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On Thursday 1st June, 5 of our members, Norma Loudon, Jo Drewitt, Clive Drewitt, Duncan McKay and Ann Hume, packed up St Baldred and set off on their journey to take part in the Ocean to City race, An Rás Mór, in Cork. We were to be just 5 of 650 participants and 1 of 230 boats.
It was a very early start, travelling to Cairnryan to catch the 11.30am ferry to Belfast. We then headed off to Cork, passing Dublin on the way. It was a long journey, eventually arriving in Cork about 7.30pm and had an interesting time getting to our accommodation. Narrow streets, parked cars, and a boat on a trailer are not a good mix! After settling in, food and drink were required with Clive enjoying his much-needed pint of Guinness after the long drive.
Friday morning was time to relax and explore Cork city which is lively and cosmopolitan before getting the boat hitched up again to take her to the start at Crosshaven. Here we launched the boat and rowed it to a pontoon ready for the race. All went smoothly, apart from the dramatic exploding jockey wheel so some heavy lifting was required! It was really good to meet rowers from different areas and see different boats, all getting ready for the race.
Race day, Saturday 3rd June, involved an early start to get the bus to Crosshaven in time for coxes’ briefing. There was a great buzz of excitement as crews did their final preparations for the day ahead and inspected how each other’s boats worked. We were one of 8 St Ayles Skiffs. The wide selection of boats included Cornish Pilot Gigs, Dragon Boats, Currachs, Naomhogs and Celtic Longboats to name just a few, as well as plenty of sliding seat boats. It was a glorious sunny day with a fresh Easterly breeze so plenty of water and sunscreen were important!
Clive, Ann, Jo, Duncan and Norma all ready to go
At 11.39am we were off, heading out towards the Atlantic Ocean to the first gate at Roches Point with Jo in the cox’s seat. Conditions were tough, heading into wind and waves, but these eased as we turned the gate to head north. It felt good to be making ground, catching up and passing other skiffs and boats as we got into a good, steady rhythm. After a swift change, Ann took over coxing the next stretch which took us west past Cobh where crowds were cheering on from the prom and an incredibly big cruise ship anchored there. 
The next gate was at Monkstown where we turned to head north again. The conditions were ideal here and we were able to increase the pace. Another swift cox change saw Norma take over for the final stretch which took us across Lough Mahon, overtaking a noisy Dragon Boat before reaching the River Lee. Duncan and Clive just kept on rowing the whole course, and we sped past Blackrock Castle and onwards to the finish in the centre of Cork where we could hear the crowds cheering as boats got to the finish line which we crossed in 2:58.45, third fastest St Ayles, behind a youthful Men’s Open crew from Dundrum and hot on the heels of a mixed crew from Firth of Clyde Coastal Rowing Club (FOCCR’s). All hot, tired, and blistered but very happy that we had succeeded in completing the course in under 3 hours.
After crane out and a quick change, we headed out for a celebratory meal then joined fellow competitors at the after party, being entertained by fantastic young musicians and learning a new dance. Much hilarity ensued.
Sunday involved another early start as we headed back to the ferry at Belfast for the return journey home and to the end of an incredible adventure.
If you would like to find out more about the event click here
More pictures of our adventure can be seen here
A short video of the first leg can be seen here
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It was an early morning start for Blackadder, as she headed along the coast to Portobello beach for the first time in 4 years, for the combined Row Porty and Eastern Regatta. Enthusiastic rowers followed on, to be greeted by this huge expanse of soft golden sand, something we’re not quite used to in North Berwick at the moment! The tide was far out on arrival, no wind, and the presence of a low mist hovering over the sea all day created an eerie calmness. With 7 clubs competing, including Ullapool who had travelled the furthest, this 2k race involved rowing 1km eastwards parallel to the beach, around a buoy on starboard, and then powering back westwards for 1km to the finish line. Not for the faint hearted!
Our first race was the Men’s 200+, who successfully took gold, what a start to the day! This was followed by the Women’s 200+, which took a turn of events after crossing the finish line in third place, when they found out Eastern had been disqualified for turning on the wrong side of their buoy. So our ladies accepted a lovely silver medal! The third race of the day was the Men’s Open who brought home a Gold medal with a clear win. Racing took a short break as there was a protest on organised by “Surfers Against Sewage”. Many people gathered on the beach to protest to keep our waters clean and fresh.
The afternoons racing kicked off with the Women’s Open, who’s impeccable timing and determination whilst in 2nd place at the buoy turn against Eastern, gained a powerful distance in the final stretch to win Gold. It’s always a tough race against Eastern, who broke a pin in the last 500m. The Mixed Decades followed with another Gold medal and a novice now no longer a novice! Well done to Saartje. Next up was the Mixed Open, another competitive race with Eastern only 4 seconds behind them so another Gold. Meanwhile, the waiting crews were preparing themselves for the anticipated blindfold race, in which we came first. A lot of hilarity and shouting from the coxes could be heard “in, in, in..” during this 1km race, starting at the buoys. The final race of the day was Andy’s race, where club boats are used with their own coxes but have random crew from different clubs. A great way to try a different skiff.
