KEY POINTS:
An arsonist has caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to one of New Zealand's top rowing clubs.
Yesterday's early morning attack at the Avon Rowing Club in Christchurch devastated offices, storage rooms and the newly-refurbished clubhouse.
It was the second attack in three months.
Canterbury Rowing regional manager John Wylie said that fortunately the fire had missed the boatshed, which houses boats for all 90 members.
"If it had hit there it would have been horrific for us," said Wylie.
"The mess is pretty bad and we're pretty upset about it. It's so malicious."
The club managed to avoid serious damage three months ago when someone set fire to a recycling bin next to the clubhouse and pushed an LPG bottle against it.
"Luckily someone saw that in time and managed to put it out before everything exploded."
Wylie, who helped build the club in 1958, said all the clubs' rowers had been in Twizel this week for a regatta and only just found out about the damage.
"Everyone is pretty upset but we didn't tell them that something happened until after their last race. They would have been too upset."
Inspector Alan Weston said police wanted to hear from anyone who noticed anything suspicious near the club between 4am and 6am.
