Author: Malcolm

Whether you’re an experienced rower, or have never set foot in a boat in your life – you can row for Portobello!

Don’t worry if you’ve never rowed before – we’re still trying to work it out!
Our first boat is nearly finished and we’re now looking for crew – rowers and coxes – for upcoming races and events over the summer. We’re taking the boat to Anstruther on the 29th May, and hopefully to Portsoy at the end of June, North Berwick at the end of August.We’re planning to field teams in the following categories:

• Open Women,
• Open Men,
• Women over 40,
• Men over 40,
• Mixed Open,
• Mixed Over 40s.

To find out more and to put your name down, contact Andrew Leslie <aleslie@sailporty.org.uk>.If you can row properly – and would be interested in giving us advice and coaching – even just as a one-off, that would great too!We’ll also be having regular social and practice rowing events at Portobello, details to follow.By the way, you don’t have to live in Portobello – we welcome people from Edinburgh and other suburbs of Portobello!

…and other news: a quick note from our meeting on 4th May.Row Porty stalwarts met recently to get an update on progress with the project and to make plans for the future. Here are the highlights:

• The hull is painted on the outside and ready to turn over. Then the inside gets tidied up, frames, gunwales and seats fitted, then the inside gets painted. Some oars are made and two more needed.
• We hope to have the boat ready for the inaugural regatta in Anstruther on 29th May. We plan to attend, and hopefully to get along to other rowing events around the Firth of Forth. Like to row? Get in touch!
• The Heritage Lottery fund has awarded us a grant towards the cost of building a second boat as part of a community project exploring Portobello’s rowing heritage. If you or your group would like to be involved in building the boat – please get in touch. Likewise, if you have information or memories of rowing at Portobello in the past, we’d love to hear from you.

Photos of progress:

Here’s a model of the skiff. We’ve borrowed this from Alec to show the primary school kids as they can’t come to the workshop – and we can’t take the skiff to school half built.

Andres writes:As many of you have been in to help you will know that we have completed the hull, the outer stems have been laminated and the keel shaped. We are getting ready to glue the laminated outer stems and keel to the boat this week and we hope to start painting the hull on Monday 3 May.  Steve has agreed to come in every day for a week in order to get 5 coats of paint on before we turn her over around the 10th May.We have made a good start on the oars, Steve has one almost ready, which we can use to make the next 5 oars (we are making 6 in case we snap a few on the first race).We are on target to attend the first regatta in Anstruther on Saturday 29 May.Here are some photos. There are some of the final plank and the completed hull:

Nick’s contraption to plane the botom of the boat to take the keel (its a 4′ plane with a massive and sharp blade attached to some gash timber and a level gaffer tapped on!) which has given a really good result:

The lamination of the outer stems:

And some photos from yesterday when we planed the squares for the oars (lovely quarter sawn, close grain, clear slow grown Douglas fir).

Some of the volunteers building the Portobello skiff:

You can too – contact us and join the fun!With all this help the boat comes together much faster, thanks folks – she’s looking good:

Now that Andres, the great instigator of this project, is back from holiday, work on the Portobello skiff has moved ahead.

Offering up the garboard (the lowest plank) to the hog (the solid timber along the centre line).

Getting it to fit just right.

Just checking.

Glueing’s been done, now the garboard is clamped into place while the glue sets.

And the second garboard in on.

Yes, it’s looking good. A few more planks to go.

Plank 3.

More planks.

Really looking like a boat!
If you’d like to help build the boat, come along! To find out when the building sessions are happening, sign up to the Row Porty discussion list to find out the details.

On Saturday several of us had our first visit to the Portobello boatbuilding workshop. It’s not nearly as grand as the Newhaven skiff building palace – but it’s local, dry and big enough.Nick and Andrew had already built the building frame and cut out all the parts of the kit.

We started fixing the moulds – over which the boat will be built – to the frame.

An hour later all the moulds were temporarily fixed – they still need to be carefully levelled and screwed. This picture was supposed to show all the moulds in place – but Andrew insisted on an action shot.

Down at the Beach House the Portobello boatbuilders and rowers got together for the first planning meeting. Lots of enthusiasm and commitment with actions agreed to ensure the project really takes off and involves people and groups across Portobello.The project will be officially launched in the New Year, but one thing’s clear now – we aim launch the first Portobello boat in April or May 2010.

Stan Reeves (left)  suggests the Tollcross currach will beat our skiff when we race on the canal.

On a beautiful sunny day at the end of October a group of Portobello folk headed over to Anstruther for the launch of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project – and Chris O’Kinnaird, the prototype St Ayles Skiff. And we got to go rowing…

The Times writes about the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project…

A sport that was once a familiar sight off the east of Scotland is to be revived as a way of introducing a new generation to sea-going boats.

Read the rest of the article…