GIVEN that rowing is the act of propelling a boat through water by muscle power and levers, Barry Didcock must be forgiven for overlooking another aspect of his reported revival of this healthy sport or pastime ("Golden girls inspire thousands into boats", The Herald, November 3).

All rowing may look the same but we are divided in our enthusiasm by a natural element – waves.

Undoubtedly, Olympic triumphs have spurred many into action in sleek, hi-tech, slimline craft with sliding seats and no freeboard. Not for them the inconvenience of disappearing tides, lumpy water and prevailing winds. These are all part of the realm of the coastal rower. That's what Barry Didcock missed. Around the Scottish coast, since 2008, there has been a huge growth in the interest in rowing 22ft wooden boats in the revival of an old Scots tradition which saw local people competing between villages in boats that they had built or adapted themselves for the purpose. Naturally, we race against each other, through the swell, across the tide and into the wind, all around the coast. The Scottish Coastal Rowing Association recognises 38 boats hand-built in local communities and rowed with fantastic esprit de corps through our often-turbulent coastal waters.

We may not have Olympic gold in sight, but we row out to sea in vessels we have built ourselves and face the elements in them. Surely we deserved a mention.

Dr David Sutherland,

Secretary, Troon Coastal Rowing Club 1, Lochend Road, Troon.