Row, row, row your boat!

by **Bob Jefferson** » 21 Mar 2010, 10:33

The boat builders finally found workshop space at the former Power Station site and I popped in yesterday to see how they were doing. Nick Savage was hard at work, trying to make the most of the daylight hours as they have no electricity supply!

The skiff is coming along nicely and they hope to have it ready in time for the Inaugural St Ayles Skiff Regatta at Anstruther on 29 May. A provisional date for a regatta in Portobello has been set for 24/25 July.

Follow their progress at www.rowporty.org.uk

by **rapunzell** » 21 Mar 2010, 15:45

Yeah, looking forward to the regatta!

I think they're building this in my old painting studio :-)

by **Bob Jefferson** » 21 Mar 2010, 16:28

This is what it looked like yesterday.

by **Lambie** » 26 Apr 2010, 09:30

by **Bob Jefferson** » 24 May 2010, 19:45

The 'Ice Breaker', as the boat has been named, will be launched tomorrow on Portobello Beach around 3:30 pm, I believe. Get all the latest news and info, and find out how you can get involved, by visiting the rowporty website:

www.rowporty.org.uk

And this coming Saturday the Porty team will be taking part in their first regatta at Anstruther. Should be a good day out. See you there?

by **Lambie** » 24 May 2010, 20:46

Best of luck with the launch.

by **Bob Jefferson** » 25 May 2010, 21:30

I went down to see the boat today and ended up in it. My previous rowing experience has been limited to going a couple of times around the island in the pond at Moffat so I'm hardly OxCam material but, I have to say, it was great fun. And hard work. "Stroke!" Andres kept calling. I thought I was having one.

Along with Andres, my fellow crew members for the occasion were his wife Fran, Ali (more at home in a kayak) and Emily and Flossie, who took turns to wear the pirate hat. The traditional breaking of a bottle of champagne over the bow hadn't taken place as no-one wanted to damage the paintwork but I did find an empty bottle of wine in the hull. I can only assume that the contents were inside the crew.

It's a beautiful-looking boat and if you missed today's launch then look out for it over the next couple of days as the team learn how to row before the inaugural regatta on Saturday. And our very own seanie is cox.

by **Lambie** » 25 May 2010, 22:30

This is excellent. Top work everyone involved.

by **allaboardtheskylark** » 26 May 2010, 17:30

Watch out for the speed cameras Bob.

Great to see this venture going ahead. Can I bring my water skis

by **rapunzell** » 26 May 2010, 18:15

Got some good shots of the boat today and a brief chat with a couple of the lads. Can't wait for Porty Regatta - am emailing RN pals to tell them about it and try to entice them along/ down/ in. No idea what to expect but that'll be half of the fun. I'll be bringing my life jacket along, no being left on the beach when there's that many boats on the water

by **Maria** » 26 May 2010, 19:37

by **SoupDragon** » 26 May 2010, 20:37

by **Bob Jefferson** » 26 May 2010, 20:56

by **rapunzell** » 26 May 2010, 22:28

by **seanie** » 27 May 2010, 20:48

by **seanie** » 29 May 2010, 23:02

Rejoice!

Over the course of the day the scant time for practice perhaps took its toll, and Portobello managed to only reach one final in the various classes.

But in that final, the very last race of the day (and some might say the blue riband event of the regatta) the mixed open team of Dan, Roisin, Maddy & Nick were triumphant, beating the formidable Port Seton team by the narrowest of margins.

ICE, ICE, BREAKER!

ICE, ICE, BREAKER!

by **rapunzell** » 30 May 2010, 00:01

by **Bob Jefferson** » 30 May 2010, 08:30

by **seanie** » 30 May 2010, 21:49

by **Bob Jefferson** » 31 May 2010, 21:10

I have now re-posted my film of the day's events, though sadly without the ultimate victory, in glorious high definition and widescreen.

by **GRANTY** » 16 Jun 2010, 09:20

Porty’s very own skiff, ‘Icebreaker’ is now a familiar sight on the sea front. If you haven’t seen it yet, pop down and have a look. I

Some of you will be aware that Porty had a thriving rowing past. Myself and Bob J. are trying to gather memories, photos etc to document this, for a local exhibition. This will coincide with a skiff regatta to be held on 24th July.

Do you, or any of your family have any stories you could share with us? Do you know of anyone locally, or who perhaps lives elsewhere now, who was involved in the rowing?

If so, can you point them in our direction, or point me in theirs ? If you PM me, I can follow it up or give me a call on 07986 291 394.

Any help appreciated. Thanx

Ali

by **rapunzell** » 08 Jul 2010, 12:57

by **Maria** » 08 Jul 2010, 13:34

by **rapunzell** » 08 Jul 2010, 13:49

by **wangi** » 08 Jul 2010, 14:03

by **rapunzell** » 08 Jul 2010, 14:04

by **Gordon Mackenzie** » 22 Jul 2010, 07:31

by **Maria** » 22 Jul 2010, 08:49

by **Raimes** » 23 Jul 2010, 11:53

by **Bob Jefferson** » 23 Jul 2010, 12:50

by **Raimes** » 23 Jul 2010, 16:29

by **Bob Jefferson** » 23 Jul 2010, 23:06

Much excitement down on the beach today ahead of tomorrow's big regatta. The Porty teams were out getting in some last-minute practice and they are looking strong and confident. I met up with the Tollcross crew, who have brought over their currach, a very early type of boat from the west coast of Ireland. It seems to be built almost entirely from old scrap material and covered in a tar and bitumen coated canvas. I turned up just as they were about to launch it into salt water for the first time, its only previous excursions being on the Union canal.

The Port Seton crew showed off by rowing their boat to Portobello and hit the beach before the Porty team had even set off to meet them. Hopefully, that will have sapped some of their energy!

Look out for the limited-edition 'Never mind the rollocks, here's rowporty' t-shirts on sale tomorrow and the story booklet produced by Towerbank p4 children.

The forecast is good and it should be a great event. See you there!

by **Bob Jefferson** » 23 Jul 2010, 23:31

And just to remind you, here's Icebreaker - the beautiful skiff built by Portobello people for Portobello people.

photo by Max Blinkhorn

by **Bob Jefferson** » 25 Jul 2010, 09:33

Great event yesterday, and racing continuing this morning for those of you still keen for more. There were some very exciting close finishes and the Portobello teams put in some great performances. Full results will be available soon. Competitive coastal rowing in the Forth is back and hopefully this is just the first of many annual regattas in Portobello to look forward to.

Inevitably, there are a few issues still to be ironed out. As a priority, the newly-formed Scottish Coastal Rowing Association needs to agree upon and enforce the specification on what is allowed in terms of oars, rollocks, klabes, pins etc so that everyone is competing on equal terms. And in terms of putting on a regatta as a spectator event there are perhaps a few things that could be improved.

The next big event is the Traditional Boats Muster at North Berwick, which unfortunately clashes with the Big Beach Busk here in Portobello.

Meanwhile, I'm still researching the history of rowing in Portobello. A lot of new (old) material has come to light so there is still a lot of work to do. A talk I gave recently re-acquainted a number of rowers from the original clubs and it was great to see them recognise themselves and old friends in photographs going back in some cases to the 1930s.

Row, row, row your boat!

Row, row, row your boat!

Porty's rowing past - an exhibition

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