North East and Aberdeen Sprint Regatta

31 August and 1 September 2024

An unusual time of year for our main regatta but the moon was not cooperating in our normal April/May slots and tides were either too early or too late in the day.  We combined the NER with our Sprint, holding 700m racing on Saturday and 500m Sprints on Sunday

Lovely sunny weather with a bit of a breeze on Saturday.  Some rough water later on as the tide turned but nothing dramatic.  We were delighted to host the North East International Regatta with an entry from Copenhagen RC alongside entries from EUBC, Castle Semple RC and a large squad from Inverness RC.
Sunday saw duller weather but less wind leading to perfect racing conditions.  We were impressed with the 13 entries in Generation Double Sculls - many (? most) of these featuring father/mother/son/daughter combinations - hope there aren't too many arguments at home, or stopping of pocket money, regarding the cause of lost races.

Support from our many sponsors along with (ahem) very efficient organisation allowed us to yet again limit entry fees to £5 per head – certainly the lowest for an open regatta in Scotland and possibly the UK.

Racing started on time on Saturday but we had to delay the first race on Sunday due to the tide being slow to rise (pesky moon… again!).  With cooperation from all involved, we finished ahead of time both days.

ASRA did not have it all their own way for the Championship of the Dee (victor ludorum) trophy with ABC nipping at their heels for the first half of Sunday but the junior club had pulled away by the end of racing.  Inverness had a good points tally which may not have fully reflected their degree of success since they were reaching finals in many small boat events which attract fewer points.