Troon advises that their Regatta, held on the town’s South Beach, will take place on Saturday 14th June. Invitations, containing much more detail, will be issued very shortly, but this post is a preliminary call for interest in coming to Troon to take part.

Maybe you have happy memories of last year’s glorious event, or have heard about it and want to experience the superb facilities yourself. The Club secretary, David Sutherland, will be delighted to hear from you.
Email: troonrowsecy@smallworldmail.co.uk.

The weather may not have been kind to us for the rowing sessions during January and February but Troon’s large Outer Harbour allowed some limited rowing opportunities in the poorest of the recent weather.

The Rowing Sessions continue to be held on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Committee has confirmed that the Members’ Regatta Programme for 2014 is –

Solway – 17 May : Tighnabruaich – 24 May
Greenock – 7 June : Troon’s own Regatta – 14 June
Loch Broom – 11/13 July : Glasgow Commonwealth Games – 24/27 July
Cumbrae – 9 August : Largs (Firth of Clyde) – 23 August
Queensferry – 6 September : Maidens – 20/21 September : Nith Navigation – ? date to be advised

An ACTIVE SCHOOL EVENT takes place 8/17April 2014.
This is a call for members’ support for the taster programme for local school children. We were involved last year at both Easter and Summer and it proved to be a very popular event with both the children and the members.
This Easter the sessions will be held on Tuesday and Thursday mornings 8th, 10th, 15th and 17th April at the pontoons. Please make it known if you are available to help with these sessions or simply turn up. Sessions are 10-11am and 11-12noon.

NEW ROWING SESSION
A new rowing session is being introduced on Sunday 6th April, on a trial basis commencing a 1pm

Troon Coastal Rowing’s Club Secretary Dr David Sutherland has published an amusing little book entitled

“THE ALTERNATIVE GUIDE TO COASTAL ROWING”

This is a light-hearted romp through everything that we know and have come to love about coastal rowing!

It is available for sale, on-line, at £5.25 and here is the link you will need…………..

www.calli-graphics.co.uk/AltGuide.html (if the link does not work, just copy/paste it into your browser)

Recent reviews received………….

“Really enjoyed it and recognised a lot of the situations”

“Absolutely brilliant read. Great humour”.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READ

Following the Club’s Annual General Meeting held on 28 November 2012, the Chairman announced that the Personal Assessment Programme was approved in September 2013 and the Training Programme for individual members will commence in January, 2014.
The Programme is comprehensive and is designed to encourage members skills from a beginner right through to complete competency in coastal rowing. It is a modular course, comprising SEVEN units starting with basic land and water related health and safety, covers general boat knowledge, launching, embarking, boat safety, good rowing and coxing practice and VHF radio technique.

Records of attainment will be kept both by the individual, on a Personal Record Card, and on a Coach Master File. On satisfactory completion of the whole programme, the individual will be issued with a Licence to launch and command a Club boat, subject to remaining a member of the Club and to Committee direction concerning aspects of this approval(crew, weather, Club commitment etc).

All members are not required to take part in this Assessment Programme but each member will be issued with the Programme material.

it has bean a very busy summer for our intrepid rowing teams. Of course the good weather
over the past few months has bean a bonus.

June 21st – A very enjoyable day was had by all who attended the Girvan Launch of their new skiff called “creag ealasaid” which was built in Girvan Academy with financial support from South Ayrshire Council. This event took place along with the opening of the New Harbour improvements.

An Active Schools Programme took place this summer over four Wednesdays with some 50 youngsters being given a taste of Coastal Rowing in one of our boats. A special thanks must go to Alan Farrell, Mick Boden and Vincent McWhirter and all other Troon Coastal Rowing members who gave up their time and assisted with this programme.

On 1st July the Tighnabruich Gala and Kyle’s Boat Launch took place. One of our boats was in attendance with a number of supporters.

World Championships at Ullapool were held from 8th to 13th July. A fantastic time was enjoyed by all who attended the event held for the first time ever in Scotland. Even the weather played its part with sunshine and fair winds every day. 31 boats took part from many countries around the world. The teams from Troon finished well in the various races they competed in. As you will see from the gallery photos they enjoyed every aspect of this great event including meeting Princess Anne who opened the Championships.

The Commonwealth Legacy day took place on 27th July. This was organised by Troon Sports Hub at South Beach and was a very colourful event attended by both our boats with many Club Members and friends.

The Cumbrae Regatta took place on 10th August and Troon Coastal Rowing took part once again.

The Queensferry Regatta was held on 21st August and again attended by Troon Coastal rowing.

Troon Coastal Rowing Club’s first Regatta on Saturday 8 June went off without a hitch in glorious sunshine on Troon’s South Beach. Local knowledge suggests that no-one has ever seen the beach so full of people. By mid-afternoon the whole rowing set-up was almost lost in a sea of sunbathers, families and beach parties, but we successfully completed nine races, held a prizegiving ceremony and got the boats off the beach without any public aggravation.

