Author: Barbara Agnew

Club captain Marianne writes: First…..Eskmuthe. What a wonderful day out for the club!  The regatta was a great mixture of club races, and mix-up races, over 1km with a buoy turn. The format gave everyone opportunities to race with skiffies from other clubs, and in other boats.  

Our partnership with our immediate neighbours, Newhaven and North Queensferry, continues with rowers Sean, John and Sarah welcome additions to our racing crews. Our wonderful friends at Alnmouth gave us race coxes for the day, and a different set of boat orders into the mix. It’s fair to say that our rudder – they launch off beaches so have one that can be raised – gave them something to think about too!

Virtually everyone came home with a medal, including Filip and Ondrej, two of our youth rowers. Well done lads! Eleni, in her first regatta, came home with a medal too.

The weather while it behaved most of the time, broke in an appropriately enough for a Sunday, biblical downpour during the Men’s Open and saw Richard and Sean completely drenched. The thunder was a bit triggering for those of us who were at Ullapool! 

Thanks to everyone who was involved in packing and unpacking in any way, to our tower Richard, and to the Monday crew who came in to the wet gazebo draped over every possible surface to try and dry it. 

Hot on the heels of the fantastic fun of Eskmuthe comes the test that is North Berwick’s regatta, on Saturday. With a course of over 3km (I’m sure it’s longer…) around Craigleith, it’s probably the toughest regatta racing test in Scottish coastal rowing. It’s also a lovely day out at the seaside! We have a youth crew racing, with the addition of a young NB rower.

Apologies for my tardiness in posting this! Time ran away from me…

Club captain Marianne writes: Our regatta.  What a day!  Sunday had it all: rain, wind, sun, challenging conditions, fierce but friendly racing, but above all joy, community and a lot of fun!  

We’ve had some wonderful feedback from the other clubs, who loved the inclusive format of the regatta. We also had feedback from Ali Grant from our governing body the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association (SCRA) congratulating us on the inclusive, friendly nature of our regatta, which still allowed very competitive racing. Ali has fed this back to the SCRA directly, so we can be very pleased about that!  

Ali finished her message saying ‘Andy Jarvis would have been proud’. I know this accolade will mean such a lot to many members. Sadly I never met Andy, but he was famous for jumping into any boat in the true spirit of our sport. He gave rise to the phenomenon of the ‘Andy race’, a feature of regattas across the country, and the format we used for our entire regatta.  

It’s always dangerous to thank people individually for fear of leaving someone out, so on behalf of the Committee, I want to thank every single one of you who played a part, big or small, to make our regatta such a success.  As usual you all rose to the occasional and quietly rolled your sleeves up, got stuck in and made it a success.  We could not have done it without you!

There are still plenty of events to come, including those listed at the end of this message. Not a comprehensive list, so keep an eye on email and the Shed noticeboard.

More photos on the club’s Flickr.

On Sunday July 30th, we will be welcoming rowers from North Queensferry, Kinghorn, Newhaven and Portobello for our fun regatta. The course will be approximately 750 meters from the old harbour to a finish line shortly after going under the Road Bridge. All the crews will comprise rowers from different clubs so no club rivalry, just crew against crew. There will be 5 boats, 2 from NQ, 1 from Kinghorn and our Lass and Maid. The NQ and Kinghorn boats will be rowed across from the north side on the morning. 

This is a great opportunity for people who have never raced before to give it a try and for old hands to show others what’s involved. Even if you don’t want to race, do come along and watch the fun, help with making the day go smoothly and get to meet members of the other clubs.

9:00   Coxes briefing
9:45   Mens Open
10:30 Women’s Open
11:15 Mens 200+
12:00 Women’s 200+
13:00 Youth
13:45 Mixed Decades
14:30 Mixed Novice
15:15 Mixed Blindfold 

Queensferry Rowing Club is looking to recruit teams of four people (two men and two women) from community organisations in Queensferry, such as police, supermarkets, clubs – or anyone who fancies it!

The Alan Meldrum Community Challenge takes place on Sunday, September 24th, and the prize is a magnificent wooden trophy.

The boat, lifejackets and coxswain will be provided. A few practice sessions are necessary to compete on the day.

Please apply by writing to secretary@queensferryrowing.org, or phoning Peter on 07763 475 681.

A great highlight of 2023 was the wedding of past captain Donna and her long-time partner and fellow rower Rory. They tied the knot in Orocco Pier in Queensferry on Saturday 10 June.

Afterwards, they posed for photos on the beach under an arch of six oars, beautifully decorated by Marianne, Pat and Val.

Meanwhile, out on the water, a crew was battling a stiff easterly breeze, hoping to raise an oar salute. No such luck, the going was just too rough!

Lorna’s phone kept track.

More photos on the club Flickr.