Dolphin Spotting Sept 2015
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When most of North Berwick were still tucked up in their beds, ten mad souls dragged themselves to the harbour for the first, of hopefully many, captains' coffee and cake social rows.
The bells were just chiming 8 when we launched into a fantastic morning sea. Going out the West Passage at just after full tide we got our first sighting of the dolphins just off the rocks. Totally amazing. Our two boats followed to The Lamb where we appeared to lose them. On through to Fidra where we landed and climbed to the topmost point. Views were stunning, but I think it's fair to say the cakes were best. You could have heard a pin drop as we all munched and drank coffee admiring the views and the dolphins between us and the shore. After our well earned rest we started our descent. We were trying to ignore Alan as he wandered off for some peace.... but were all surprised when he arrived back at the boats, in a pirate outfit.....strange things happen at sea. What a guy.
It was a bit of a stretch getting back into boats with the tide falling. Boats were backed out again from the little harbour with fantastic skill, and we started the lovely row home. Landing back on the beach as the clock struck 11. A superb morning with an excellent wee gang. Come join us next time, watch for the shouts, where will we go next time??
Captains medium and RED
Tiger Cup 2015
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After calling off the Tiger Cup earlier in the year due to storms, we grabbed the good weather window yesterday to have a quickly arranged internal, friendly knockout race competition that I'm sure would make the founder proud. Twenty red shirts gathered on the beach for what turned into a lovely day, the aea state was pretty good with a light swell, almost full tide, and very little wind.
Names were drawn from a hat (red carrier bag) and teams picked their coxes; John B and St Baldred were raring to go. The first two crews headed out for a warm up to the front of the Craig, as others gathered above Galloway's Pier to watch or tended our wee beach fire. We had four teams racing and a fifth full of youngsters having a jolly. The races were all very closely fought neither boats winning by more than a boat length. After the first two races we had a wee break to get the youngsters out.
The final was then under way. Lou, Dave, Lizzie and Sheena against Simon, Ian, Sandy and Steve. Again it was very closely fought out, with almost a girls team against a boys, (sorry DD) so really if the handicap had been in situ.......??!!
Well done to the boys, who were Tiger Cup Winners 2015. Marshmallows, chocolate bikkies, and cake to polish off the afternoon. Thank you to everyone for putting your oars in and pulling hard, what a great afternoon.
North Berwick Regatta August 2015
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We do like it rough at NB ! The sun shone and the wind certainly blew.
White horses and big side waves to the Craig, a nice bit of clapotis then settle in for a breather in the good water round the back...and steel your selves for the wall of wind and final sprint for home.
More than one club commented that this is what coastal rowing is all about and our experience of these conditions certainly paid off.
Some great wins for us in the Mens 40 plus, Mixed 60s, ladies 50s , Mixed open, a 1 and 2 in the Mixed Over 45s and end epic battle in the Mens Open coming from behind to take a last gasp win beating Coigach by a second.
Thanks to all the clubs for making a fantastic day and and to everyone here who put massive time and effort making it a success.
Largs Regatta August 2015
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Another trip to the West Coast for NBRC took us to Largs, home of the famous Nardini Ice Cream parlour and a very fine spot for rowing indeed.
No wind was bad news for the many sailors that were on the water, but great news for us rowers to enjoy fast rowing in flat conditions.
Our hosts, Firth of Clyde Coastal Rowing club were having their second regatta, which was well attended by local clubs from the West Coast, and a couple of interlopers (ourselves and Anstruther) making the day trip over from the East Coast.
The racing was a mixture of 2k races around a single buoy turn and 500m straight line sprints. The 2K races take about 12 minutes, our mixed open crew held off Anstruther and the local boats to get our first win under the belt. Next up was our men’s crew, who won their heat, but that wasn’t enough to get a medal as the next heat went faster and first prize went to Royal West. Our ladies knew they’d have to row well to get ahead of Anstruther but it wasn’t to be and we were pushed into second place by the Queens of Fife.
