Queensferry Rowing Club

Wee sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie (Anne F)

Day two of the Worlds brought with it sunshine and showers and a very close day. And mice! I shall come back to the mice later.

We brought the boat down to the water from the overnight compound after emptying it of the water which had accumulated overnight. The first race up was the Men’s 40+ at 0940 with a crew of Dónal, Gabe, Ben and Stevie Watson, ably coxed by Rory.  After a vigorous warm up we were ready to go and were going from the middle of the course in lane nine. We had a great start and made good progress up the course flanked by two Irish clubs of Killyleagh and Strangford. At the turn we got around the buoy very well and raced for home. We had made up a length on Collieston and were looking good to get in to the top 6.

We rowed hard but were overhauled by Collieston coming towards the end. In the end it didn’t matter so much as we were fith in a time of 11:51 and had made the repechage so we lived to fight another day.

The next up was the Women’s 40+ and hopes were high that they could at least make the repechage. The crew consisted of Julie, Val, Lorna and Tracey, with Keith as the Cox. They got off to a fantastic start as they were neck and neck with Golspie. Things took a turn for the worse as there was a slight coming together between Queensferry and Golspie with the Umpire having to intervene. Queensferry were not to be perturbed though and they soldiered on around the buoy and back to the finish. Try as they might they just failed to reach the repechage, finishing in 7th place.

The following race was the 50+ Mixed with Rory, Donna, Sharon and Graeme with Rachel as Cox. Rory was making his comeback on a full course after his accident in the Autumn. They tried very hard but unfortunately, they were unable to qualify for the repechage as they finished 9th

The Men’s repechage was at 1440 and we were raring to go with Killyleagh on one side of us and Lake Champlain on the other side. We got off to a flying start and were well in the mix all the way up to the buoy, however it all went a bit wrong at the buoy turn as stroke lost his oar but managed to get it back on the pin within two strokes. It lost us five seconds though which we were going to have difficulty overhauling. Unfortunately we finished 12th of 12 boats, just behind Renegade and Gourdon. We don’t know what time we finished at as for some strange reason the umpires had ourselves and Renegade as DNS. Hopefully that will be rectified on Wednesday.

Queensferry Rowing Club did have some success; our U12s won something for us as Georgina, Sioned and Cameron won the Duck Dash, well done to the youngsters. There was another competition of Duck Sandcastle in which Georgina, Sioned and Cameron made a wonderful sandcastle incorporating a massive inflatable duck. We are still waiting on the results of that.

Now back to the mice!

Anne Flannery is camping in Portpatrick and came to Stranraer complaining that she didn’t sleep well at all last night. The main culprit being movement under her groundsheet during the night. She could hear a scrabbling under the groundsheet, and it was giving her a free massage at the same time (some might say that the earth moved for Anne that night!). When Anne returned to the campsite, she was greeted by a family of field mice waiting for her. The last we heard was that Anne was redesigning her tent interior to accommodate her house guests.

Report by Dónal.

Dónal reports: On day one of racing at Skiffie Worlds 2019 it was the chance for the Men’s and Women’s crews to put all their hard work into action.

The racing started early, with the Women’s 60+ heading out at 1040 with a crew of Maria, Cherry, Mel and Louise. They started in lane one with Anne Flannery in the coxes’ seat.  Going around the buoy Cherry did incredibly well as her oar came off the pin and she managed to get the oar back in place as they turned. They raced hard against Dundrum and came in second to book their place in the Final.

The Men’s 60+ were up next and they were determined to equal the Women’s crew.  The crew was made up of Alan Sutherland, Alan Duch, Keith and Alistair with Mike Breewood as Cox. They were focused on the boat and didn’t pay much attention to what was going on around them. They had an excellent turn and raced towards home alongside Sketrick from Northern Ireland. They came second as well and booked themselves into the Final.

When it came to the Finals both boats acquitted themselves very well. The Ladies went very well and were pushing for the top five coming towards the line.  They had to settle for 6th in a time of 12:22. Eastern were the winners with Dundrum and North Berwick in second and third.

The Men went out to try and bring back a medal, however they found it to be the hardest race they have raced and also came in 6th, with Sketrick, Dundrum and Crail taking the medals. They finished with a time of 11:30 a very impressive time faster than four of the Men’s U40 teams.

