The west coast is notoriously rainy throughout the year.   At NBRC we prepare ourselves for whatever the elements throw at us.  However, 20 of our members were pleasantly surprised when arriving at Greenock on the 9th August for the Royal West regatta, to be bathed in warm sunshine with only a slight hint of a breeze.  The majestic backdrop of the Lomond Hills and the little town of Helensburgh across the Clyde provided a magnificent setting.   Conditions were indeed perfect after the atrocious monsoon-type weather of last year's event. It was a great start to the day. We thought that it couldn't get any better but of course it did!


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Crews from Anstruther, Firth of Clyde, Troon, Carrick, Royal West and amazingly enough Bristol attended.  Hats off to Bristol - a reasonably new club - for making the 8-hour journey to Inverclyde.

The course was a 2000m triangular course (750 x 750 x 500) with a floating start. Sandy, and Saskia made excellent baton runners. In these types of races, every second counts and the 20m dash from the starter to SJB was crucial. The process was repeated at the end of the race with a taxing sprint from the boat back to the starter.

In the first race of the day, our open women's crew were narrowly beaten into second place by a competent Anstruther crew. In the next race, the open men also took second place to Anstruther after an extremely hard-fought race.

In all, NBRC won gold in 5 out of nine races. Our 40+ mixed crew performed brilliantly with the best time of the day in 11 minutes and 10 seconds. Well done Jo, Clive, Medium and Sheena and cox Issy for a great race.  The 40+ men's crew also took home gold in a remarkable time of 11 minutes and 14 seconds.    It was gold too for the 55+ women, the 55+ men AND 55+ mixed crews (a time of 11.28) who proved their stamina and prowess in keenly contested events.

As well as achieving the fastest time of the day, NBRC won the regatta on points beating our main rivals Anstruther. 

Our coxes too should be given some praise.  A special thanks to Dave, Clive, Phil, Issy and Jacque for their cajoling and encouragement.

Our sincere thanks too to Adam and his team for their organisational skills and to the safety boat crew and caterers who worked so hard to make the day possible.  Lastly, a massive thanks to whoever provided such exceptional weather.  It made all the difference.