After lunch was a series of 500m sprints and NBRC came into its own, to be fair we’ve been doing this for 5 or 6 years now and most of the clubs were in their first year of racing, but it’s a race so we went our hardest! We took all but one of the sprints, which was great for us, but the races were all hard fought and we were blowing hard at the finish. The one sprint that eluded us was the juniors, but we put in a mixed crew including a couple of 13 year olds (Gregor and Kirsty) along with Heather (aged 15) and the experienced old head of Cameron (aged 18) and they made us all proud with their neat rowing style and they pushed the local crew all the way.
After all that we felt fish and chips at the famous Nardinis was well deserved.
Many thanks to Firth of Clyde Coastal Rowing Club for a great regatta.
Newburgh August 2015
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The sun, remembering for once that it really should have its hat on in August, dazzled a hard core of North Berwick rowers who had made the trip up to the Big Orange (widely known as Newburgh) for a day of racing on the Tay.
The course was just over a kilometre with 3 turns – the first a sharp bend around a pink buoy, the second around a small grassy islet which promptly disappeared as the tide rolled in and a moored up boat which seemed to be hit a little more than its owners probably liked. A speed demon on a jetski provided safety cover and spectator hydration in equal measure and was joined at one stage by a great raft of fellow jetski-enthusiasts doing their best Hawaii Five-O impression and lending a wonderfully Californian feel to proceedings.
In addition to NB there were representatives from Broughty Ferry and Wormit rowing clubs which meant that along with the hosts most races had 4 boats starting in randomly allocated lanes.
Conditions were testing with the wind blowing West to East and a much stronger tide flowing East to West. The first race of the day was the 40+ mixed and it was evident from the outset that the tide and lane draw were going to have a big effect on the results. The starting hooter blared and the crews all leapt in action, pulling with around 100% of their might but not making much progress against the racing tide. Eventually headway was made and it was apparent that, like so many of these races, the first boat to the turn was very difficult to beat.
Competition from Newburgh and Broughty Ferry was fierce and Wormit, although left behind in the earlier races, rallied towards the end and picked up some good points for their club score.
In the first 2 categories NB suffered from less favourable lanes and stiff competition to finish third in each but the brutish chaps of the 40+ gave the baying supporters satisfaction with a convincing win. No doubt the sweat dripping from Dave’s noble scalp inspired the 40+ women to repeat the exercise. This performance was double excellent in that Tracy and Ann who made up 50% of the crew are relatively new to the club (and subsequently competed in the novice/fresher category) and having turned 3rd at the first buoy the crew showed their mettle by overhauling both the Broughty and Newburgh crews before the final turn.
Our under 19 squad of Cameron, Euan, Saskia and Gregor put in a strong shift but were ultimately pushed into second by a strong set of Newburgh lads, before our Novices pulled their way to another victory.
The winning streak continued with the Louise, Claire M, Issy and Sheena beating all-comers in a hotly contested Women’s Open. An exciting feature of the day’s races was their rich “incident” content and none more so than this one.
The organisers decided to reverse the course for the Men’s Open, to appease the clockwise gods and reflect the changing conditions. The previous outer lane advantage disappeared with the lanes closest to the bank benefitting from slacker water but once again it was the first skiff to the turn that proved to be unassailable. In this case Broughty shot from the start line like a startled walrus and got there first. A clashing of oars between North Berwick and Newburgh gave them the chance they needed to take a comfortable lead and despite a spirited performance from NB in closing much of the distance, Broughty won through to the line leaving the NB boys a disconsolate second.
Fortunately their demons were exorcised and exercised in the Decades race with a strong North Berwick crew representing respectively Teens (Euan), 20s (Ben), 30s (Ian) and 50s (Medium) romping away to win by decent margin with excellent tactical coxing from Phil.
Much clapping and hooting was to be heard at the awards ceremony in the evening sunshine where it became apparent that almost every NB rower had come away with a medal. This strong combined effort meant we tied with the hosts for most club points – a great testament to all the hard work and training that everyone puts in. A fantastic day was had by all and thanks to Newburgh Rowing Club for a really enjoyable and challenging regatta, warm welcome and delightful cakes.
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