Three Inrigger Fours On An Outing

The post card above is from the inner habour in the town of Helsingborg, on the Swedish South-West coast. Already in 1868, a large rowing and sailing regatta was held in town between Danish and Swedish crews, and more than 15,000 people showed up to watch the races. It then took almost fifteen years before a rowing club was founded in town, Helsingborgs Roddklubb, in 1883.

I do not know when the picture was taken, or when the post card was sent (the stamp has been removed), but it was sent from Helsingborg to the Smart Family in Ballogie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. As we can see, there are three coxed inrigger fours out in the habour. It is known that the club bought a new four in 1895, and ten years later a couple of new inriggers – by 1911, the club had three inrigger fours, two inrigger pairs, two single sculls, and a four-oared gig. It is very likely that the picture is from around that time. The vessel docked on the left is probably a ferry going over to the Danish town of Helsingör.

I would like to thank “Greg”, who on 2 January, 2011, pointed me in the direction of this nice post card on eBay. As you can all see, I won the card!