Archive for July, 2011

Several skiff crews are likely to attend the Great River Race on the River Thames in London on 17 September this year.  The race goes right through London, from Docklands to Surrey.  More information can be found at http://www.greatriverrace.co.uk/ .    SCRA class rules for the St Ayles skiff will apply, but racing rules will be as advertised on the Great River Race website. Each boat must fly a flag, as demonstrated by North Berwick last year.

Anyone who fancies a trip to London next year without racing, but with pomp and circumstance might consider the Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June 2012.  The organisers claim that up to 1000 vessels will be expected to help HM Queen Elizabeth celebrate 60 years on the thrown.  I venture to suggest that the event could be a finale or a starting point for a pleasant cruise up the Thames. More info:  http://www.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org/index.htm

Patsy James from Rowporty reports on taking part in a community festival on the Union Canal in Edinburgh:

Since she was launched in the middle of April Jenny Skylark & her sea-faring crew have been to regattas near (Dunbar, Port Seton & S Queensferry) & far (Achiltibuie & Port Soy), with challenges from wind, waves & weather. 

The canal posed challenges of a different sort. First up were the swans who took

What, no waves?

up residence at the slipway by Harrison Park – thanks to Mo for gallantly sacrificing her sandwiches to entice them back onto the water! Next, in the tight confines of the canal, we managed to break an oar whilst manoeuvring out onto the water. We then had a leisurely row up the canal towards Meggatland.

The festivities kicked off a around 11 with a parade, led by Zazou, a floating café, with a piper aboard, followed by Stan Reeves in his curragh, then Jenny Skylark & a flotilla of canoes / small craft. We crept along at the slowest of paces, occasionally having to ship oars as the canal narrowed under bridges.

 The festival was very colourful when we arrived, with lots to see, including raft racing & a samba band on the Leamington Lift Bridge, as well as many stalls & music. After a leisurely lunch, we gave rides in Jenny Skylark up to the lift bridge & back between raft races.

On the return journey the weather changed for the worse & there were several torrential downpours. Well done to all who weathered the return trip! This was a very different day out for RowPorty, but it was good to explore a stretch of water, very different to our own, as well as making links with other communities.  Next time we might take paddles rather than oars.  The laid back nature of the festivities is reflected by the picture of Nik Savage, relaxing on Jenny Skylark.

RowPorty host Portobello Regatta on 30 July.  More information at http://rowporty.org.uk/tag/regatta

Chris Perkins has managed to go through his thousands of Portsoy snaps, and there is now a very large selection on the Flickr Group. Here are a few to whet the appetite…

Lined up for the night...

C&PS lead the field home

Off to the start

Needing some Sea Traffic Control?

"Now where did I put the mirror?"

Royal West of Scotland Boat Club welcomed rowers to Greenock for a regatta on Saturday 9 July, coinciding with the arrival of the last of the Tall Ships fleet for the 2011 Tall Ships Race.

Royal West have a long history of rowing in fixed seat boats on the tidal Clyde.  They received their Royal Warrant as a thank you for lending a rowing boat to Queen Victoria for her to enjoy on a Scottish Summer holiday.  They have seen many other Scottish sea rowing clubs fall by the wayside over the years, and are delighted as a club by the recent resurgance in Coastal Rowing brought about through the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project.

The visting clubs were treated to close racing on a short course alongside Greenock Esplanade.  Races were held in two classes of boats.  The visiting clubs had travelled with their own St Ayles Skiffs, but were also given use of matched clinker built coxed pairs for competition in Mens and Womens coxed pair competitions.

Close racing - Anster & N Berwick

Honours were shared around in the St Ayles events.  North Berwick won in the Over 45 mens and the open mixed, Anstruther won in the ladies open and the over 50 mixed, and Royal West won in the Open Mens event.  Junior races were also held over short distances, with youths racing in the matched Royal West Skiffs, and even younger children racing in the coxed pairs.  Full list of winners as follows:

Men’s 45+ Skiff North Berwick
Junior Pairs Royal West (Kane)
Women’s Pairs North Berwick/Anstruther
Mixed 50+ Skiffs Anstruther
Men’s Open Skiff Royal West (Graham)
Women’s Open Skiff Anstruther
Men’s Pairs Royal West (Graham)
Mixed Open Skiffs North Berwick

Clinker Pairs

Heading off for a final - Royal West won

After a fairly lively evening enjoying the excellent facilities of Royal West’s club house and the wonderful hospitality of the club, crews were welcomed back on Sunday 10 July to enjoy a cruise in company up the Clyde to review the tall ship fleet.  Crews were mixed around a bit, and all enjoyed a spectacular sight, and a highly sociable rowing experience, reminding us all that use of our boats should not just be all about racing.

Cruising in (Good) Company

Just Chilling Out

That's what it's all about

A short diversion

A couple of photos for you.  The first is proof that they have been rowing in Plockton for a long time when most of the rest of us had not even thought of the idea.  Plockton are inviting any skiffs that can make it along to their open day on 23 July, and are even able to offer a little bit of assistance with travel.  It would be interesting to see if a St Ayles skiff, fully crewed with lowland scots could outrun a swarm of the Highland Midge.   See post  below for more details, and do try to make it if you can.

The second photo is a mystery skiff, looking like she wants to be afloat.  I wonder where she is and when we will see her on the water??? What do you reckon?

For the sheer speed and enthusiasm of a skiff build, I think that few will be able to match the enthusiasm of the 10 women building the first US West Coast skiff in Portland Oregon.

They received their kit on the 25th of May, and finished the planking on Sunday – five weeks building from a group of 10 women who apparently had barely done more than a little bit of home improvement. If they can continue the rate of progress into the dreary days of fitting out, there is a good chance that they might beat the Maine schools that started building last autumn.

They have a very detailed blog of what they have been up to which can be found here.

I have told them that they need to start thinking about raising the money to get to Portsoy next year.

Alec J