Build it. Row it. Love it.

Portsoy regatta at the Scottish traditional boat festival took place over the weekend of the 26th-27th of June. The weather at this year’s regatta was great, unlike last year.

15 club’s took part in this years regatta , portsoy welcomed Avoch, Anstruther, Eastern , North Berwick, Boatie Blest, Bunillidh, Collieston, Catterline, Burghead, Findochty, Findhorn, Deveron, St Andrew’s and Cullen .  Race’s took place over the two day’s and included 2km and sprint’s of 750m.  Unfortanlly our junior crew’s didn’t compete as most were away on a school trip, but Erin and Drew did in some of our open team’s.

Our 2km race’s included Men’s open finishing 5th, Women’s open finishing 3rd, Mixed fresher finishing 3rd and our mixed open taking a 2nd well done guy’s.

As you can imagine sprint racing is fast , boat’s race for 750m with a turn , boat’s race in heat’s with 3 boats in each heat then the 3 fastest time’s  go through to final.

Our sprint team’s did amazing this year well done

1st mixed 60+, 2nd mixed fresher, 4th men’s 40+, 2nd women’s 40+, 3rd women’s 50+,  2nd Mixed 40+, 2nd women’s open, 4th men’s open.

At the end of the 2 day’s  racing Avoch finished a fantastic 3rd Overall, well done everyone, next stop the world championship’s northern Ireland. Thanks again for a great two day’s Portsoy .

Ullapool Regatta was held over the weekend of 28th-29th of May.  We enjoyed beautiful weather and hospitality as always.  Ullapool regatta saw our junior team’s racing for the first time .  Our U19 and U17 mixed team’s had brilliant success coming home with two silver medals.

We also welcomed for the first time Ingrid and Lorna, who are in the process of building a skiff in Cromarty, but for this season are rowing with us.  Both ladies went home with medal’s, Ingrid a silver and a bronze in women’s open B and Mixed open B and Lorna a bronze in the mixed open B, well done ladies.

Our women’s 40+ also brought home a silver , which took our medal’s to 4 silver and 1 bronze well done team.

A massive well done to everyone who took part, a great two day’s was had by all .

Ullapool gave us a good chance to get the feel for the upcoming world championship’s as many of the club’s that attended would also be attending the world’s.  15 club’s raced  a 2km course with a turn at the 1km mark the same type of course that is planned for the world’s .

Next stop Portsoy!!!!!

Sunday 1st May saw the skiffties take on Loch Ness in our Monster row.  The Monster row was masterminded by Drew Mann as a great way of  fund raising for our trip to the skiffie world’s (world championship) in Northern Ireland .  The monster row saw us row from one end of Loch Ness to the other, a 22 mile stretch  in 5 legs and completed in 5 hours. One of our junior members took on the challenge of organising this Monster Row, Drew Mann spent many hours studying maps and driving the length of the loch looking for crew changing stops, As well as sorting all the teams, drivers and helpers. A massive well done to him .  On the morning of the row the weather and wind looked like it may stop play, but after an early morning drive to check the condition’s on the loch Drew gave the go ahead.  The boat and her first crew made the journey to Fort Augustus where she was launched and started her journey down the loch.  A further 4 stop’s and crew change’s took place with her finally landing at Dore’s , to be welcomed in by a great crowd .  A crowd funding page had been set up to allow sponsorship which generated an amazing £1142.00 .  A massive thank you to everyone who sponsored us and a big thank you to everyone who took part and came to show support on the day.  We might have had a little bit of fun with photo-shop.

Well the skiffties headed to the East coast on Saturday 19th March to take part in the Banff Regatta and to welcome Deveron’s first skiff Banac on to the water.  A Great day was had by all and we managed to come home with some medal’s.  Ladies open came 1st, Mixed open 2nd and the men’s open 3rd.  Joining us for the first time was Jimmy jack who coxed all race’s in condition’s that can only be descrided as interesting .  Well done to Deveron

  a for a great regatta and a warm welcome to Banac .

The skiffties welcomed our new skiff Zephyr on the 28th feb .  We were blessed with a beautiful day and an amazing crowd to welcome her onto the water.  After taking her through the village led by a piper, we launched her with the help of Ullapool, Burghead, Chanonry and Findochty coastal rowing club’s.  Thankyou to everyone who joined us for a great day of rowing .

We will be launching our second skiff named ‘Zepher’ on the 28th of February. As with the launch of ‘Zulu’ she will be piped from the harbour, starting at 2.30pm, to the clubs normal launching site at the end of Ormonde Terrace where a small ceremony will be held.

