Regatta: A New History

by Jack Fitzgerald

The Royal St. John’s Regatta is North America’s oldest continuous sporting event, and is set to publically celebrate its 200th anniversary. In this fascinating and entertaining history, Jack Fitzgerald tells the story of the Regatta from its early days as rollicking pond-side revelry to the more family-oriented event it is today. And in the process, Fitzgerald uncovers evidence to suggest the race is not as continuous as we previously thought. In A New History, Fitzgerald rewrites the tale of one of the most beloved civic events in North America.

288 pages, Paperback

Published July 20, 2018

About the author

Jack Fitzgerald was born and educated in St. John's, Newfoundland. During his career he has been a journalist, a feature writer and political columnist with the St. John's Daily News; a reporter and public affairs writer with CJON and VOCM News Services; editor of the Newfoundland Herald and the Newfoundland Chronicle. During the last years of the Smallwood administration he was assistant director of Public Relations with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. He has also worked as Assistance Officer with the Department of Social Services. Jack Fitzgerald also hosted a regular radio program featuring off-beat Newfoundland stories on radio station VOFM.

As well as writing about unusual happenings relating to Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders, Fitzgerald has also authored a series of Newfoundland crime and punishment stories as well as Newfoundland historical publications.

Reviews

[Noelle Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was pretty good. I really enjoy reading about history, Newfoundland history in particular, and this really taught me things I didn't know before about the Regatta. I've been wanting to see the Regatta in person and this book made me want to see it even more. History buffs might enjoy this book, depending on their interest level.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm disappointed with this book. It is boring. Given my interest in Newfoundland history and given the fact that at one time my great-grandfather was a part owner of the regatta's boathouse and some of its racing boats, this book should have held great appeal for me. I had high hopes for it. There were an awful lot of facts and figures that could have been developed into a compelling story but simply were not given that treatment. The book is repetitive (how many times do we have to be told that the regatta was re-started in 1871?) It felt disjointed, as if the author had just listed random topics he wanted to address and then wrote individual essays on those topics.

Perhaps my disappointment stems from the fact that the author, Jack Fitzgerald, is a prolific author who has come up with several books of local interest, so my expectations were high. But then, I don't tend to enjoy books that are basically collections of individual bits and pieces that are never strung together into a cohesive narrative and that's really what Fitzgerald is known for. His books are usually collections of anecdotes that are related by theme but are strictly stand-alone stories. I suppose it should come as no surprise that this book is one such anthology as well. I was expecting the story of the regatta but this is a collection of research about the regatta, which is quite a different matter.

I also found it annoying that the introduction and much of the first chapter were given over to the author telling us how he did a better job on the research than any earlier researchers. I honestly don't know whether he did or not, but I found the self-congratulation boring and self-indulgent and I skipped over much of that. I've always believed that thorough research doesn't necessarily make an interesting book and this one proves it. Ah well, it will serve as a handy reference book if anyone needs to look up the length of a boat or the number of oars used 150 years ago.

I probably should add, though, that I have a handful of other books by this author, all of which I enjoyed quite a bit.