Saturday saw a crack NB team making the short trip to Portobello, keen to avenge their narrow defeat at the hands of Anster the week before. The Portobello course, straight out from the beach, round a buoy and back to the shore had the unusual feature of growing longer as the tide came in so that races started out as lightning sprints but ended up as mid-distance slogs.
The event started with a fine third place for our under 15 youngsters (their coxes cry of ‘don’t let the red mist come down’ being something you don’t ofter hear at a regatta) and a very creditable 5th place for our novice crew who had never rowed together before, let alone under race conditions. They claim to have enjoyed the experience. Our under 18 youngsters then scored a fine win and this was followed by a succession of second places for NB crews. it became clear that the overall competition would be a two horse race between ourselves and the home team with the locals just keeping their noses ahead at the halfway mark. In the afternoon the NB power began to show with a series of wins for our 40+ ladies, 40+ men, 60+ mixed and open mixed. One crew which surely expected to triumph were the young guns of the mens open team but a sharp crack shortly after their dramatic departure from the beach announced that the power had proved too much for the bow oarlock pin. Nothing daunted, the rest of the crew kept rowing while Duncan in bow enjoyed the view and still managed to achieve third place.
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After the final competitive race the final points were added up, added up again and added up for a third time but the result came out the same, North Berwick and the hosts were tied at the top with 31 points. With the calculations completed, there was still the business of the inter-club race and the relay race to take care of. The inter-club race gave several club members the opportunity to try out the oppositions boats under race conditions. In the relay, after an exciting changeover where several rowers seemed to be exiting the boats head first, Anstruther beat North Berwick back to shore by the narrowest of margins. Unfortunately for our friends across the Forth, they had neglected to swap lifejackets at the changeover leading them to incur a 30 second penalty and North Berwick to be the first winners of the relay trophy.
Revenge is sweet indeed and it was a contented NB contingent who made their way home after an excellent day’s racing. Many thanks to Porty for being excellent hosts and for laying on such fine weather.
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