In buzzing Portobello, cafes and vans are plentiful along the promenade, so cakes, ice-creams and strong coffees were never in short supply and certainly boosted energy levels throughout the day. And I’m sure Tilly and Maisie (doggie support duo) had their fair share too, especially with the ice cream!
Many thanks to Row Porty and Eastern for pulling together a great regatta. You couldn’t have picked a better day for the conditions, the medals were beautifully made miniature oars. I think NB now have their deserved fair share..enough to row to the Bass Rock perhaps!?
A big thank you also to the Drewitts for towing Blackadder there and back! Anyone ready for another regatta?
More photos of the day can be found here
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Seven teams headed along to the first regatta of the season at Port Seton this weekend. It was overcast and misty much of the day with rain showers and even a bit of thunder to add some drama to the racing!
There were some worried faces on arrival at the lack of water in the harbour but within a couple of hours, and just about on schedule, the tide came in and there was enough water for racing to kick off.
The races were short and fast with boats navigating around two buoys at opposite ends of the harbours. The fastest two crews in each category qualified for the final.
Well done to all the crews who competed, it was a day of fast and furious racing! The Mixed Open A crew started the medal tally for North Berwick with a silver in their incredibly close final against Port Seton’s Boatie Blest crew. The Mixed Open B and the Women's Over 40 crews brought home gold, both battling against Eastern in their finals and the Men's Open crew also triumphed to win gold against Boatie Blest. The Women's Open crew got silver in their close fought final against Boatie Blest and 2 bronze medals for the Women's 50+ and Mixed 50+. The best results though were three of our novice rowers winning Gold, meaning they are no longer novices! Fantastic, well done Jess Ivy, Jen Wilson and Robert Eckhart.
It was a great start to the regatta season with Port Seton putting on a brilliant spread of food, cake and refreshments, keeping us all going throughout the day. The medals were lovely, made from the old keel of their boat and some local coal. Thanks to all the members who towed, packed, set up, put away, filmed and photographed the day! Check out the photos of the regatta on Flickr and videos on YouTube.
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The Boat Maintenance Team at NB Rowing Club have been busy over the spring repainting and varnishing Blackadder ready for the 2023 rowing season. After sanding and painting the hull, the fixtures and fittings were given a bit of TLC and the new cushions strapped in.
Blackadder was the third boat to be built in North Berwick and was launched in May 2014. She was named after John Blackadder, a 17th century outspoken preacher who was imprisoned on the Bass Rock. His gravestone is in Old St Andrews Kirk graveyard in Kirkports.
The small children in this photo have all grown up and learnt to row as part of the rowing family.
North Berwick Rowing Club is extremely grateful to North Berwick Trust for their grant which supported the purchase of the cushions and a set of new oars. This will help us continue support the recreational and competitive rowing that is enjoyed by our wide demographic of rowers (ages 14 - 80)!
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8am Sunday 26th March 2023 and five club members and St Baldred were tightly packed in/behind Robbie Wightman’s car as we headed north via Callendar and a bacon roll stop at Loch Lubnaig, turning right at Lochearnhead onto the A85.
Two miles further on the north side of Loch Earn we arrived at Drummond Trout Farm where Robbie had found a slipway to launch the boat. Stuart our contact there was very helpful in showing us how best to launch St Baldred off the slipway. We paid our £12 slipway fees (for boats less than 10hp) and off we went onto Loch Earn.
Conditions were a chilly 4 degrees centigrade with a light wind from the north blustering occasionally in spots and the chance of some snow flurries in the forecast. We decided to circumnavigate the loch turning to starboard and going through our warm-up exercises with our first cox of the day, ‘Medium’.
Making good progress we came across our first crannog and noticed what looked like evidence of beaver activity (see photo) which was confirmed by Stewart on the slipway when we got back.
We then turned east and followed the south side of the loch landing on the shore to change cox and sample some rather nice fruit cake (thanks to the Wightman household) with our flasks of tea. Snow on the top of Ben Vorlich and other munros in the area against blue sky set the backdrop to fantastic scenery and we were soon down at St Fillans at the eastern end.
Here we had intended to lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel (older members may be interested to know The Beatles once stayed here). However, it belied its name by not offering food until April. We sat on the shore and remarked on how well balanced the new oars were and how the smooth conditions on the loch aided swift progress.
Wondering whether we had spotted an osprey earlier, we were soon back at Drummond Trout Farm and packed ready to return to NB. Our slipway man told us the loch would soon be very busy for the season, so our timing was good to sample the loch minus hordes of jet skis etc.
(L to R: Robbie, Ann, Dave, Duncan & Medium)
‘Why Loch Earn?’ we hear you ask. Well, Robbie had put a crew together to take part in the SCRA’s Lochdown 2023 challenge - devised to encourage clubs to go out and row as many lochs in Scotland during 2023.
More details here:
https://scottishcoastalrowing.org/lochdown-2023/
https://www.drummondtroutfarm.co.uk
Thanks to Robbie for organising and towing St Baldred & crew.
Where will you do your Lochdown?
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