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Skiff John B, Blackadder and skur Euphame had a grand morning out to Fidra island on Sunday 24th September.
Their excited contents, in the form of 14 NBRC rowers, met at 8.45am to prepare for the outing.
We finally all got out onto the water at 9.15am. A rising tide took us further into the Forth, Fidra-bound and a falling tide swept us back out of the Forth home to North Berwick. Perfect planning by our coxes, Jacque, and Phil. We did have to put some effort into the rowing as there was a wee bit of wind, but as the wind was coming from the south, we were able to stay close to the coast and avoid the bigger gusts that were evident further out into the Forth.
Blackadder, with 5 onboard (Jacque, Tracy, Jude, Rachael, and Adam) were a touch ahead, slipping through the Lamb archipelago! No signs of the resident seals there but plenty of Shags and some Black Backed Gulls. There were Guillemots still around too, the ones we saw were looking healthy, which is encouraging. Gannets were swooping overhead and diving in to catch fish. Skiff John B had 6 onboard (Phil, Sandy, Jen, Lynn, Sheena, and Claire C) which allowed swapping of rowers and coxes. Euphame had Amanda, Ann, and Duncan M onboard also taking it in turns to cox and row.
Blackadder with a little more time managed to row right around Fidra before all 3 vessels got into the harbour, tidied all the oars away, tied up together and all rowers safely disembarked.
We walked up the steep pathway alongside the disused lighthouse track, which was once used to haul supplies up to the lighthouse. The lighthouse was built by the Stevensons and became operational from 1885. It became automated in 1970 and is now operated by Forth Ports plc. Slightly above the lighthouse, at the top of the island, we had wonderful views over the Forth to Fife and towards Edinburgh and the Forth bridges. This was where we were able to have our picnics (which mainly consisted of coffee/ tea and cake) and chat.
The sun even tried to come out. Looking out towards Fife we caught sight of a minke whale, which was feeding not too far away. It came up a few times but a few of the party frustratingly didn’t manage to spy it. Our return was a little more challenging as the wind had increased, but the sea conditions remained good and with the falling tide we all arrived safely at North Berwick, just before midday.
Although, with autumn/winter fast approaching, our intermediate, newbie and regatta training evening outings cease – we can still get out in the daytime and enjoy being on the sea and having adventures along our beautiful East Lothian coast and islands. Watch out for the emails, sign up and enjoy!
More pictures of the outing can be found here
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On Saturday 26th August, we held our 13th annual regatta which saw 19 clubs from across Scotland participate, the largest number of clubs to enter our regatta to date! County clubs Dunbar, Boatie Blest from Port Seton and Musselburgh’s Eskmuthe, as well as Edinburgh clubs Eastern, Row Porty and, Newhaven took part in the day’s racing with 10 races for men, women, mixed crews and juniors. Conditions were variable throughout the day with the morning bringing lots of wind and choppy seas so the course was altered to a 3 kilometre triangle from the old Pier, out to the west of Craigleith, along in front of the island and back to the old Pier.
By mid afternoon we had beautiful calm water and we were able to revert to the classic course around Craigleith much to the delight of all visiting clubs. Due to the high volume of entries crews were set off in 2 waves which made for very exciting spectating, each race was all to play for as the crew with the fastest time across the two heats wins.
Racing started with the 45+ age categories, boats bravely headed out into wind and chop, the real challenge of coastal rowing is never knowing what conditions you’ll be met with and having to adapt accordingly! North Berwick brought home the first gold medal of the day with our 45+ men’s crew winning, followed by Wormit and Golspie. North Berwick’s 45+ women then also won gold with Golspie taking silver and Eastern taking bronze. Next up were the juniors, the under 18’s from North Berwick coming first across the line followed by Queensferry three seconds later, and Ullapool in third. The under 15’s race saw Eastern take first place, with North Berwick coming in second and then a second Ullapool crew coming third. First places followed in the Mixed Decades category for Ullapool, with Golspie coming in second only 3 seconds later and then Eastern 3 seconds after them. The Mixed Open event allows two women and two men of any age to take on their rivals. Golspie came out on top with the fastest time of the day of 16 minutes and 32 seconds on the triangular course, followed by Broughty Ferry and then North Berwick. The novice race is for rowers in their first year of rowing or for those who have not won a medal before. Eskmuthe won this one with Elie & St Monans coming second and North Berwick bagging a bronze.
In the afternoon, the old salty sea dogs had their chance in the 240+ race where the ages of the four rowers must total 240 or more. St Ayles from Anstruther came first with Eastern sweeping in 3 seconds later and Troon taking third place. The sea conditions improved so our Chief Umpire decided to return to the original race course around the rock, i.e. the Craig, much to the delight of all the rowers. The mixed 45+ category saw Wormit win gold with a 20 second margin, Eskmuthe taking silver and North Berwick in their wake.
