Photo by Allan Lynch
The Royal:
North America’s Oldest and Oddest Regatta
By Allan Lynch
For information about St. John’s and Newfoundland and Labrador contact:
1-800-563-6353, on the web click www.stjohns.ca
and www.gov.nf.ca/tourism.
The Royal St. John’s Regatta is the oldest and quirkiest sporting competition in North America. Originally held in St. John’s Harbour in 1818, half a dozen years later the regatta was moved to the less choppy waters of Quidi Vidi Lake where, with the exceptions caused by the world wars, they have been held ever since.
For those without a map, St. John’s is the capital of the Canadian province of Newfoundland Labrador. Think of the Titanic - reports always mention the liner hitting an iceberg off Newfoundland. This was not a surprising accident given that 10,000 icebergs pass Newfoundland each spring. Located on the north east quadrant of the continent it is a place in close contact with nature. Newfoundland has the largest concentration of Humpback whales in the world and largest colony of Puffins in North America. Caribou walk the forests. The province also has two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (L’Anse Aux Meadows on the northern tip is the only known Viking settlement in North America, while Gros Morne National Park on the western coast, is one of two places in the world where it’s possible to see the earth’s mantle).
The best way to describe the tiny capital, St. John’s, (pop. 130,000) is as a cross between San Francisco and New Orleans.
The Royal St. John’s Regatta – the continent’s only floating civic holiday.
Photo by Allan Lynch
Photo by Allan Lynch
Like New Orleans, St. John’s is a city of music, mystery, and mischievousness. And like San Francisco, it teams with artists living in candy-coloured neighbourhoods that roll down hillsides towards the harbour. Walking St. John’s you discover the famous steps which deliver you from residential neighbourhoods to the downtown core, from streets of bars to streets of shops and offices. These stepped lanes resemble Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City books about the eccentric residents of Barbary Lane.
Like San Francisco, St. John’s stairs deliver delicious surprises, like The Ship Inn. A crowded, smokey, loud pub, "The Ship" is well known to the artists who pass through this ancient city. It’s a place of comedy, Celtic and country music. It is where visiting businessmen rub shoulders with actors, musicians, craftspeople, writers and filmmakers.
The steps deliver you to a city of gregarious people, populating a surprisingly large number of restaurants, pubs and clubs. Like Ireland, there is a pub on virtually every street. But St. John’s is also famous for it’s street of bars, George Street. In one short block there are 21 clubs, pubs, bars and discos. The typical directions to George Street are, "Walk that way. You’ll hear it before you see it." No directions were ever more simple, more true.
The follow your ear directions really apply on the last weekend of July when the annual George Street Festival takes place. While most places are awash in family-oriented celebrations, George Street is for grown-ups. Each evening the street is closed to traffic and converts into the largest bar in Canada. Admission is charged and anyone under 19 years old (legal drinking age) is barred from attending. It can be a shock to see thousands of people wandering the street, bar hopping with drink in hand.
The George Street Festival is a lead-in to the Regatta. Not only is the Royal St. John’s
Regatta the oldest continuous sporting event in North America, it is one of the more
eccentric holidays. Regatta day is a civic holiday in St. John’s. It is also the world’s
only floating holiday. Scheduled for the first Wednesday of August, the regatta, which is
for fixed seat rowing, depends on good weather. At 6 am on race day, the regatta committee
decides if the weather is good enough to permit the meet to be held. This rocky perch on
the edge of the North Atlantic means Newfoundland’s weather is, as locals say, as changeable
as a baby’s bum, so it’s never a given that oarspeople will get a workout on the scheduled
day. This unpredictability means St. Johners wake early to learn whether it’s a holiday or
workday. Even the premier doesn’t know if he has the day off. If the race committee decides
to delay, everyone goes to work and the whole process takes place again on Thursday, or
Friday, or whenever the weather finally cooperates.
Naturally, with a potential civic Wednesday holiday and the George Street Festival on, many citizens party the evening before. If the race is delayed, they repeat the party process again, and again, until the holiday is held. So the joke in Newfoundland is never schedule surgery for early August because you can’t be sure of the doctor’s health and hands.
There are six race categories to the regatta: midget, juvenile, intermediate, senior, male and female masters (women have participated since 1856). The course layout requires male rowers to row 2.45 kms (1.32 miles), performing a turn at the bottom of the lake. The women’s course is 1.225 kms (.76 miles) long and has a mid-lake turn. Ironically, the best vantage point to watch the Regatta is from the "Lake Side Motel", otherwise known as the provincial jail where inmates can laze on a large, sloping field offering unfettered views of the finish line.
Tony Marx, a local communications consultant, says "There are three schools of people in St. Johns: those who never come to the regatta, the diehards who come and sit through every race and follow it intensely, and all the others who do the concessions but skip the races. They’re the one who say, "what race?""
The Regatta is a big family event, with half the city’s population attending. On the south-end and western side of Quidi Vidi Lake are a dozens of concession stands with games of chance, craft booths and food stalls offering such diverse culinary treats as moose burgers to Hindu curries. A red-coated military band playing in a bandshell overlooking the lake is a reminder that Newfoundland is Canada’s newest province. Prior to becoming Canada’s the tenth province in 1949, Newfoundland was a British Colony, overseen by a governor appointed by London.
When the sunsets on the regatta and the sculls are returned to their boathouses, St. Johners celebrate another good day in Newfoundland.
Artist Jean Claude Roy divides his time between Bordeaux and Newfoundland.
Here he paints George Street by day.
Photo by Allan Lynch
Photo by Allan Lynch
Naturally, with a potential civic Wednesday holiday and the George Street Festival on, many citizens party the evening before. If the race is delayed, they repeat the party process again, and again, until the holiday is held. So the joke in Newfoundland is never schedule surgery for early August because you can’t be sure of the doctor’s health and hands.
There are six race categories to the regatta: midget, juvenile, intermediate, senior, male and female masters (women have participated since 1856). The course layout requires male rowers to row 2.45 kms (1.32 miles), performing a turn at the bottom of the lake. The women’s course is 1.225 kms (.76 miles) long and has a mid-lake turn. Ironically, the best vantage point to watch the Regatta is from the "Lake Side Motel", otherwise known as the provincial jail where inmates can laze on a large, sloping field offering unfettered views of the finish line.
Tony Marx, a local communications consultant, says "There are three schools of people in St. Johns: those who never come to the regatta, the diehards who come and sit through every race and follow it intensely, and all the others who do the concessions but skip the races. They’re the one who say, "what race?""
The Regatta is a big family event, with half the city’s population attending. On the south-end and western side of Quidi Vidi Lake are a dozens of concession stands with games of chance, craft booths and food stalls offering such diverse culinary treats as moose burgers to Hindu curries. A red-coated military band playing in a bandshell overlooking the lake is a reminder that Newfoundland is Canada’s newest province. Prior to becoming Canada’s the tenth province in 1949, Newfoundland was a British Colony, overseen by a governor appointed by London.
When the sunsets on the regatta and the sculls are returned to their boathouses, St. Johners celebrate another good day in Newfoundland.