Author: Barbara Agnew

Club captain Marianne writes: Below is the draft regatta and events programme for 2023.  A couple of events are confirmed, and we’ll firm up the rest of the programme over the next few weeks, so keep an eye on emails and the noticeboard. Click here to view the full SCRA calendar.

20 May: RowPorty.

03 June: Broughty Ferry – 2km races, confirmed. Categories: 280 Women, 40+ Women, Novice Women, 60+ Men, Novice Mixed, 240 Women, Novice Men, 50+ Women, U19, Open Women, Open Men. Withdrawn.

17 June: Dunbar – 1.5km races. Categories: 1.5km races for Open Men, Women and Mixed, 40+ Men & Women, 280+ and Mixed Novice. There is also a longer race, mixed 5.5km.

15 July: Ullapool – 2km races, out and back. Confirmed.

30 July: OUR REGATTA! Kinghorn, NQ, RowPorty, Newhaven. Fun mix and match sprints.

13 August: Eskmuthe, Musselburgh.

26 August: North Berwick. The theatre of pain that is racing around Craigleith.

02 September Castle to Crane – 21 km race up the Clyde from Dumbarton Rock to the Finneston Crane.

24 September: Alan Meldrum Community Challenge. A fun challenge for groups outside the club who have never rowed before.

27 September: Five Miles from Home. Fun race in club home waters – form a crew, get a time, post it.

TBC: Tweed Row.

TBC: North South race – The big one! This year hosted by NQ, and run south to north.

October: SCRA Freshwater sprints, Loch Tummel The traditional end of the regatta season.

Regattas

Regattas take place in the summer, ranging from shorter sprints to more usual 2km rows to the theatre of pain that is racing around Craigleith at North Berwick. (It’s more fun than I’ve just made it sound though!) Racing generally takes place in age categories, and many races are mixed in age and sex. 

Regattas are physically and mentally demanding, and not for everyone, but they are great fun! It’s always a good day out for the club, and a chance to meet other clubs and row in different places. 

We also have a few events, particularly towards the end of the season.  The most important of these is the North South race against North Queensferry.  We currently hold the magnificent trophy.

How do I sign up?

A copy of the programme will go on the noticeboard.  In time-honoured tradition, sign-up will be using our advanced laser display board, i.e. sign-up sheets using a biro on the noticeboard.  Sign-up sheets will start going up shortly.  You’ll be asked to put your age next to your name, so we can form crews when the time comes.

Training 

Sharon is arranging training sessions on Wednesday evenings, and Thursday/Saturday mornings. Please try and do some of these sessions if you’re planning to race so you are confident about racing starts, buoy turns and the demands of racing.

Towers

The ‘away games’ hinge on securing the services of a tower.  If you’re able to tow and can help out, please get in touch.  The club will pay mileage, and members will be on hand to help load/unload the boat.

Race coxes

If you’ve been through our club training programme (you’ll know if you have) and would like to do some race coxing this season, please let me know.  We are hoping to arrange some race cox training.

Any questions, let me know. captain@queensferry.org

Club captain Marianne writes: It’s ages since I did a Captain’s report.  Life and all that! A couple of things to update you on.

Ferry Maid

If you’ve been in the Shed lately, you’ll have noted the incredible refurb work that’s been going on. Led by Douglas and Mark, the team has included many contributors carrying out considerably more extensive work than first anticipated. It’s already clear it’s going to be worth it. I hear that we will all have to row in our baffies for fear of spoiling the paintwork!

Forgive me for not mentioning everyone here for fear of missing someone out, but you will have your moment in the sun when the boat is done. I feel a shed party coming on!

Commissioning of new oars

We’re bringing this work, which has involved extensive testing and informal surveying, to a conclusion. Thanks to all involved, but particularly Douglas, Alan D and Louise, who will lead on the commissioning with Frank in NQ.

Club kit

You’ll have seen May’s message re our updated kit shop. May has worked really hard with our supplier, Superlogo, and has resolved most of the previous issues. You’ll see a new addition, a white top with our logo in red, cheryfully described by Dónal as our ‘away kit’!  

Please talk to May about the shop, but a huge thank you to her for taking this forward.

Club Survey

Thanks to Steph and Anne P for leading on our recent members’ survey. It will help inform the work of the Committee and make sure we’re able to shape the club in the way you want.

Events

The SCRA calendar is beginning to fill up and we’ll shortly start posting event notices for you to sign up to.  As ever, if you are a tower, please help us get to these events. I know it is a big ask of a few people.

The Committee is considering holding our own regatta again. We know it’s a popular one with the coastal rowing community. We will need all hands on deck to help us run it. More details to come.

Rowing

Just a reminder about the type of club we are. In a word – inclusive. That means we are as open to all members as possible, any member is able to call a row (subject to securing a skipper), and we try and make sure everyone gets out. That means everything from supporting social rowing to putting calls out to the whole club.  