The only other crew that was racing today was the Women’s U40 with a crew of Beth, Elana, Lois and Jennifer with Dónal as Cox. They started well but it was a strong field. There was drama at the buoy as Glasgow drifted across and turned at Queensferry’s Buoy forcing them to use the outside buoy.  The race back to the line produced a race within a race as Queensferry tried to overhaul Eskmuthe. A great effort from the ladies helped them overturn the deficit and beat Eskmuthe on the line. They finished 10th of 11 in a time of 11:24. Special mention must go to Lois Thomson as she did fantastically well at the age of just 14.

There was a special visitor to the Worlds today. HRH Princess Anne arrived around 12 Noon and started the Women’s 60+ Final. She then went along the promenade meeting the various clubs at their gazebos. When she arrived at our gazebo she fell into conversation with Georgina Bark who was showing her the drawings she had done. Cameron Bark gifted HRH with two Bridge T-Shirts. On speaking with Tracey she showed a deep knowledge of the tides at Port Edgar.     

Rachel writes: As the training is complete, we will pack up Ferry Maid on Saturday at 10.30 am to leave at 09.00 on Sunday, to arrive in Stranraer between 12.00 and 12.30. Note: no social rowing session at Port Edgar on Sunday.

Social rowing sessions will continue as normal next week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Skippers Stevie Leask and Mark will be holding the fort. Thank you to them!

Monday 8th July
07.56 — 5.6 m H. 13.43 — 0.9 m L. 20.22 – 5.5 mL

Tuesday 9th
08.50 — 5.4 m H. 14.33 — 1.1 m L 21.18 — 5.2 m H

Wednesday 10th
09.49 — 5.3 m H. 15.41 — 1.4 m L 22.18 — 5.1 m H

Thursday 11th
10.51 — 5.2 m H. 17.14 — 1.5 m L. 23.22 — 5.0 m H

Friday 12th
11.55 — 5.1 m H. 18.30 — 1.5 m L

Saturday 13th
06.57 — 1.8 m L. 12.57 — 5.2 m H.

Sunday 14th
08.01 — 1.6 m L. 13.55 — 5.3 m H

Good luck to our 40 rowers heading off to join 57 clubs, from around the world to be part of 700 crews in 100 races!! Go Queensferry!

Social rowing as normal Saturday, we have a pontoon for Ferry Lass from 09.30 D17/18.

The Arran regatta was held on the 22nd of June this year and ten intrepid rowers from QRC along with partners, friends and family made the journey to ‘Scotland in Miniature’.

This year we were made especially welcome by the Arran Club as they very kindly lent us the use of their boat ‘Iolare’ – we had had problems getting a tower so Ferry Maid stayed at home!

The day dawned bright, calm and warm and, although a light breeze sprang up about 09:00, the weather remained perfect for racing, with sunshine, a very gently south westerly and lovely warm air – quite a contrast to the weather for the 2018 regatta!

Racing began with the Women’s 220+ race in 2 heats. Sadly QRC came 8th out of 8 in that race, with a time of 13:21.

We fared little better in the Open Mixed race, coming in 10th out of 10 with a time of 13:23 – the race was won by North Berwick.

Things improved in the next race, the Novices race, where QRC came 3rd in our heat with a time of 11:33 – unfortunately that wasn’t enough to give us 3rd place overall and we ended up with 6th place, That race was won by Renegade on 11:08 – overall a very tightly contested race!

We found it difficult to improve upon our performance in the Novices race, coming 10th in the Mixed Decades race , 8th in the Men’s 220+ , 10th in the Open Women’s race and 8th in the Mixed 240+ .

So, a disappointing Regatta in terms of race prizes, but a most enjoyable day was had by all and we weren’t a million miles away from the various winners! The day concluded with a superb barbeque and disco (names of those who partied till the wee sma’ hours can be obtained upon application and for a small fee….),.

Mike B

Lorna writes: Unfortunately the picnic row on Sunday has been cancelled 🙁 Thanks to Anne F for organising everything.  This will mean two boats available on Sunday – and remember there is always the RNLI open day from 12-4pm.

The email from the Kinghorn club:

Dear all, the news we just did not want hear. The Inchcolm picnic has to be cancelled.

I am sure everybody has been following the weather forecast as closely as me and that front coming across has not changed. I have been checking three different forecasts and they are all the came WSW x 20 knots and as all skiffies know a row is a pleasure and is to be carried out safely.

I am extremely sorry, but I will try for another date later in the summer.

Take care and hope to see you again soon.

Phil

And a photo from last year’s Kinghorn-Inchcolm row, just to encourage people to sign up again once it’s been rescheduled:

More photos here.