We love going to Largs, a 2 hour trip leaving North Berwick at a fairly civilized time to head over to the West Coast for some skiff racing over a mixture of 2K races and 500m sprints....not sure they're so keen of having us as for the second time, we raided most of their medals...oops.

100_2386
Click for album

We took a squad of 15 for this years Largs regatta on Saturday, conditions when we arrived were pretty challenging. A stiff southerly breeze was whipping up the sea to produce white tops, but we like it a bit rough so we coped well with the conditions as we tackled the 2K, which involved surfing down to a buoy before battling back for the second half, great stuff. 

Our men got a pretty good start, but doubted ourselves when the other competitors stalled on the line, a quick check to ensure we hadn't false started before getting stuck into the kind of racing we enjoy, check it out on this video.

{youtube}U3rih4zt9eI{/youtube}

After the 2Ks the format shifted to a 500m sprint, a good opportunity for some new coxes to have a go at racing without the complication of mass starts and single buoy turns. The rain had started which flattened the water and made the racing faster, doesn't bother us though, we like it wet :-)

Thank goodness for the Gazebo, we were able to enjoy a lovely West Coast Indian summer (raining cats and dogs, but not actually Baltic). We knew Newburgh were keeping their powder dry and so it seemed as they knocked us down to second in the last two sprints of the day.

 

We must make more trips over to the West, they have great water, lovely scenery and tremendous ice creams.

{youtube}wQ-R8-udF5o{/youtube}

{youtube}PTwO_kdFzms{/youtube}