other guys asked me what I was going to name the scull and I said, ‘I’m going to call it Ray Jones.’

“People were quite touched by that, he’s a well respected man around here at the club and I thought it was a nice touch.”

Fire engine red and constructed with ultra light carbon fibre, the ‘Ray Jones’ especially impressed Sydney rower Lorna Harrison, who has enjoyed a test run on the craft.

“It was very nice, it glided very nicely through the water and I’d love to do a comparison with a Fluidesign that I got imported from Canada,” she said.

“It was so nice to talk to Ron, he obviously knows his stuff!”

The feedback from fellow members has also been terrific, with Ray Jones on hand to christen his namesake at the club’s recent Christmas party.

Ron has fallen in love with the Nowra area and is especially appreciative of the facilities available on the Shoalhaven River.

“My friends back in Ulladulla ask me, ‘why did you move to Nowra?’ and I say why wouldn’t you!”

“The rowing club facilities are just fantastic and there’s not many better views than down here next to the river at six in the morning, it’s just beautiful.”

It was a chance meeting with a member of the SRC that first prompted Kelly to consider joining.

“It all started when one of their rowers brought a scull around for me to repair and I said to him that I can make these,” he said.

“Then I started talking to people in the club and they were most impressed, it’s a really good club and a very impressive place.”