ROWERS across the globe are counting down to the SkiffieWorlds 2025 in Stranraer next month, with one competitor hoping his family connection to Victorian heroine, Grace Darling, will see his team win gold.
The World Championship of St Ayles class of coastal rowing, takes place every three years, and this year’s championship is being hosted by Stranraer Water Sports Association, on Loch Ryan. With record entry numbers, this will be the biggest ever gathering of wooden St Ayles skiff boats, which are hand built by the competing clubs.
Adam Wilson, 18, is competing at Loch Ryan for the Musselburgh based Eskmuthe Rowing Club. Already a keen rower, Adam discovered a family connection to seafaring heroine Grace Darling while researching his family tree. He said: “When I found out, I was amazed. I am very proud to be related to her. I had heard the story of Grace before, but didn’t make any connection that she was part of my family.”
In 1838, Grace Darling, along with her father William, rowed to the rescue of nine shipwreck victims in a ferocious storm off the Farne Islands, Northumberland. Grace and her father knew the conditions would be too rough for the lifeboat to set out from Seahouses, so they decided to row their small coble across to help the survivors.
Now as anticipation builds for the SkiffieWorlds, Adam is very much looking forward to the World Championship event, adding: “It’s my first SkiffieWorlds, so I am excited to take part in the event. I have competed in day regattas before, but this is bigger than anything I have done before.
“The front at Stranraer will be quite a sight with all the boats lined up.”
“The best bit about rowing is getting out on the water and that sense of flying through the waves. At the start of a race, you have a sense of anticipation, then a rush of adrenaline. There is pressure when you’re approaching the turn – if you screw it up it’s a big thing. And at the end, when you are neck to neck with other boats, all you hear is row, row, row! But it is also about the camaraderie and the community feeling.
“I can’t wait to get to Stranraer for SkiffieWorlds to begin.”
