Scottish Coastal Rowing St Ayles skiffs triumph in wind and waves regatta


Anstruther Regatta 2011 photos by Ron Wallace

Anstruther Regatta 2011 photos by Ron Wallace Anstruther Regatta 2011 photos by Ron Wallace

These shots of the 2011 Anstruther Regatta taken by Ron Wallace at the end of last month show various Scottish Coastal Rowing Association St Ayles skiffs racing in the harbour – it looks like they’re having quite a time, doesn’t it?

There are more of Ron’s fabulous shots here and here.

Alec Jordan, who originally conceived the idea for Scottish Coastal Rowing, has this to say about the event:

‘It was a little wild and windy, and the St Ayles performed superbly. None of the skiffs took more than a couple of pints of water during the races.’

Perhaps that’s not so surprising as the boats are derived from traditional craft and were designed by Iain Oughtred.

The Scottish Coastal Rowing phenomenon continues to be awe-inspiring, with a very lively racing calendar and new boats being built all the time – and not all in Scotland.

Scottish Coastal Rowing – a reminder

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St Ayles skiffs Scottish Coastal Rowing

St Ayles Skiff Coigach Lass beating Ulla in the Ladies Open at the Loch Broom Sailing Club regatta. My thanks to Chris Perkins for use of this photo


Who’s having big fun this summer? All of you, I hope, but most of all I’m quite sure the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association folks are having a riot!

I’ve been meaning to write another post about the SCRA for a little while, but have been distracted by all sorts of busy-ness – with the result that a lot of people have beaten me to it. So this is just a short post designed to serve as a reminder that this project to create a new class of rowing racing around the coast of Scotland is proving amazingly successful with races taking place at Portsoy and at Eyemouth.

Apart from the main association website, photos and information can be found at:

PS – I’d also like to draw readers’ attention to Osbert Lancaster’s thoughtful and informative comment below. It’s well worth a look. Thanks Osbert!

A second St Ayles launch on Loch Broom

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chris perkins, iain oughtred, racing boat, Rowing boat, rowing race, rowing skiff, scotland, scottish coastal rowing, chris perkins, iain oughtred, racing boat, Rowing boat, rowing race, rowing skiff, scotland, scottish coastal rowing,

The second of Loch Broom’s St Ayles skiffs,  has been launched – her splash took place just a day after the launch of Ulla, the area’s first boat to be completed as part of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project. Congratulations folks – and thanks once again to Chris Perkins for the photos!

Named Coigach Lass, the new boat makes a total of three of the SCRP rowing skiffs on the water. Naturally Ulla’s crew brought their boat over, which resulted in the first ever meeting – and brief race – between two St Ayles skiffs. An account and photographs of this historic event can be found here.

For more posts on the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project, click here.