First rowing will be on Tuesday 5^th May. Practise times will be advertised in the shop, on the Marina notice board and on our website www.vidlinrowingclub.org.uk  and may change to meet changing needs. We plan to make more use of our website this year so log on and see what is happening or - let us know what is not!

2008 SEASON REPORT

REGATTA: We kicked off last season in style with the Vidlin regatta. There were many compliments on the organisation and on the prizes. It was a great success thanks to everyone`s efforts beforehand and on the day. So well done Vidlin community who gave us so much support!

It is our turn to host the Prizegiving this year – September 12^th in the Hall.

JUNIORS: Another success was the number of juniors now coming to row. Many seem hardly big enough to hold an oar, but all are very keen to be in the boat and have made great progress in a short time.   We hope to cooperate with Nesting in creating mini events where these teams can compete with similar age groups this year. For practice nights we also plan to separate the juniors from the under 16s to give each a fairer amount of time to row.

YOUTH TEAMS: Under 16 girls did well, racing in 2 regattas and in the championships.  Much younger than most under 16 teams, they came 7th in the League.  The under 16 Nesting boys team starred as expected. They took trophies in 4 regattas and came top of the league for the second year running. This year we want to build a Vidlin under 16 boy`s team. Please encourage anyone you know in this age group to give it a go.

WOMEN: The women`s team held on to 6th position in the league, best performances being 3rd in Unst and 4<sup>th</sup> equal with Burra at the Championships. We managed to sustain a vet women team and rowed in 3 regattas and the championships, improving to 7<sup>th</sup> place.  The under 21 women raised a team & rowed at Vidlin and Unst but were unable to sustain a full team beyond that. The women`s team reaped the benefit however, in that Debbie and Leona Robertson rowed for them instead.  Well done lasses! Any more under 21 lasses (or boys) out there?

MEN: At the Vidlin regatta, the vet men, Sandy and Iain, press ganged friends to make a team but for the rest of the season they rowed for other teams.  More men would be warmly welcomed.

Conclusion: We pull more than our weight at rowing regattas considering what a small club we are. However it is hard to sustain this level. Many other communities have lost their rowing clubs-Sandwick, the Ness, Scalloway, Bressay, Gonfirth and Whalsay is the latest casualty. We need more members in order to be able to participate over the season because everyone has commitments which can take them away sometimes.

 So, if you can join, or know someone you can encourage to join – do it!  

DA ORRICK.

 The oars have remained a point of discussion even after alteration. Consequently, we ordered lightweight wood and Robbie Tait at the Shetland Museum is currently making us a new set. We are unsure how long this will take but ultimately the oars will specially benefit the many very young rowers now using the boat.  We plan to launch the yoal for this season on Tuesday 5^th May.

SHETLAND YOAL ROWING ASSOCIATION

At the pre-season meeting it was decided that, despite inconsistent starts in last season`s regattas, it remained the responsibility of individual clubs holding regattas to make sure that starts are fair and equable.

·         Probably few clubs would participate in the Lerwick Interclub yoal races this year because of the poor organisation and management of those races in the 2008 and previous seasons.

·         Vidlin renewed an appeal for clubs to consider alternatives to the giving of alcohol as prizes

·         SYRA plans to pay for all cup engraving- so we need to win some to benefit!!!

Sheila Peterson, Secretary/Treasurer, Skelberry, Vidlin. 577321