SCRA News

Perth Coastal Rowing Club held their inaugural Fun Row on the 3 rd August. It was held at Perth Sailing Club, Lairwell. Nine skiffs attended from all over Scotland with there being over 90 people in attendance. The sun shone which added to the enthusiasm of the day and contributed to the fun rows.

The morning event was a row down the River Tay through two sections of buoys, the latter section was rowed in reverse. The skiffs then continued further down the river towards Elcho Castle where crews collected a plastic duck before heading back up river to Lairwell. Having worked hard, the crews had earned their buffet lunch.
The afternoon had all the skiffs rowing up the River Tay under Perth’s four bridges and into the centre of city. A great sight for the People of Perth to see.

We would like to thank all the clubs who participated and everyone who assisted in making the day a great success.
Here’s to the next one.
     

Tryrone Currie has been building skiff oars for several years now, for most of the clubs in N. Ireland, 30 or so Scottish clubs and a couple of sets to England. He is retiring in 2024 and has very kindly documented his build method. We know there are always many posts put on our Facebook page from members asking for advice on how to build oars and we feel that this document will be a very helpful.

Oar build Tyron Currie Build Method

This document will also be added to the Oars section on the website for future reference

On the 12-14th of July Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club held our annual regatta which welcomed 18 Clubs from all over Scotland to our waters. The sun was shining all weekend and not a single drop of rain! Friday night kicked off with our youths defending last year’s overall youth trophy, We had fantastic teams competing from Eastern and Lossiemouth. With our kids and the help of borrowing rowers from Strathpeffer and Lossiemouth.. Ullapool retained the trophy!

Saturday and Sunday’s races were held in the glorious sunshine which most definitely motivated our crews! Ullapool had fantastic results as well as some close races with the visiting clubs. After all the hard work from our crews it was time on Sunday night to find out which club had won the overall club trophy. Over the weekend the score is tallied up by counting each club’s best 6 results. Ullapool came a fantastic 3rd with 100 points…. Now come onto 2nd. Both top 2 clubs had scored exactly the same 102 points so it came down to the top 7 races and with 118 points North Berwick were 2nd and the Overall Club Winners of Ullapool Regatta 2024 with 119 points went to Golspie!

All of this could not have been done without the generous help we received! A Massive thank you to Kevin Peach and the Harbour staff for letting us host our regatta inbetween ferry times and for providing safety boats alongside Wester Ross Salmon to make sure all rowers were safe on the water and for allowing us to use the marquee and who can forget the awesome ceilidh that was held in the Ferry Terminal with the very talented Ru Mac who provided excellent music all night long! To Topher Dawson and Andy Rendle for being the Chief Umpires for the weekend. To Lindsay and James Macleod for making our brand new medals with a new design, it definitely made us all row that bit faster! To Fiona, Isla and Sheila for organising new merchandise and to Charlotte Watters for providing a new design. To Keanchulish for providing us the venison for the regatta burgers and to Sheila and James Slaughter for making every single burger and to our fantastic burger team for keeping the hungry rowers fed. To Mabel for allowing us to use her kitchen to fill up with water and clean our soup pans. To Nick and Sue for creating the best raffle and a huge thank you to the local businesses for providing such amazing prizes. To Dulcie and Gary for providing a PA sound system so we were all updated with the excitement of each race. To Andrew Hayton and Tesco for providing the regatta with water bottles. To Chris Dyer for being on the ball and getting us with the times with using card machines! And to Kathryn Bennett who was the most glamorous sales rep with our merchandise.

Most importantly a massive thank you to those who donated home baking, soup and sandwiches to the food tent to keep the rowers fed. To those who volunteered their time all weekend and helped run the food and merchandise tent as well as umpiring and commentating.

Lastly, A Thank you to the Committee, Club members and the local community who rallied together this whole weekend. Everyone was fantastic with their support, rowing and coxing.

