Weather co-operates to give the go-ahead to the 206th Royal St. John’s Regatta

The 206th Royal St. John’s Regatta is a go.

Officials gathered on the shores of Quidi Vidi Lake in St. John’s early Wednesday morning to make the call to proceed with the regatta, which bills itself as the oldest continuous sporting event in North America and is a weather-dependent holiday for the city.

Keith White, captain of the course, said the volunteer committee meets at the regatta boathouse at 5:30 a.m. NT, looks at a number of factors, including the weather forecast, and then votes on whether to go ahead with the event.

“The sky is blue. The sun is out. And most importantly, the wind is manageable,” White told CBC News after the announcement, coming after a unanimous vote by the volunteer committee.

Throughout the day there will be boat races on the water, and the event typically draws thousands of spectators to the shores of Quidi Vidi to watch the races, listen to live music, play carnival-style games and eat food from vendors set up by the lake.

White had a list of recommendations for anyone who wants to visit the regatta.

“They need to take in the races, first and foremost. There’s no shortage of food concessions around the lake today, so they want to try some of the food. Games of chance, of course.”

He said there are more than 200 vendors set up around the lake, up from 60 last year.

“That’s an impressive growth,” said White.

Parking isn’t ideal around the lake Wednesday, he noted, but Metrobus is running a $1 shuttle service.

He said the regatta committee will take a few weeks off after Wednesday but will reconvene in September to start planning next year’s regatta, work that begins in earnest in the new year.

“Really, Jan. 1 — it gets intense and it builds and builds and builds.”

Rowing has changed

Campbell Feehan, a record-breaking rower who is now on the regatta committee, said rowing helped him make friends and good memories. He said to top it off, last week he was inducted into the regatta’s hall of fame.

“That was special,” he said.

Over the decades, Feehan said he’s seen changes in rowing when it comes to the equipment and training.

“We’ve got newer boats now. When I started, first, they were big ol’ luggy wooden boats and wooden oars. And then as years went on we got better shells — the shells now are fibreglass. They’re still the same weight, believe it or not. But it’s just a faster boat.”

Feehan remembered when his team would go down to the lake in May to start training but they eventually started getting ready in October and carried on until the day of the races. “Six days a week. We’d take Sundays off. And that was it,” he said.

There have been some things that have stayed the same, despite the years, he said. “The camaraderie of the sport,” he said. “I’ve found every year, the friendships get better and better. And everyone gets together all the time.”

Unique to N.L.

Committee member and St. John’s Mayor Danny Breen says the regatta is a massive event in St. John’s.

“For me it’s a huge event. I mean it’s one of our biggest cultural and social events that we have here in the city,” he told CBC News.

“The 206th running of an event is special in itself. But I think the uniqueness of it and the anticipation that builds because you don’t know until that morning if it’s going to be a holiday. And that kind of uniqueness is exemplary of Newfoundland and Labrador and of St. John’s.”

Breen said he remembers going to the regatta as a child, and a family tradition was to get a new shirt for the day.

“I used to come down in the morning with my father for the first race, go home lunchtime, and then Mom and we’d come down for the afternoon. So we’d spend a full day here,” he said.

Races started at 8 a.m. Wednesday and will run until 7 p.m. with a break between noon and 2 p.m..

In the year that Newfoundland and Labrador marks 75 years since joining Confederation, there will coincidentally be 75 teams, totalling 750 people, participating in the races.

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