Too soon! Too soon! was perhaps the thought uppermost in many mind as they battled the driving rain and freezing winds on the Friday night to pack up St. Baldred for the first regatta of the season, frolics at Fox Lake aside. But all was well and Saturday saw the sun shining on the Monaco of the Scottish coastal rowing circuit, Port Seton harbour, home to the Boatie Blest regatta. Boats from South Queensferry, Anstruther, Porty, Dunbar, and newcomers Eskmuthe Joined St. B and the local boats on the beach. To provide an even number of competitors, those without a row could join a 'lions' team on the day.
Last year's innovation of having the initial heats run outside the harbour had been abandoned and all the events took the classic Boatie form of head to head races over an east to West circular course within the harbour. First up was the mixed open and somewhat of a shock for the NB support as their favourites were narrowly defeated by neighbours Dunbar. The smile was soon restored to the red and black wearing crowd however as the NB teams went through to the semis in all the other events (Mixed under 40s, womens open, mixed over 50s, mixed over 40s and mens open). After a quick refuelling stop at the excellent coffee and cake stall, battle was rejoined in the semi-finals. Once again the results were excellent with four out of the 5 North Berwick teams proceeding to the finals. For much of the mixed 50+ semi, it seemed a strong possibility that we would make it 5 our of 5 but it was perhaps slightly overconfident of one crew members to decide to enjoy a nice lie down in the bottom of the boat for most of the final leg of the race and in the end, they were narrowly defeated.
So to the finals. The mixed under 40s were just pipped at the post and the womens open crew put in a strong showing against the might of the Anstruther ladies but in the end couldn't quite catch them. Next up came the mixed 40+ final and some high drama. The NB crew got off to a strong start and were clearly leading when their opponents got caught up in a floating line and the race was stopped. Offered the choice of claiming victory or re-running the race, the North Berwick team sportingly opted for the latter and the crews lined up again. Once more St. Baldred set a brisk pace but disaster struck almost immediately when one of the oars jumped off its post. It was hastily wrestled back into place and St. Baldred set off like a scalded cat but would our crew's good fellowship result in the loss of the medal? As it turned out, no. A superb effort saw them claw their way back in front to claim a memorable victory. After that, our open men's comprehensive victory was almost an anti-climax though those seeking to see man and oar in perfect harmony are advised to seek out the youtube video of the event. The final score at the end of the day was two wins and two second places our of 6 events, not a bad total at all.
Sunday dawned cold and misty with the chimneys of Cockenzie power station (making what will probably be their final appearance at the event) only intermittently visible. First on the rowing menu were the junior, novice and fresher events with North Berwick having crews in all three races. In fact the novice and fresher crews were identical, something that was to become important later in the day. With only three entries, the junior event was run as an round-robin, conditions making the original plan of holding a three way sprint outside the harbour impractical, and the North Berwick youngsters easily won both their contests to claim victory. Our novice/fresher crew also sailed through their initial heats.
To provide some relief from the pressure of competition, Boatie had set up some fun events. First up was the relay. Regular readers will recall that we won this last year so the pressure was on. Our outward crew set a blistering pace, rather too blistering in fact for one member of the returning crew who was hard pressed to beat the boat to Cockenzie harbour. He made it though and the return crew were able to make full use of the magnificent lead bequeathed to them by the outward crew which saw St. Baldred leave Cockenzie harbour just as the nearest competitor was entering. The return leg, into a strong wind and on a rather bouncy sea was hard going but with such an advantage, North Berwick easily retained the relay crown, or as it turned out, mug.
After that, a new event, the bossage. Since the NB club choreographer was away on her travels, we had not prepared a routine for this so we could sit back and enjoy the spectacle. Queensferry, Boatie and Anstruther all put on fine displays, Boaties' being noteworthy for featuring twice the normal number of oars, but in the end the lasses from Anstruther were judged to have displayed the best combination of technical merit and artistic impression. Their nifty outfits probably helped as well.
With the cultural part of the day over, several brave crews headed out into the bounding main (and by now bounding was the word) to take place in the first ever slalom event. It was hard to make out what was happening from shore but conditions looked far from ideal for some precision rowing. Congratulations to Porty for taking the prize.
And so to the final events of the day, the novice and freshers semi-finals and finals and the making of a North Berwick rowing club legend. As mentioned earlier, our novice crew was also our fresher crew, unfortunate when the two events were following on from each other and even more unfortunate when the vagaries of the draw meant that our crew would be racing against a lions crew then (assuming they won) proceeding straight to the final to face an Anstruther crew who have benefitted from a bye in the second semi-final. Twice. In other words, they faced four races against fresh crews back to back. A near impossible task.
Unbelievably, they did it. Ben, Louise, Rachael and Yvonne, admirably guided by Jacque, succeeded in seeing off strong opposition in all four races to give North Berwick victory in all four of the day's racing events. A superb achievement by the whole club but especially by our four rookies.
As ever, our thanks to all at Boatie Blest for yet another superb start to the rowing season. Next up, a return to where it all started - Anstruther.
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