Not that the four rowers who came over from the Netherlands are any strangers to crossing open water as they have rowed across the English Channel from England to their native Holland.

For this year's Navy George Bass Surfboat Marathon, they were joined by two Kiwis and two Aussies several of Dutch decent to give the team a truly international flavour.

All the boys and one girl wore the Dutch national colour of orange and on the last day on the final leg the support boat flew the red, white and blue of their national flag.

"I have enjoyed the atmosphere and all the people," said Marjits Vriesendorp, very much a woman making Surfboat Holland a mixed team in this year's marathon.

Bermagui was the only other mixed team to have rowed the George Bass, with both teams competing in the Men's Veterans division and both acquitting themselves very well.

"We normally row by ourselves as we are the only club in Holland.

Organisers hope they can coax over more International teams from Great Britain and other countries who compete in surfboat races.

The story of Surfboat Holland and its long-distance connection from Dutch dykes and chilly, grey North Sea to the Australian surf and iconic surfboats goes back a long way.

Rower and one of the original founding members Marcel Stroo explained that a Dutch still-water rower became friendly with an Australian female surfboat rower who told yarns from the high seas.

That was enough to inspire a group of Dutch rowers who should have been dreaming of competing as a rowing eight in a dam in the Olympics to instead track down a 30-year-old, 300 kilo old surfboat that some crazy Aussie had taken over to Holland.

The boat was in a backyard on an island and the boys withdrew some cash from an ATM making an offer and taking the surfboat back home to Amsterdam.

The rest is history and they competed in Italy as Surfboat Holland in a surfboat competition, later coming over to Australia to compete at the world championships at Lorne, Victoria in 2006.