India Poe
Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club Convenor

Race report:

We were glad to welcome a composite youth team from Lossiemouth and Burghead, and a team from Eastern, to our 1km youth races on Friday night. Lindsay Watt of Golspie kindly started them from the far side of the loch and there were some very fast times of less than 7 minutes.

On Saturday in perfect sunny weather we ran 12 races with up to 17 clubs, and on Sunday 10 races. In the brisk NW wind the turn line had quite bouncy conditions with the wind tending to push skiffs up the loch. When skiffs which had drifted up the loch met others coming out of their turns a bit wide of their lanes, there was the potential for contention.

Most of the coxes managed to avoid difficulty but there was one collision which as a safety issue resulted in both boats being disqualified from that race. Another less serious oar clash resulted in one club getting a 360 degree turn from the boat umpire and being moved down one place in the results. No injury or damage was reported.

The oar clash was caught on this very short video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-TOcB94Y14

It is important for coxes to understand that a tight turn in a 20m lane requires the starboard rowers to dig in for the first part of the turn and sometimes also to row backwards in the second half. Because the skiff has come to a virtual stop, the rudder has nearly no effect in the second half of the turn. If the starboard rowers row forwards at all before the skiff has completed all 180 degrees of its turn, the hull or the oars will come out of lane and risk a collision or a clash This race course is an exact replica of next year’s Worlds course in Stranraer, so clubs who plan to attend the Worlds, take notice

Golspie held their 4th regatta in this our tenth birthday year. A total of 8 clubs boats participated, mostly from the North east areas from Helmsdale down to Burghead but also including the furthest travelled club from the west, Skye & Lochalsh who along with Portmahomack are still very novice clubs. There was also club members from another 5 different clubs mixing in with others made for a great day of interclub rowing and socialising.

8 lanes over a  4 X 500 meters course with individual turning buoys made it exciting to watch as the course could be seen clearly from the shore and gave the cox`s a little bit more to do, having to navigate round 3 turns.

It was a brilliant day with perfect rowing conditions and everyone had great fun (we hope) despite some showery weather and a fresh northerly wind at times.

The skiffie tented village area kept all the clubs in reasonably close contact with each other to allow the usual friendly banter. The catering tent, run by TYKES Young carers, with the usual bacon butties, burgers, tea, coffee and cake etc went down well and thanks to all who all who supported them.

The “novel cocktail bar” was also a pleasant surprise to some. What more do you need when watching the gladiators battling it out on the water when enjoining a Pina Colada or Mojito or a cold beer. (No Golspie, No party)

It was fantastic to have so many people from the village come along  and to support the club.

A big thanks must go to Andy Rendle for being the chief umpire and Garry Howard for providing the umpire boat and to the many others who helped out with time keeping and on the water umpiring, as we all know without them. Well say no more.

Golspie are proud to have regained the Campbell Port Memorial Trophy as overall regatta champions. The Median trophy was again won by Nairn and two other awards were made, one to the furthest travelled club, Skye & Lochalsh and the Boniest boat to Portmahomack who are one of the youngest clubs to participate only having launched Auricila late last year.

A big thank you to everyone for participating and supporting and we look forward to many future encounters with you all.

Golspie Rowing Club

On June 29th, 2024, Troon Coastal Rowing Club launched Marjorie Jeffrey, the fourth addition to their fleet and the third St. Ayles skiff, and skiff number 238 on the Scottish register! This new craft joins Marr Voyager, Ailsa Lass, and Lady Isle. The launch ceremony, a significant naval tradition, was simpler than historic ship launches. Gavin Paterson, representing The Jeffrey Charitable Trust, christened the boat. Club members celebrated the event, reflecting on the boat’s build and their community’s support. The event was marked by excitement and hope for future successes, with attendees praising Marjorie Jeffrey’s stunning appearance and potential. 

More details on the event are available here: https://trooncoastalrowing.org.uk/2024/06/30/marjorie-jeffrey/