The second St Ayles to be built in England will be launched on Thursday 31st May, and all followers of Scottish Coastal Rowing are warmly invited to take part.

The skiff is being built at St Michaels Church in Byker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by two teams of community boat builders.  One team is made up of  teenagers  (YMCA Newcastle) and the second group are adults recovering from  alcohol / substance abuse (Norcare and Tyne Housing). The whole build was commissioned by Newcastle’s Science City community science team.  The building of the skiff has therefore been a real community effort, and the plan is to use her as a community resource, racing on the Tyne and travelling to various coastal events, helping to reintroduce coastal rowing to the region.

The launch party will leave at 10am from St Michael’s Church Byker, Hedlam St (NE6 2DX), walking the boat down to St Peters Marina for the launch. At 11am the skiff will be lowered into the water with opportunities to  take a turn on an oar.

Your Homes Newcastle have kindly donated some authentic Byker paint  and the oars are being varnished. The skiff will spend 2 hours on the  water from 11am to 1pm on Thursday 31st, then back up to the Church  for some sandwiches and a mug of coffee / tea around 1.30-2pm, where  you can try your hand at some traditional woodworking. So come along and witness what a creative community can achieve by  sharing skills and utilising their natural surroundings.

If you intend to come back to the Church  afterwards please let Alex Finnegan of puppetship CNC know, so that he can arrange numbers for food and beverages:

Alex Finnegan PuppetShip CIC 07971 407 586 http://www.puppetship.com/

http://buieboat.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/its-that-coigach-regatta-time-of-year/

http://www.rwsabc.co.uk/club-rowing-regatta/

Not only will you have an opportunity to race along the Historic Greenock Esplanade but you will also be able to try out a variety of rowing craft, canoes and possibly sailing dinghys too.

Have a look and make an entry. The camping option is not bad either.

The event will be on Ergometers.

The ACRA will be providing travel via ferry to Belfast and accommodation while you are there.

Anyone interested should contact Elaine Nelson via elainenelson01@hotmail.com to confirm your interest. Please also copy in myself at secretary@rwsabc.com.

Adam Graham

Next weekend will see two more craft formally join the St Ayles fleet.  A few posts below you will see details of the launch on 20 May at Maidens, of the skiff built at Carrick Academy.  The day before that Pittenweem’s skiff, to be named “Fisher Lass” will be launched.  The naming ceremony will take place on Saturday 19th May at 2.00 pm at “The Gyles”, Pittenweem Harbour.  The boat will be given her name by Pittenweem’s Fisher Lad and Lass (crowned at last year’s Gala Day).  There will  also be an exhibition of drawings of the build by local artist Isabella Colville, as well as lots of photographs on show and a barbecue too. Anyone not away racing at Achiltibuie  regatta, will be made very welcome to come along and join in at Pittenweem, or at Maidens for the launch of the Carrick boat.

I know, I know, far too easy.  This boat is now in fact fully planked and painting has started…..  but where could it be?

On Sunday 06 May North Queensferry launched their skiff and named her St Margarets’s Hope. In front of a good crowd from in and around the village. The weather held back and the sea was kind for all the rowers. We were well supported from Royal West, Anstruther, Newhaven and South Queensferry. Under the backdrop of the two famous bridges all the rowers worked off the calories gained from the perfectly charred burgers on offer. St Margaret’s Hope looked resplendent in her blue and white livery against all the newly varnished timber. Peter Locke from South Queensferry was invited to cox for us on her maiden row. This was our way of showing our respect and gratitude to South Queensferry for all of the support given to us over the last couple of years. There was this atmosphere all day of people swapping around the crews, such is the good honest comradeship around the members of the Scottish Coastal Rowing.

That’s our first skiff in now, so we have something to play with and can let the crew from the South have their boat back to themselves. Frank our boat builder is having a couple of weeks off then he starts all over again with the next kit, launching around September, looks like another party on the Pier (any excuse).

On behalf of NQCRC I want to say how much we’re all looking forward to meeting up with you around the regattas. If we have never met then please come over and say hello, it will be nice to meet with you all.

Kind Regards

Gordon Scobie
NQCRC

Racing started at 11am on the Saturday with the annual Cockenzie v Port Seton race. This acted as a demonstration for the visiting crews as to the course. There were then 23 races in total on Saturday starting with a series of heats before the lunch break. After lunch there were the semi-finals and finals.
Some of the racing was very close, all of it was exciting for those taking part and those watching. Spectators gathered above the beach in the outer harbour could only see one of the two boats as they approached the finish line, meaning they had no idea until the last minute who was going to win.

The Saturday finals were contested and won by the following:

Mens 40+ C&PS v NBRC C&PS winning

Womens 40+ C&PS v St.Ayles RC C&PS winning

Mixed Open NBRC v C&PS NBRC winning

Following the prize giving ceremony there was a fun event with the clubs racing from Port Seton Harbour to Cockenzie Harbour and back. The fun element was that there was a crew change at Cockenzie Harbour. C&PS led the way into Cockenzie Harbour where a very efficient St.Ayles RC crew over took them in the changeover. On the way back St.Ayles RC held off C&PS until around 300 yards from the harbour, where C&PS started to pull away. A very impressive effort from NBRC on the second leg saw them catch the two front runners at a remarkable pace.

A Ceilidh/Disco was held on Saturday night which entertained around 60 people, plenty of soup was had by all.

There were 12 races on Sunday with finals contested and won by the following:

Mens open NBRC v C&PS NBRC winning
Womens open C&PS v NBRC C&PS winning
Mixed 50+ C&PS v NBRC C&PS winning

Quickest time all weekend was set by NBRC Mens open team in a time of – 2mins 6 seconds.

Regatta organisers across the SCRA clubs were set a very high standard by this event.
Venue – Ideal
Tides – Perfectly timed
Weather – Fantastic
Hospitality – Perfect (Especially the tea tent)
Racing – Exciting
Fun – In abundance

Boatie Blest would like to thank everyone for attending.