And finally…

There are so many of you who contribute to the running of the club. You do so quietly and without any expectation of reward or recognition. We are all very grateful for any small efforts the contribute to club life, from maintenance to taking the rubbish out or doing the dishes. It all helps!

As ever, be mindful that there are always members going through life events, be kind and, of course, enjoy your rowing! The nights are slowly becoming lighter, so let’s look forward to evening rowing very soon! 

Club captain Marianne writes: Anne P, Ewan G, Taciana, May, Louise, Maria, Lynn, and a random wee bloke in a club hoodie going by the name of ‘Marvin’, represented QRC in the South-East Region team at the Loch Tummel Freshwater Sprints on Saturday.

A slightly misty, but calm, autumnal day saw short, sharp sprint racing between the regions that tested the rowers, coxes and umpires alike.

Well done to Ewan for his first gold medal in the M210 sprint and no longer being a novice! (Marvin got one too.) I hope his kidneys weren’t too bruised after the pummelling he received from the rower in two!

The two longer 1.5 km races at the end of the programme around a single buoy provided new umpires with a stiff ask of their freshly acquired skills. They also provided a talking point over the rules approaching turns.

Well done to May for stepping up to race cox, and for her part in what was obviously a hotly contested buoy turn.

Great racing and coxing from everyone – a good number of seconds and thirds, often in men’s races, which were bolstered by honorary blokes.

QRC captain Marianne writes: What a great day for the club on Saturday!  To kick things off, Gabe, Ade, Cheryl and Taciana, coxed by Louise, rowed a hard fought race in testing conditions to retain the North South trophy for QRC by the narrowest of margins – one metre. Well done to both crews for exciting start to our day. 

The action then moved to the marina and the Shed, where we welcomed our friends from North Queensferry for a day of fun ‘Andy style’ sprints and food.  

And what an afternoon it was!  Six crews with rowers and coxes from each club mixed together took part in a race series that saw ‘Puffin’, crewed by Mel, Lesley (NQ), Shona and Ewan, and coxed by Jenny T, overtake ‘Fulmar’ in a thrilling last race to finish two boat lengths ahead in first place.  Special mention to Ewan who, aged 14, was part of the winning ‘Puffin’ crew, and to Lois, aged 17, who coxed a crew in the three boat final. Well done to you both!

Some thank yous

Anne P – for putting crews together, coming up with the race format, and for adjusting, readjusting, right through the day to make sure everyone who wanted to had two rows.  Mike B for all his hard work behind the scenes.

Thanks to the rowers and coxes from both clubs who so eagerly jumped in boats and enjoyed some fun racing! Some of you were new to racing, and we had two people trying out race coxing for the first time, and I hope you enjoyed this gentle introduction.  

Three cheers for race starters Douglas and John on Committee boat Faithful, and joined by Scott, whose wonderful photos can be seen on the club Flickr. Mike McD on his boat, gently shepherding boats into the right place.  Anne F, Lorna, Sharon, Steph, Barbara and Stuart in the timing tent keeping track of all the results.  Thanks to May for keeping an eye on crew changeovers on the slip.

Food – Peter and Stuart, who managed to keep everyone supplied with hot food from the BBQ all day! Shona and Beth who did the shopping. Our club ‘soup dragons’ Alistair and Val, who kept us fuelled with nourishing broths!  Thanks to EVERYONE who brought food – as usual members from both clubs did us all proud!

Clearer uppers – Barbara, Rachel, Steph, Stuart and everyone else who pitched in.

North Queensferry for joining with us to and helping make the day such good fun.

I am bound to have missed people, so apologies for that, but thank you nonetheless. Events like these always needs all hands to the pump to make them work, and members from both clubs, as ever, certainly rose to the occasion.

Finally, just huge thanks to everyone from both clubs who came along and contributed to a wonderful, relaxed and happy day! 

Here to more events involving our two clubs! 

Save the date! The marina has given its blessing for a litter-picking blitz to go ahead on the eastern breakwater, from about midday on Saturday 15 October.

Associated with this, we’ll also be taking part in the Great Nurdle Hunt. We collected thousands of these pesky little pellets back in 2019, and they became part of an art project by Maarten Vanden Eynde in Belgium (see video below). Maarten has recently been in touch asking if we can send more, for the next stage of this project. 

The event is timed for low tide (1.7m), but everyone going out on to the breakwater must wear a lifejacket. I will provide rubbish bags, buckets and gloves, and a couple of litter-picking sticks. Please wear sturdy shoes in case of broken glass etc, and clothes that you don’t mind getting a bit grubby. 

As ever the Breakwater Blitz is weather-dependent – if it’s heaving with rain or too windy we’ll convene another day. Hopefully we’ll get a good day and help keep our beautiful firth clean.

Below is a video of Maarten’s project, Check Mate – it’s not in English, but you can see the idea. For next year’s exhibition he’s working on square 20, which will require 524,288 nurdles.