Just over twenty miles from Troon, Carrick Coastal Rowing Club’s regatta is a short hop from our home turf. The regatta is held in the idylic setting of Maidens.
The village of Maidens lies at the south end of Ayrshire’s Maidenhead Bay, six miles west of Maybole. The source of its name is often quoted as coming from “The Maidens of Turnberry”, a series of rocks in Maidenhead Bay which have long provided shelter to this end of the bay. There is an alternative view that it’s from a pair of iron age forts built a mile south-west of today’s village. It’s also the place where Robert the Bruce landed to start his reconquest of Scotland. Jumping forward it also grew in popularity due to golf and for many years had its own railway and station. I wonder if any of our members ever jumped on the train to Maidens?
At least the weather was reasonable for a late September regatta but those winds were growing by the minute! The day would be interesting.
Eleven members of Troon headed south to compete.
Nine clubs competed in the Carrick Regatta:
The regatta consisted of two main events, the Exciseman’s chase and the mini chase sprint.
The Exciseman’s Chase is an 8km timed pursuit race from Maidens Harbour to Gas House Bay, Culzean Castle and return to Maidens Harbour. To make matters more interesting, it required a complete crew change in each direction. Returning crews had to set off after the cox’s briefing to give plenty of time to walk to Gas House Bay to be ready to meet their outward crew and changeover.
The mini chase was down the length of the harbour with a starboard turn at the “teabag” buoy, round another buoy and back around the “teabag” before returning back to the harbour slipway.
The day was off to a quick start with the Coxs’ briefing and some quick planning to ensure the crew changeover at Culzean went as smoothly as possible. Tensions were high, the pressure was on. I know this because en-route to a wedding at Turnberry, I convinced Anne that we should go wish the guys good luck. The looks from other clubs were odd, surely this could be rowing gear of the future? Maybe Anne was right to stay in the car rather than head down the harbour in her long dress and high heels, but I thought the guys were worth it.
Each skiff was scheduled with three minute intervals between each departure. Troon were drawn to be the last boat to leave the harbour with their token in hand ready to hand over at Gas House Bay.
The first crew watched anxiously as boat after boat left the harbour. In the boat we had Adrian in the cox seat and Kevin in stroke. Christine C sat in 3, Adrienne in 2 and Neil in bow. Sitting ready waiting for the signal to go. Time to go, token in hand, gripped tightly just in case, they were off!
Kevin described the start of the race. “We set off nice and steady and got into a good rhythm, left turn out of the harbour and straight into 500mtrs of side-on swell tricky trying to keep a rhythm going. The next 2k was full on big waves, making progress for three or four strokes and then crashing to an almost stop at the bottom of a swell” All the guys talked about the “rollercoaster” experience. The North Berwick washing machine regatta was certainly good practice for the guys. Christine expressed that she “enjoyed the challenge of rowing into the high seas but Adrian’s frequent shouts of ‘here’s a big one’ certainly kept us all concentrated despite having a few fresh air strokes!”. Based on the feedback from all the crew “big one coming” was an often heard term from Adrian. Little did they know, or perhaps it was evident on his face, but Adrian “didn’t mind admitting that it was heart in the mouth stuff for me as the cox (as I could see what was about to hit us). I was glad to get Culzean in one piece! “
Waiting on the shore at Culzean was Josie, the chief beach marshal for Carrick Coastal Rowing club. In true sportsmanship behaviour, she kept Lorna, Mike D and Julie warmed up by making them throw sticks whilst awaiting the arrival of the guys.
Back on the sea, the final 1k for the “boys and girls in the boat” eased slightly and the guys overtook one skiff then another and made ground with 500 mtrs to the shore. At the last buoy turn the waves got a bit more side on and wobbly but with a final overtake at the beach, and a real slick crew turnaround, the guys handed over their precious token. Kevin “felt like he, Christine, Adrienne & Neil had been through the wars and had given absolutely everything for each other on every single stroke and knew we could not have done more but it was out of our hands now”.
At Culzean, Christine jumped into the cox seat and Adrian went into stroke. Julie sat in 3 with Lorna in 2 and Mike D in bow. Adrian said “the turnaround was almost F1 like and we were away in two shakes of a lambs tail”. Conditions were tough but on the return journey the guys had the wind at their back and Christine said “ the return saw us surf at a great rate and overtake another couple of skiffs”. Another valiant effort for the full 4k return journey and the guys had the end in sight. Crossing the finishing line, all they could do was wait to hear the results.
The guys had done it with a lead of four minutes. Looking across the timings above its clear that every team rowed their hearts out in such challenging conditions. A great win from our Troon rowers.
Next up was the mini chase sprint race. Christine was Cox for this event and got her crew ready. Despite the sunny day, like North Berwick, the wind was making conditions difficult and the course was hastily reorganised to suit the conditions.
For this race, Christine selected Lorna for stroke and Michael B in 3. Derek sat in 2 and Jacqui took bow. The precious token was taken and the crew climbed down the harbour wall to the pontoon. They were off! Jacqui was delighted with “The great start they got and it being a TCRC speciality”. The guys knew the pressure was on to retain the trophy and after the great result from earlier in the day. “The wind was strong and sea had swell and white horses from the North Westerly blowing” felt Derek and that it “was a well coxed race”. The guys could hear the other Troon members on the harbour wall and talked about it being a great motivator. The guys powered around the course and as they reached the slip, Jacqui quickly passed the token to Mike D who flew up the slip to hand over the token.
After an anxious wait, the guys found out they had won by a mere 45 seconds but were happy to take it and take the trophy home to Troon.
Another great regatta for TCRC and a great end to the season.
2024 Regatta Season
Its incredible to think that the 2024 regatta season is over and summer is gone, if you actually believe it arrived in the first place. What a season it has been and easy to forget how well we have done.
The first regatta of the season was back in early May at Port Seaton. We brought home medals from that but were stopped in our tracks by storm Kathleen. Shortly after this we were up the coast to Largs for the FOCCRs regatta. We brought home a number of medals from this and won the regatta trophy, again. Still in May, we headed down to Dunure, secured more medals and another regatta trophy. In June we went to Prestwick for an ”interesting regatta”. At the end of June we travelled to Arran, collected lots of medals and brought back the regatta trophy, for a third year in a row. At the end of June we launched our new darling, Marjorie Jeffrey and she had her first regatta at Royal West in early July. More medals and another trophy headed back to Troon. At the end of July, a team headed to sunny Stranraer for their regatta. Rumour has it that their kit is still drying out two months later. MJ was on form and the crew collected medals and another trophy! Finally we managed to run our rescheduled regatta and what a great day that was. Yep, more medals and all the trophies on offer stayed in Troon. In July we crossed the sea to Northern Ireland to take part in Skiffie Fest. “Wow” doesn’t do it justice. A great regatta and our awesome 60+ ladies (and Mike R) brought home medals from that regatta too. At the end of August we travelled to one of our favourite places, North Berwick, where more medals were well earned and brought back to Troon. This final regatta at Carrick was a perfect ending to a great season.
We can all agree that competing and winning a regatta is a “whole club” effort. The boat build, boat maintenance, fitness training, regatta training, club administration and cheering from the sidelines all contribute to every trophy. We all contribute in our own way and for our own reasons. For some its fitness, sawdust, community, just rowing or competing. They are all valid. We all got here through different journeys and are supported in different ways. For Jaqui it was through Letty, her mum, who taught her to row. For some it was walking along the prom watching the people in the bright marquees having lots of fun. Let’s work together to keep our club strong and better than ever.