The results of the Regatta are as follows –
Open Mixed: 1st – Royal West; 2nd – Queensferry; 3rd – Troon
Open Men: 1st – Royal West; 2nd – Queensferry; 3rd – Troon
Open Women: 1st – Royal West; 2nd- Troon; 3rd – Carrick
Youth Teams: 1st – Troon Dof EA; 2nd – Carrick; 3rd – Firth of Clyde
Over 30 Women: 1st – Carrick; 2nd – Troon
Over 30 Men: 1st – Royal West; 2nd – Troon; 3rd – Firth of Clyde
Over 30 Mixed; 1st – Royal West; 2nd – Firth of Clyde; 3rd – Troon
Over 50 Men: 1st – Queensferry; 2nd – Royal West; 3rd – Troon

Special thanks was extended to South Ayrshire Council, Vincent McWhirter and his large team for all the organisational work in setting up the day. Royal West, Queensferry and Carrick Clubs for coming along and being such good competitors and to the Firth of Clyde with their new boat Saltire. Thanks also to the Dalriada Festival team for coming all the way from Ireland and entering into our event wholeheartedly. Many thanks to Tony Peters for his essential help in laying the Race Marks.

Thanks also to Harry Risk, Chairman and to all Club Committee and Members who assisted in any way.

The beach and promenade at the Walker hall near the town centre will be the place to be on Saterday 8th June, 2013  that is where our club will be hosting our first Regatta.
The club is expecting many competing crews and their boats from many parts of Scotland. Rowing races will take place all day in the waters off the beach within easy sight of the promenade where the  boats will be launched off the beach.

The Club hopes that the people of Troon will turn up to cheer on our own boats MARR VOYAGER and AILSA LASS.
There will be races for men, women and mixed crews of various ages and open classes.
The troon rowers will be easily identified by their Marr purple team tops.

Access for the public will be free and the Club is grateful to South Ayrshire Council for their permission to hold this event on this site.  Please come along to this exciting and new event in Troon’s summer calender.

January 2013 update

The first Committee meeting of 2013 took place on 17 January 2013 in the Anchorage Hotel.

Chairman, Harry Risk, opened the meeting by thanking all concerned for their dedication and hard work over the past year.

The Club Rowing Programme is well underway and takes place every Saturday and Sunday morning at the Marina slipway from 10am and will continue all winter (weather permitting). We continue to offer our “give it a go” programme where no appointments are necessary and now that we have two boats with our qualified coaches and several experienced rowers no one need to be afraid to give it a try.

There is plenty of space for a good trial row within the harbour walls before venturing outside.

Troon Coastal Rowing will be hosting a Regatta in Troon which is scheduled to take place on 8th June 2013 with boats and crews from Carrick, Cumbrae, Girvan, Greenock and Glasgow being invited to take part. Also other boats within Scottish Coastal Rowing Association may be able to attend.

It was proposed that the site will be at  Troon South Beach. Our base will be a marquee situated on the grass area close to the access ramp to the beach, with car parking and public toilets nearby.

South Ayrshire Council have kindly offered to support this event and hopefully a large turnout of the public will come along to enjoy what will be an exciting and friendly competitive event.

Troon Coastal Rowing held its first Annual General Meeting on 20 September 2012.  Harry Risk was appointed as Chairman, David Sutherland as Secretary and Jim Palmer as Treasurer and a new committee was formed. 

A vote was taken at the AGM and the majority agreed that the second boat would be called “Ailsa Lass”.

The Launch and naming of the new Skiff, “Ailsa Lass”   was carried out by the Club’s Honorary Member, Alex McKenzie on Sunday 28 october 2012 at Troon Marina.

Alex is originally from Troon and was one of the five disabled ex servicement who successfully rowed across the Atlantic last year.

 

The “Give it a Go” programme for new rowers and potential members operates on Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings from 5.30pm at the Marina slipway. You can book a free row by telephoning Allan on 01292 315572 or email tcrcsec@gmail.com.This is proving to be successful.
The rowing club team trailed Marr Voyager through to South Queensferry to take part in the South Queensferry Regatta on 17 June 2012. This was the Club’s first entry into the lively Scottish Coastal Rowing competitive scene.

Vincent McWhirter, Alan Farrell, Jim Palmer anmd Harry Risk with coxwain Allan Benwood launched the boat under the shadow of the Forth Rail Bridge and participated in the over 45s race, which was a big concession on our part as most of the crew were over 60. We achieved 7th place out of nine entrants.

More details about the race and other rowing matters can be found in the website of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association – www.scottishcoastalrowing.org. Based on this exciting experience the Club is making plans to enter other events.

Readers may have already seen Marr Voyager and Club members playing an important role in Troon’s RNLI Open Day on 21 July 2012.

Work began on Monday 16th July on Troon’s second 22′ St Ayles rowing skiff – a sister ship for Marr Voyager. Troon Coastal Rowing Club is grateful for the continuing support of  West Coast Marine who have again allowed us to use their shed at the Marina. We expect this process to be much quicker as we accumulated a lot of experience in last year’s build project. We are pleased to welcome some new boat-builders and a new team from the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.