First of all many thanks to all club members who packed the boat, towed the boat, gave folks a lift up, picked the crews, trained in preparation for and competed at the regatta.
Vehicles left NB early in order to avoid the Highland Show traffic which thankfully didn’t cause problems. The ladies novice crew travelled up together to get into the team spirit early, good plan!
The forecast conditions looked pretty positive compared to recently with sunshine and 21c, a welcome arrival of summer. However, a fairly strong SSW breeze and an incoming tide expected to be at its strongest at lunchtime meant that the long 2nd leg of the anti-clockwise course into the wind would prove a test.
In all 9 boats were competing with the hosts putting on an excellent competitive racing regatta with the catering as usual being of an excellent standard (my personal tally = 1 bacon roll, 1 roll & sausage, 2 cakes).
10am racing commences and what a start for NB! The 280 crew (Clive (cox), Sheena, Ann, Martin and Johnny) storming to a win and setting an example for all crews by distancing Wormit in 2nd place and Bro’tty in 3rd.
And NB were on a roll! 50+ Women matched the 280 gold medal with Eastern in 2nd and Wormit in 3rd. During the day Wormit put on a strong performance and are clearly a club on the up.
The 40+ Mixed crew followed with a strong bronze medal performance behind Bro’tty in 2nd and Wormit in 1st only 3 seconds ahead of Bro’tty. Maybe knowledge of the Tay conditions were benefitting the local crews now? Well done Sandy (cox), Jen, Lindsay, Chris and Duncan.
And then more gold for NB! 60+ Women in an epic tussle with Wormit having let them have water around the first turn and then dragging them back along the long leg into the wind and winning by 20 seconds in the end. Magnificent performance and special mention for Lizzie’s coxing.
Conditions were getting tough and the Novice Mixed put in a creditable performance in the very breezy conditions followed by the 60+ Men who grabbed a bronze medal.
Then the Open Mixed crew won another gold medal for NB in a great time of 11m59sec ahead of Eastern! Our Mixed 60+ crew tried valiantly to emulate but were pipped by Wormit who maintained a lead right from the start.
OPEN MIXED PHOTO PENDING
60 MIXED PHOTO PENDING
2pm and it was time for the ‘car share’ Women Novices to show their teamwork and they came in with a creditable third place behind St Andrews and Bro’tty. Well done!
And to the final 2 races of the day, the Open Women and Open Men.
NB Open Women powered to an outstanding victory. Starting in the 2nd wave they ended the race having overtaken 2 boats in the first wave winning in style to complete a hat-trick for NB women on the day (50+, 60+ and Open categories). The standout performance on the day?
Our Open Men’s crew rowed excellently posting our fastest club time of the day – despite having to slow down three times to avoid a competitor boat.
Lots more photos are available on the club’s Flickr site here
Thanks again to everyone in the club planning, preparing and competing.
And NB won the overall top club for the regatta. Well done Lindsay for all the training and captains Amanda and Simon shaping great crews.
