Blackadder Back on the Water
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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)!
Trades Cup 2023
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On Sunday 16 April nine new crews took part in the Trades Cup. This event, organised by North Berwick Rowing Club, gives people who have never rowed before the opportunity to practise under the supervision of an experienced cox before competing against each other. Ages in the teams ranged from 15 to 82 years old showing that rowing is a popular activity for all ages. The races took place at North Berwick’s Elcho Green where participants, club members and spectators enjoyed surprisingly balmy weather, refreshments and fierce competition on the water.
Club Captain, Millie Lowe, presented the Trades Cup trophy to the winning team East Rock Strokers who were the overall winners on the day. Since the event five new members have joined the club. North Berwick Rowing Club has a busy weekly programme of rowing options that members are free to sign up. Non members are very welcome to Try Rowing or can make contact with the club via the website.
More photos can be viewed here.
North Berwick Youth Project Go Rowing
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Throughout March 2023, North Berwick Rowing Club have been introducing rowing to young people from the North Berwick Youth Project. The collaboration between local clubs was supported by volunteers from NBRC who firstly introduced the boat and some safety points before heading out to learn to row. Some much appreciated funding from North Berwick Trust helped to supply gloves and wet boots for the youngsters to use when taking part.
Click for album |
Click for album |
The first challenge was getting the boat launched in what was still a pretty cold North Sea then everyone got on to learning the basics of the rowing stroke. The NBRC coxes were amazed at how quickly each crew started to learn the new skill and how soon they realised the importance of team work. Rowing together in time makes the boat go faster! There was rapid progress made by all. The sea conditions were so good on one outing that a crew headed out to the Craig to do some seal spotting.
After all the excitement it was back to base for hot chocolate and dry shoes. All the volunteers from NBRC agreed that it had been a great experience to get some new young people introduced to rowing and Claire Simpson, the clubs Junior Coordinator, hopes that some of them will continue their rowing adventures with the regular junior session on a Sunday. Any enquiries can be directed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. More photos can be viewed here.
Lochdown 2023 - Loch Earn Sunday March 26th
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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?
Saturday Winter Training
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North Berwick Rowing Club members have been braving the cold throughout the winter months to keep their strength and skills up - in readiness for longer, warmer, spring days.
Everyone has a role to play at these Winter Training Sessions - from organising the crews, preparing the boats, coxing and rowing. This Saturday morning, having checked the weather and sea forecasts, we all looked over the sea wall to agree that we were comfortable with the conditions. There was a westerly wind, a drizzle and a falling tide. Our coach had suggested a straight forward training set that took us along the shore for one 8min piece but such was the strength of the wind it took 2 x 8min pieces to get back in! Unusually, on our return, the slipway was being used by a commercial fishing boat which gave one of our newly trained coxes a chance to practice maneuvering in tight spaces.
It was a great morning in sporting conditions. Smiles all round.
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