The blue ribbon events are always the men’s and woman’s open categories and winners will claim overall club dominance. In the fastest time of the day round the rock, Eastern stormed ahead claiming the men’s title with a 29 second lead in a time of 16mins 49 secs, St Ayles bagged a silver medal with Boaty Blest hot on their tail coming in 1 second after. In the final race of the day our very own North Berwick ladies crew came in first place leading by 22 seconds, followed by Broughty Ferry and then Wormit.
We would like to thank all the volunteers and organisers who made the day such a success. Thank you to our sponsors Anne Baird & Co, NB Pharmacy, North Berwick Harbour Trust, The Seabird Centre, The Nether Abbey Hotel, Earth Squared, Lyndsay Henderson Personal Training, The Lobster Shack, The Rocketeer and Fenton Tower.
We were delighted to see such a broad range of clubs winning medals, coastal rowing is growing in popularity year on year with new clubs popping up all the time. The full results sheets is available on our website
If you are interested in trying rowing we offer Try Rowing sessions on Sundays at 2pm. http://www.j3.nbrowingclub.com/
More photos of the day can be found here
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Our regatta this year will be held on Saturday 26th August 2023. We will have races around Craigleith, approx 1.8miles, which takes 18-30 mins depending on conditions!
We aim to run each race with all boats starting at same time, but if the wind picks up or we have a lot of entries we may need to split the races into 2 waves, in this event final placings will be determined on time.
Boats entered so far....
Deadline for entries is 11th August. Entry Form
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09:00 |
10:00 Men's 45+ |
10:45 Women's 45+ |
11:30 Mixed U18 |
12:15 Mixed Decades |
13:00 Mixed Open |
13:45 Mixed Novice* |
14:45 Mixed 240** |
15:30 Mixed 45+ |
16:15 Men's Open |
17:00 Women's Open |
| Boaty Blest | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Broughty Ferry | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Dunbar CRC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Dundee Rowing Club | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Eastern (EACRC) 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Eastern (EACRC) 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Elie & St.Monans | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Eskmuthe Rowing Club | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Golspie Rowing Club | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Gourdon CRC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| NB 1 (Blackadder) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| NB 2 (SJB) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Newhaven | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Queensferry RC | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Row Porty | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Royal West | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| St Andrews | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| St Ayles | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Troon CRC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ullapool | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Wormit | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 15 | 19 |
7 |
19 | 17 | 15 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 19 |
*Novice rowers are those who have never won a race
**240 category rowers ages must add up to at least 240
Mixed races must have at least one man and two women
If you want to come to our regatta and haven't noted interest in coming or received an entry form then email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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A day out in Sunny Dunny! What a treat for the NBRC rowers, so a contingent of 28 rowers headed around 10 miles East to row in ‘the proper North Sea’ at Dunbar International Regatta. We hadn’t attended this regatta since pre covid times but our long-standing members shared some tales of past events and we practiced in sporty conditions so we were ready.
On arrival in Dunbar, it became clear that the proper North Sea was going to deliver. Prime viewing spots were established at the harbour entrance for the start and first buoy and the battery for the rest of the race.
After the coxes briefing the Open Men’s crew headed out of the calm harbour to line up for the start. Unfortunately a race to the first buoy didn’t work out in NB’s favour and a 360 penalty was given to the crew, after waiting for all crews to pass, the crew turned then did a fantastic job racing down the back straight to regain three positions and finished a respectable joint 4th.
We had a little more luck in the Open Women’s event which was up next. A very prompt start from the umpires left NB and the Netherlands racing for the first buoy. A big push and clear water advantage at the three boat lengths mark meant priority into the first turn. Then the challenge was to hold the lead. The ladies held out despite some extreme pressure from both NL and Broughty and crossed the line first to collect gold.
The course was then shortened bringing the approximately 1.5km promised down from 2.4km ish to nearer 2km. Both the Men’s 40+ and Mixed 270+ had fantastic races both coming 5th. And NB’s Women’s 40+ crew delivered an outstanding 4th place starting with a great race to the first buoy and then rowing strong down the back straight.
Finally the Poo Buoy race! Around 5.5km round trip, but with half the crew having completed Ocean to City a couple of weeks earlier, we knew the stamina was there. After over 30 minutes of really challenging rowing, the crew were rewarded with 3rd place. Overall, we had a terrific day out in the sun and had plenty of opportunity to compare stories with our fellow skiffies on whose race was most exciting and which was the best cake.
Well done to everyone who competed and thank you to Dunbar for providing us with such an exciting regatta. Next stop Ullapool! For more photos from the event head to our Flickr album by clicking here.
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