Archive for January, 2012

John Irvine of North Berwick Rowing Club gave the slide seat rowers a bit of a fright at the Scottish Indoor Rowing Champs held at Heriot-Watt University.  Despite the lack of waves Big John managed a magnificent second place in the over 50 heavyweight category.  The racing is held on concept 2 rowing machines over distance of 1000m.  With 200m, to go John was down on leader Milos Hunek of Czech Republic.  However the live feed from the event showed him coming back strongly from then to the finish, where Hunek just managed to hold on by one tenth of a second.  Hunek posted a time of 3:08.1, with Big John registering 3:08.2, and the third placed competitor coming in 2 seconds further back.  A magnificent effort from the big man, as anyone who has ever checked their time on one of these machines will know!

Full results here:  http://www.scottish-rowing.org.uk/applets/11SIRC_Results.pdf

Slightly less than a year ago, I posted that an order for St Ayles skiff kits had been placed with our agents in Australia.  Unfortunately, it transpired that this was alcohol fuelled enthusiasm on the part of the prospective customer.

I have now had confirmation from our Australian agent that he finally has a cheque for a St Ayles skiff kit.  This is being purchased by a group in Franklin Tasmania called Women on the Water.  Having seen some of the emails regarding the purchase, it is very evident that there is a high level of enthusiasm about their project.

With one group having made the commitment to build, we are expecting two or three more kits to be ordered very soon from other groups who have expressed strong interest.

Alec J

Rowing is not just about racing.  Plenty of skiffies enjoy getting out in the boat just for the sake of it, and at the end of last year many of us enjoyed the social cruise in company up the Tweed organised by members of Dunbar Rowing Club.

This year we suspect that some groups will be using their skiffs or other rowing boats for exploring the Scottish coastline beyond their home waters.  To encourage groups to share their experiences of this and to allow us all to learn from each other SCRA is pleased to announce the SCRA Cruising Log competition.

We would like members of SCRA clubs who go on expeditions and adventures to record them in a cruising log and forward that on to us. Ideally we would like to log to be uploaded so that we can post a link to it from our website.  Logs should have some pictures or video as well as a written description of the voyage, giving details of launch and recovery sites, stop overs, and descriptions of the tidal streams and conditions.  We hope that others coming after can learn constructively so please do admit to your mistakes as well as saying what went well, and please also include an appendix with some thoughts on safety issues that you feel others would benefit from.  The competition is not just for expeditions in St Ayles skiffs.  We would love to hear about expeditions in any boats powered primarily by oars.

Closing date for entries will be 20 October 2012 (edited- a couple of weeks earlier than originally announced) , but we would be delighted if you could send entries sooner than that to inspire others.  All expeditions must have taken place in the 12 months preceding the closing date.

We would be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to sponsor the competition or donate a trophy.  The competition will be judged on how entertaining and informative the log is, rather than just how long or arduous the cruise is, so don’t be shy about recording your thoughts on a weekend jaunt.

All entries and enquiries to secretary@scottishcoastalrowing.org please.

If you feel you could do with brushing up your navigation and seamanship, watch out for details of the course being run by the National Centre at Cumbrae in Essential Navigation and Seamanship.  A big discount is going to be available to SCRA members,  details of which will be posted shortly.  It goes without saying that the crews taking part in this competition must take responsibility for their own safety, and ensure that their craft is seaworthy, appropriately equipped for the contemplated voyage, and that the planned voyage is within the competency of the crew.

For inspiration read “Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome K Jerome, ”Ice Bears and Kotic” by Peter Webb or perhaps RowPorty’s log of their row down the Tay:

http://rowporty.org.uk/rowporty-tackles-the-tay-56703&urlHash=-3.3170272613363314E146

Several rowing groups in Scotland have been invited to take part in the Queens Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames in London on 3 June.  For those who do not know of the Pageant, Her Majesty is going to travel down London’s River on a royal barge, accompanied by a flotilla of 1000 small craft from all over the commonwealth.  The accompanying boats will travel 10 miles downriver from Putney to Docklands.

From Scotland, the Monarch’s Lord Lieutenants have been asked to identify craft to represent their counties and some of those Lord Lieutenants have looked to members of Scottish Coastal Rowing Association to do the honours.

Berwickshire will be represented by one of the County’s St Ayles skiffs, with a crew hopefully made up of members from both Eyemouth and St Abbs.  Ross is to be represented by a crew from Ullapool rowing club in Ulla.  Stornoway Rowing Club are going to be representing the Western Isles, with their crew to include local youngsters being recognised for their sporting success.  All three of these SCRA member clubs have a fair amount of training, fundraising and organising to do, and we wish them luck with that.

The Moray Gig leaving Portsoy Old Harbour

In addition Aberdeen Boat Club have had their application to take part in the Pageant accepted.  The Club intend to use a St Ayles skiff for the event.   The Moray Gig is also going to be taking part, representing the County of Moray.  http://www.moraygig.com/  At 38′ this sailing and rowing gig, rowed by 10 rowers with a total crew of 13,  will dwarf the St Ayles skiffs.  She was built in Findhorn where she was launched in 2001, and where she is still based.

The Glasgow Humane Society will also have a rowing boat, “George” taking part in the event and the Sheltand Isles will be sending down Dim Riv, a half size replica of a viking long boat.

More information on the pageant on their website:   http://www.thamesdiamondjubileepageant.org/

Since early December, when skiff No 49 was ordered for construction in Newcastle upon Tyne, various candidates have presented themselves for the purchase of the 50th. Almost every time I emailed Robbie Wightman to let him know that I had had another “Note of Interest”, he would reply telling me that he had received some interest from another group.

We also heard through the grapevine that another community had received its lottery funding for a skiff, adding to the list of possibles.

Tonight, after much anticipation, I can reveal that the 50th skiff in the UK and 70th around the world, has been ordered by North Queensferry Boat Club.

I went over to NQ to receive the cheque, and have a look at the progress on their first skiff. Pictures will be posted in the morning, but I would say that the real competition with South Queensferry is starting now, as the quality of their build is of a very high standard. If they can carry on as they are, then SQ are going to have to raise their game in the boatbuilding stakes.

It says a lot for the enthusiasm of NQ that they have found the money for a second skiff already. They are aiming for a launch date of 6 May for the first skiff. Will six weeks practice be sufficient for them to seriously challenge SQ at their regatta? Will the Queensferries become the real “needle match” in Scottish Coastal Rowing?

Alec Jordan

Happy New Year to all in the  Scottish Coastal Rowing community.  Good luck with all the boat building and rowing in the year ahead.  There are currently 25 St Ayles skiffs launched in Scotland and Northumberland, and there are 24 kits in the process of being built, the most recent being despatched to Byker in Newcastle and the Isle of Islay.  Hopefully we will welcome many more of those boats onto the water in time for the main regatta season, which is currently due to start on 5 and 6 May 2012 at Port Seton.  We eagerly await finding out which community will order the 50th kit!

Rowing a St Ayles...... the icing on the cake