Author: Barbara Agnew

Rachel writes:  Now that the club is up and running with the Green Flag aim, we can fill you in with the wider plans. Marianne and Dónal are helping to co-ordinate this and Keith is willing to help with 45ft logs!!

Marianne has come up with our slogan: ‘Take 5 for the Forth’. There is a clean beach initiative in Australia called ‘Take 3 for the Sea’ , so QRC has taken up that idea and extended it. As a crew we are 5 and while we are on the Forth, we can take 5 mins to collect 5 pieces of rubbish/plastic from our coastline and take it with us to dispose of in the proper manner: recycling in a clear bag and rubbish in the general waste.

The aim is to be aware of rubbish while out on the water or stopping on the beaches, and to ‘Take 5 for the Forth’ as a matter of routine.

Keith would like to carry out a ‘Breakwater Blitz’ at low tide, with 5 club members taking 5 mins or more to remove the litter we so often see washed up there. Dates will be arranged, and photos taken as evidence.

We can also take part in the Community Clean-up at the marina, on a date to be confirmed. I spoke to James from Port Edgar Watersports about the picnic area in front of the QRC shed. They are about to start a new season and we discussed appropriate recycling bins.

I then spoke to Russell Aitken, our landlord. He is  “delighted” we at QRC are taking a lead on recycling and he explained the marina’s environmental arrangements. There are two large red BIFFA containers towards the top carpark entrance.  One is for general waste, the other for dry mixed recyclables.  Whatever we collect as recyclable must be in a clear bag to be accepted from that container. Russell has agreed to look into getting recycling bins for the picnic area, and these will be emptied by the marina maintenance staff in the normal manner.

In our shed we now have a new bin, fitted with a clear bag, marked Dry Mixed Recycling for our own materials, to be taken away to the appropriate red BIFFA. When it’s full, please feel free to drop it in on your way home!
In the bow of each of our boats, we have an orange bag containing rubber gloves and a roll of bin bags – they will now be part of the boat’s regular kit.

As we start to plan our own regatta for 1st June, we can make arrangements to be as ‘Green’ as possible.

Thank you everyone! If we all help with this, we will be making a difference to our coastline, and we will have enough evidence to submit a report in October to apply for our Green Flag.

Photos and evidence are vital for this, so please take note of what we are doing as we go along. Any more ideas, let us know.  Prize up for grabs for the most interesting /unusual item found!

Club captain Anne P writes: After our committee meeting last week there are some matters that are worth bringing to your immediate attention.

Regattas

We now have enough members to form teams for the following regattas:

• Broughty Ferry   18th May
• Newhaven   15th June
• Arran 22/23 June
• Shieldaig 10/11 August
• North Berwick 21st August

Troon, on 8th June, currently has 8 sign-ups, with Portsoy on the weekend of 31st August having 5 sign-ups so far.

The sign-up sheets were removed for the committee meeting and are now back in the shed. If you are interested in signing up for any of these regattas please do so, especially for Troon as, if we are able to form a team, we will need to do so in enough time to confirm a place in their regatta.

Port Edgar Open Days

The marina’s Open Weekend – this year on 11/12 May – is busy, fun and a great way in which we have recruited new members in other years. Over the course of the two days, come-and-try sessions are offered to visitors and our boats are out fairly steadily. To accommodate the number of visitors who would like to try rowing, we need as many club members as possible to come and help. As we can only take a couple of novices out at a time, our own members are needed to make up crew, to cox and skipper the boats. There is a sheet in the shed to add your name to. If you can only make it for an hour or so on one of the days, that’s OK but it would be helpful if you could indicate your availability when you sign up.

Queensferry Regatta

Our own regatta is set for 1st June. We have a full list of clubs with 2 in reserve. Those attending are:

Crail, Portsoy, Eskemouth, FCCRs, St Andrews, Woudrichem, Kinghorn, Wormit, Findochty, North Berwick, North Queensferry

Eastern and Broughty Ferry are in reserve

There is a great deal of organisation and manpower needed to make sure that our regatta runs smoothly and safely, and that our guests are given a good day. A sub-committee will be formed, meeting roughly once a month from now until the event, to make sure that everything is well prepared. As well as rowing, we also have to carry out duties on the day. The subcommittee will be asking for volunteers to take on a number of roles, on and off the water, including such things as traffic management, safety boat duties, race timing, PA, pontoon, catering and more. There is something for everyone, none are too challenging but all need done and the more volunteers we have the easier it will be for everyone. To get the ball rolling we will soon be holding the first sub-committee meeting. We are specifically seeking someone at the moment to take the lead on catering.

If you can help with catering or by joining the sub-committee, please email me at apurcellb@hotmail.com.

Please also let me know if you are happy to be given a job on the day (and if you have a particular job in mind, let me know that too).

Longer row events

Sign-up sheets are in the shed for longer rows such as Perth to Wormit, Tweed, Castle to Crane. If you are interested please add your name. Priority for these events will be given to members who have not previously participated, assuming sufficient coxes/ skippers etc.

Emails

Email traffic has increased greatly in the past while and is a source of frustration and difficulty for many, not least because important emails then become almost impossible to find in the wider traffic. This was a common theme in the club survey in the autumn with a number of respondents raising the problem of too many emails. Please, let us all be more diligent and disciplined when replying to emails.

Please restrict whole club emails when and where possible. If asked to reply to a particular person then please do so. It’s very easy to hit the reply button and I’ve done this in error more than once, but can we all pause before we reply to an email to make sure that it is going to the correct person and to ask ourselves if the email really needs to go to all. Thank you in advance.

Feedback evening – Thursday 31st January

Finally, the feedback session on 31st January is open to all, even if you haven’t informed me of your intention to come along.

During the session we will watch and analyse some of the video footage taken from Faithful on the development day, gather feedback on the recent protocol on rowing technique issued to members and clarify any points, review the early stages of age category training and give feed back on the club survey and identify next steps. All are welcome.

Thank you to everyone who is working hard in so many ways to contribute to the development and enjoyment of our rowing and club experience; to our trainers of coxes, skippers, rowers and passage planners, our technicians, social organisers and rowers. There really is a role for everyone and a way for everyone to join in and develop in whatever way they wish.

Here’s to a great year ahead.

Rachel reports: The tides are good to see us into the first week of February, but looking ahead we will have a few pontoon arrangements and time changes are possible for the next month.

Monday 28th January
08.19 — 5.1 m H
13.27 — 1.9 m L
20.48 — 5.1 m H

Tuesday 29th
09.19 — 4.8 m H
14.37 — 2.2 m L
21.54 — 4.9 m H

Wednesday 30th
10.26 —4.7 m H
16.58 — 2.2 m L.

Thursday 31st
05.47 — 2.0 m L
11.32 — 4.8 m H
18.23 — 2.0 m L

Friday 1st February
06.44 — 1.9 m L
12.32 — 5.0 m H
19.20 — 1.8 m L

Saturday 2nd February
07.27 — 1.8 m L
13.26 — 5.2 m H
20.05 — 1.6 m L Cox Training on the water from 12.00.

Sunday 3rd February
08.01 — 1.6 m L
14.12 — 5.3 m H
20.40 — 1.4 m L

Have a good week ahead everyone.

Due to a forecast of high winds, there will be no rowing tomorrow. This includes the youth and adult training sessions in the morning, as well as social rowing at 1pm.

Sunday: For anyone wondering how bad it really is at Port Edgar, considering it was quite calm earlier:

The dinghy sailors had a brief, very wild ride before capsizing and being towed back to safety. It was really cold too! White horses everywhere, surf breaking in the marina. Definitely a good call last night.