GB Randall foils – Gualter Graca

I would like to welcome Gualter Graca [first left in image above] as our GB Distributor. He brings a wealth of international experience and technical expertise to our team. Gualter is an International Elite Oarsman and and Veterinary Surgeon living and working in Great Britain. He has written an inspiring story about his rowing career which I would like to share with you.

“I am Gualter Graca, a Veterinary Surgeon living and working in Great Britain. I am a passionate Rower, and have been involved with the sport for over 20 years. I joined rowing at the Clube Fluvial Vilacondense in Portugal in 1999 on the back of a recommendation of a friend that had moved from swimming to rowing and really enjoyed it. I was also a competitive swimmer at the time and initially I tried to do both sports, it became clear that I was a lot better at rowing than swimming, helping with the decision to focus on rowing only. From that point on I was hooked, my first year was a total discovery, I joined the quad of the club, for the category of juvenil (age 16), we reached the second place in the national championship with one of the most competitive races I had until today, we lost by a bow ball, after a recovery from 5th at the halfway mark. That adrenaline drove a passion for all things rowing. I used to spend most of the afternoons in my club just helping my coach rigging and fixing boats to make sure they were all in good conditions and set ups for the athletes of the club. Here I found a special interest for the mechanics of rowing.


In my second year of Junior I decided to try the national team qualification and got into the team, participating in the Coupe de la Jeunnesse in Hazewinkel and achieving the 2nd place in the JM4X. The same year, at national level I was also the Junior national champion in the JM1X. At national level I achieved a further 10 titles, majority in the SM4X, for the Clube Fluvial Vilacondense. Internationally i stayed in the national team until 2009, culminating in trying to qualify to the Beijing olympic games in 2008 in the lightweight man’s four, a very competitive discipline that sadly no longer olympic in category. I learned a lot during my years in the national team and had great rowing experiences with a variety of results, like rowing on the beautiful natural lake of Rotsee in Lucerne and a great 11th place in the 2006 under 23 world Championships in Hazewinkel.

In 2009 an injury made me retire of high performance rowing. Since then I have been focusing on my veterinary career, keeping involved with rowing in my spare time. I am mainly involved in rowing and coaching in my spare time at the clubs local to my residence and I am one of the representatives of Ave Rowing Boats, a Portuguese boat manufacturer that the base is in my hometown, so rowing still occupies a great part of my life. Finally,

I am excited to be involved with RandallFoils, the technology seems impressive and the improvements in rowability undeniable.

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