Everyone is welcome so please come along and support the club if you fancy it.  Full details are on the poster below

On 14th November 2015, Avoch Community Rowing Club (AKA “The Skiffties”) hosted their first regatta with eight clubs participating in a full days racing schedule. The 1km (0.62 mile) course was set in Avoch Bay within full view of the beach and weather conditions were as near to perfect given the uncertainty due to winter storm Abigail. The winds were light and the weather dry and chilly but extremely favourable for a mid-November Saturday.
Skiffs from Ardersier (“Esther”), Burghead (“Tarbh Uisge”), Findhorn (Joppa”), Findochty (“Morag”), Helmsdale (“Pride of Bunillidh”), Portsoy (“Soy Quine”) and Wick (“Pulteney Lass”) made the trip to compete alongside the host club Avoch (“Zulu”) in nine scheduled races in the following categories: Race 1 – Women’s Over 50’s Race 2 – Men’s Over 50’s Race 3 – Women’s Open Race 4 – Men’s Open Race 5 – Women’s Mixed Decades Race 6 – Men’s Mixed Decades Race 7 – Women’s Over 40’s Race 8 – Men’s Over 40’s Race 9 – Open Mixed After the Cox’s Brief given by Avoch’s Sally MacAdie, the teams prepared for the 1st race of the day, the Women’s Over 50’s, which got under way slightly later than scheduled. This was won by the hosts Avoch with Burghead 2nd and Helmsdale 3rd . Helmsdale secured victory in the Men’s Over 50’s with Avoch 2nd and Wick 3rd and Avoch returned to winning ways in the Women’s Open with Helmsdale 2nd and Wick taking another 3rd place.
The Men’s Open race was won by Avoch with Wick 2nd and Helmsdale 3rd and this cemented the three way race for the overall team trophy. In the Women’s Mixed Decades race, Helmsdale were victorious with Portsoy 2nd and Wick 3rd and victory for Helmsdale came shortly after in the Men’s Mixed Decades race with Wick 2nd and Findhorn 3rd .
After a short break for lunch, racing resumed with the Women’s Over 40’s race and Avoch came out victorious with Helmsdale 2nd and Findhorn 3rd. Helmsdale were again winners with victory in the Men’s Over 40’s race with Burghead 2nd and Avoch
3rd . There was a parallel race held during the Mens Over 40’s which saw two teen crews, Portsoy & Burghead (with an Avoch teen) battle it out over a 500m sprint. Fittingly, this race ended in a draw and both teams picked up medals at the prize-giving. This only left the Mixed Open to decide the winners of the Team Trophy. In the final and most exciting race of the day, Avoch claimed victory over Helmsdale by one second with Wick claiming bronze. However, second place was enough to secure the necessary points for Helmsdale to emerge as overall team winners.
Once all the boats had been brought back to shore, the teams made their way to Zulu’s shed for the prize-giving ceremony with medals and team trophy being presented by Councillor Jennifer Barclay. The medals were designed and made by junior Skifftie members Erin and Drew and they were well received by all those who won them. Helmsdale received the locally made Team Trophy commissioned by the club and sponsored by The Chatterbox (a local community newspaper) with Avoch in 2nd and Wick in 3rd – there were just two points separating Helmsdale and Avoch which showed just how competitive the racing was on the day. Special mention must go to Findochty who only launched their skiff “Morag” in October 2015 and it was great to see them at their first ever regatta.
Avoch Community Rowing Club would like to extend their thanks to all the clubs who participated and all those who helped organise and run the event on the day. The hope next year’s will be even bigger and better!

There are some pictures on the gallery pages link below.
 
Ice Breaker Regatta

The 1st of August saw the return of an event that had sadly fallen on hard times. The ‘Race round the rock’ had been part of the Shieldaig fete for many years but over recent times had been dropped due to a lack of interest. Organiser Ruairidh Maclennan decided to try and revive the event by inviting some of the skiffing community and as you might expect we rallied to the call.
In total nine skiffs attended from eight clubs and despite the changeable weather the event was a real success. They Shieldaig community are already planning for next years event and intend to have their own skiff built and ready to take their place along side us on the start line.
Avoch put in another storming performance finishing in second place overall only behind the World Champions Achiltiebuie who had a strong team out.
Well done to Ruairidh and his team and we all hope to see you in the lane beside us next year.

There are some pictures on the gallery pages link below.
 
Shieldaig Regatta

Ullapool, site of the 2013 World Championships, once again hosted a fantastic event with their 2015 regatta. Always one of the largest and most prestigious on the calender this years was no exception with clubs and rowers from all over Scotland taking part over the two days.
The Skiffties, due to prior commitments, could only attend on the Saturday and competed in five races. All crews competed well but the efforts of our Ladies Open team deserve special mention. Up against some of the strongest opposition teams they could face our ladies walked away with the gold medals pipping Coigach by a matter of inches.
Their performance and that of each and everyone of their team mates led to Avoch being awarded the Best Newcomer award. Not bad when we had no teams at all on the Friday!!!

There are some pictures on the gallery pages link below.
 
Ullapool Regatta

The Scottish Traditional Boat Festival 2015 took place on Saturday in Portsoy and with Avoch in attendance for the first time. The event has been going for a good number of years and skiff racing was added to the days events as the sport began to grow in popularity. Sadly the day was not good with heavy rain falling for most of the day but that didn’t stop the teams turning out. As well as ourselves and our host Portsoy we were joined by Stornoway, Ullapool, Findhorn, Burghead, Collieston, Catterline (incorporating Gourdon and Montrose), St. Andrews, Anstruther, Pittenweem, Queensferry, Firth of Clyde and Dunbar and the overall winners Boatie Blest.
Avoch competed really well again securing another win for the ladies in the open and finishing a very creditable 4th overall. A huge well done to all the rowers and supports who braved the elements.

There are some pictures on the gallery pages link below.
 
Portsoy Regatta