Golden Girls Win At North Berwick

Eskmuthe had an excellent day in challenging conditions at North Berwick's mini-regatta, with the 50+ women winning gold against tough competition.

Strong easterly winds meant the traditional course, around Craigleith island, was deemed unsafe - so boats instead raced east from outside the harbour towards the Leithies, a line of rocks that jut out from the land.

Six skiffs competed across the course of 2.4km - our own Steedie Falconer, plus 2 boats each from North Berwick and Eastern and one from Boatie Blest - and all turned around the same single buoy halfway.

North Berwick dominated the opening race (under-50s women), with their two boats coming in ahead of the others. Eskmuthe's crew of Kari-Ann, Rebecaa, Diane and Michelle (coxed by Stewart) were narrowly beaten into 3rd place, and were able to give good feedback to the other crews about the swirling conditions.

Although the under-50s men were beaten in the next race by both North Berwick and both Eastern boats, it was the fastest race of the day - and Mike, Josh, Simon and Niall posted a good time and rowed very well.

The highlight of the day came next as the 50+ women crew fought off a strong challenge by Eastern to record a stunning victory. Charly coxed the winning crew of Wendy, Carol, Gaynor and Yasmin.

The 50+ men also had an excellent result, coming in a comfortable second place. Well done to race virgin Gordon, who rowed in bow behind David, Pete and Damian, with Simon at cox.

The final race of the day was the youth race, over a shorter course with numerous twists and turns. Four boats took part and in an exciting finish, the Eskmuthe crew of Adam, Logan, Rhona and Lily (coxed by Gaynor) finished strongly to claim second place.

All in all, a really great day for the club, with strong performances by all crews.