News

Well, it’s a start. Our build has most certainly begun with the erection of the build frame, kindly lent to us by our neighbouring rowing club in Kinghorn. This forms a raised, level surface to which a series of moulds – cutouts in the shape of the boat’s cross-section at different stations along its length – will be mounted, upside-down.

Here we see Joel, Chris, Elisa and David pausing in their work of levelling the frame, which must also be bolted into the floor to ensure it doesn’t move during the build.

It might not look like much, but this is truly the beginning of our build!

A small band of enthusiasts met over the dark winter nights at the end of 2018 – they dared to dream about establishing a rowing club in Burntisland similar to the one established in neighbouring Kinghorn.

On 30 January more than 60 people came along to the Roasting Project on the High Street in Burntisland to register their skills, expertise and (most importantly) show their interest and enthusiasm in becoming involved in the different aspects of establishing a Rowing Club in Burntisland.

Since those early days, and enormous amount of work has been undertaken across a number of fronts. We now have a constitution drafted and office bearers elected; we have a bank account and are exploring multiple funding options; we have held our first social event in the form of a club barbecue, and also our first on-water event by means of representation at the Civic Week raft race. Thanks to Joel for bringing home our club’s first ‘gold medal’!

We are also delighted to announce that our membership have voted on a club name. We will be known as the Black Rocks Rowing Club after the familiar rock formation photogenically captured in the image above.

Thanks to everyone who attended our public meeting at the Roasting Project! Thanks also to the Roasting Project for hosting us, to Elsie and Babs from Anstruther for their inspiring talk on the benefits of Scottish Coastal Rowing, and to Kinghorn Coastal Rowing Club who let us park their skiff Yolande (pictured) outside the front door. She attracted a lot of attention!

It is exciting to realise just how much interest there is in our (as-yet unnamed) rowing club. We’ve had 40 replies to the questionnaire that was circulated at the meeting. There’s substantial interest in getting involved in a community boat build, so we’re going to be directing substantial effort towards securing the funding necessary for us to purchase a kit – not to mention finding some suitable premises!