Author: coxswain

Rowing into 2014 …

1. There is to be an SCRA course on regatta organisation, at Loch Insch (near Kincraig in the Cairngorms) over 15/16 February. Please comment below if you are interested in attending (there will be shared accommodation and board etc to pay for). Transport could be shared.

2. Is anyone keen to join an RYA VHF radio course, on a Saturday in January/February? We would need at least four on the course. Cost tbc. Radios are used to start races etc and are very handy in waters with intermittent mobile signals. Again, please comment below if you are keen.

A New Year’s Day outing today – serenaded by a bagpiper!

Selkie survived the storms, thanks to various folk looking out for her. At one point, she blew off the launching trolley … sadly, we have lost a door to the lifejacket store aka ‘fridge’.

However, John McFarlane has kindly offered his boatshed for Selkie’s winter maintenance, which will start in a couple of weeks. All hands welcome. Watch this space!

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New Year, new bills 🙁

Membership fees (£10 for over 16s) are now due. Three free trial rows then pay up! The forms may be downloaded from this website (see the menu bar above) and returned to the surgery with your cheque.

It was agreed at the AGM that additional fundraising (a ceilidh on 31 May for instance) will seed a ‘trip fund’ for regattas etc so that we can keep the basic membership rate as low as possible.

We’re searching for a place, undercover, to do some running repairs and mods on Selkie whilst the weather is preventing rowing. Can anyone help?

Classic Boat Magazine, which is usually several levels upmarket of where Skiffing probably lies, run a series of awards at the end of each year. This year some kind soul has nominated the St Ayles Skiff in the Spirit of Tradition – less than 40′ category.

So Skiffies, you now have an opportunity to express your view of the outstanding little craft that Iain O and Alec J have conjured up for all to play with. Just visit the Classic Boat awards 2014 web page and register your vote, if all involved in Skiffiedom act in concert it should be a walkover ;-). You are looking for Category 4.

The January 2014 issue, which has just dropped through the letterbox, has a brief write up on p36 with a cracking snap from the Ullapool 2012 Regatta.

Classic Boat Awards 2014 – Voting closed

From the Scottish Coastal Rowing website:

30 Miles Round Argyll’s Slate Islands under Oar

Congratulations to Ewan Kennedy of the Isle of Seil Rowing Club for winning the 2013 Cruising Log Competition! The competition is open to all members of Scottish Coastal Rowing Association clubs.

Ewan’s log, published on his Scottish Boating Blog, describes a four day expedition in the Seil Skiff, Selkie. The adventure starts and finishes from Selkie’s base on the Isle of Seil, taking in visits to the Islands of Seil, Luing, Shuna and Insh. Sailing was experimented with, but most of the 30 miles of so of travel was conducted under oar, in company with a three other boats of diverse type. As well as a passage under the ‘Bridge over the Atlantic’, and through the exciting tidal waters of the Cuan Sound, the crew fit in a poignant visit to a beautiful bay in Seil Sound which is about to become part of an industrial scale fishfarm development.

The log will inspire others to plan carefully and look at ways in which the St Ayles Skiffs be used to explore our coastline.

Thank you to all the rowers and clubs who submitted entries. If you are planning an expedition for 2014 remember to record it for the benefit of others, and as a reminder for yourself of good times, and of course to submit as an entry to the 2014 Cruising Log Competition!

DRAFT AGENDA

Apologies
Convenor’s report
Treasurer’s report
Election of Officers and committee
Membership
Winter Maintenance of skiff and alterations
Procedure for booking rowing sessions
Regattas – Argyll and attendance at others
* Any other business
Date of next meeting

* Please intimate any other competent business through this website by 8 December

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With the meteoric rise in the number of skiffs throughout Scotland, there is now more emphasis on regional matters in Scottish Coastal Rowing. Sue Fenton from Seil has been co-opted onto the SCRA committee as the Argyll representative.

The following is adapted from the SCRA website (thanks, Robbie!)

“The beautiful coastline of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides will be suitably enhanced next year by the presence of more St Ayles skiffs. Many will be familiar with Selkie (from the Isle of Seil) and Islay’s Lily Bheag who were both present at the Skiffie Worlds. Islay have launched their second skiff, Bluebell, and there is the possibility of further builds on the Island.

Isle of Mull are well ahead with the building of their first skiff at Tobermory, starting to apply paint only four weeks after picking up the kit, and are planning to start a second build. Oban Coastal Rowing Club has been formed with the intention of building a skiff in the biggest town in Argyll. Port Appin, a small village close to the north end of Lismore, between Oban and Fort William, will hopefully be building a skiff in the near future, and there have been expressions of interest from Campbeltown and Luing. Argyll has hundreds of miles of coastline perfect for community rowers.

Weather permitting, there will be a gathering of some of the Argyll skiffs at Otter Ferry this Sunday (17 November 2013). Otter Ferry, as the road signs notably declare, has no ferry so the skiffs from Mid-Argyll, Kilmelford and Seil will be rowing across Loch Fyne to the muster point. They will be be joined there by skiff Archie Smith from Kyles CRC and possibly one of the Royal West boats. The scenery is stunning and the company will be great!”

Seil is still looking for one or two more rowers/cox for the great adventure …

The Annual General Meeting of the Seil Coastal Rowing Club will take place on Monday 9 December in Seil Hall (small hall) at 2000 hours.

Agenda to follow. If anyone has any items that they would like to be discussed, please indicate below.

EVERYBODY WELCOME!