WORLD CHAMPS,  ISLES OF SCILLY

Isles of Scilly World Championships

Thanks to Rachel Holder for the great report.

Below: 21 photos, many thanks to CC (for these super pics of the racing and teams relazing)

The first May Bank Holiday weekend saw the Isles of Scilly host the 20th Anniversary World Pilot Gig Championships, in which Cadgwith Gig Club has raced every year, since those early days. The event has grown massively, with the number of both clubs and gigs building year on year. Cadgwith, Newquay and Scilly can take credit for the resurrection of Cornish Gig rowing in the 1980s, and it’s great to see the sport in such strong shape, with clubs throughout Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and Pembrokeshire, plus crews from Bristol and a strong Dutch contingent.

The weekend’s racing began on Friday night with the ladies veterans’ competition, held over the St Agnes course. Fortunately the rain which had been set in all day cleared in time for the race, but the poor weather meant a backlog of flights from the mainland. Thanks to Nikki Addison for jumping in, with barely an hour to recover from a rough Scillonian crossing, to fill in for a stranded Judith Preston. The ladies vets (Nikki Addison, Clare Girling, Gwen Jane, Mo Jones, Christine Legge, Angie Richards) had the honour of racing our brand new gig Tamarisk for the first time at Scilly, and came in 19th/35, with Helford taking the race in their new gig Pedn Billy. The mens vets (Bruce Bray, Dave Bray, Tony Halliday, David Henn, David Holyer, Elwyn Jones) were up next, and came in with a commendable top ten place (9/52), with Newquay winning in Hope. Thanks to Rhiannon Halliday for her encouraging coxing of both Cadgwith vets crews.

Saturday dawned fine, and luckily all our stranded rowers made it over in time for the seeding races. These are the most spectacular races of the weekend, with the colourful scene of over 100 boats lining up (well loosely call it a line!) close to St Agnes, for the long race back to St Mary’s Hugh Town Quay. Actually the organisers clamped down this year on starting discipline, and a number of boats were disqualified from the whole competition for jumping the buoys, which must have made their coxes very popular! A sizeable swell was running, large enough to lose sight of other boats as they disappeared into the troughs, but nothing Cadgwith crews couldn’t handle!

In the ladies St Agnes race Cadgwith A, in Tamarisk (Nikki Addison, Sharon Bray, Emma George, Sam Jane, Katie Jose, Angie Richards – Cox Stevie Jane) came in 32nd followed by Cadgwith B in Rose (crew rotated through 4 races - Alex Day-Smith, Catherine Day-Smith, Clare Girling, Rachel Holder, Gwen Jane, Mo Jones, Christine Legge, Judith Preston– Cox Tony Halliday) in 80th, in a fleet of 114. Congratulations to Catherine and Alex for making successful debuts in senior racing – straight in with what is probably the hardest and longest race of the season!

In the mens St Agnes race, Cadgwith A (Tom Alden, Stuart George, David Henn, Stevie Jane, Brett Jose, Jobe Newton – Cox Sam Jane) came in 28th, and Cadgwith B (Bruce Bray, Dave Bray, Tony Halliday, Mike Hardy, David Holyer, Elwyn Jones – Cox David Muirhead) came in 51st out of 118 gigs.

Saturday afternoon saw the first of the Nut Rock heats – shorter (just 360 strokes our cox assured us!) sprints from Tresco back to St Mary’s Quay, in groups of 12, with the first two boats moving up, and the last two dropping down. Unfortunately the Ladies B dropped from Heat G to H, after being pipped to 10th place by Leander, but Ladies A maintained their group C position. The Mens B had a close tussle with Coverack, but came through to take 4th in Group D in their first Nut Rock heat. The Mens A had a great first Nut Rock race, taking winning place in style, and moving up from heat C to B to set them up for Sunday’s races.

By Sunday morning the overnight rain had cleared through to leave a fine but blustery day, with a strong breeze making the row out to the Nut Rock startline more challenging. Two races were rowed by each crew on Sunday, with the second race of the day deciding final championship placings.

Ladies B maintained their position in heat H Sunday morning, and in the final had a close race with Verbena of Appledore, but were just squeezed into second, to give an overall placing of 86th (up from 89th in 2008). Ladies A came through to a final placing of 30th, holding their position from last year despite 10 more boats in the fleet. The fight for the podium was a very close run thing, with Polvarth (Roseland) and Irene Too (Falmouth) so tight on the finishing line neither crew knew whether to raise their oars in victory. Roseland were eventually announced champions, ‘by a fender’ ending Falmouth’s 5 year reign. Special mention also for Rhiannon Halliday, who achieved 12th place with her Caradon B crew in Mary Newman.

Mens B came in 53rd overall, up from 59th last year, and Mens A battled hard to stay up Sunday morning, eventually prevailing over Isolde of Weymouth, to guarantee themselves a top 24 place. Their final placing was a commendable 22nd, up from 26th last year. Warrior (Par) came through to take their first world championship title, ahead of Caradon in Millers Daughter.

On Sunday evening sixty Cadgwith rowers, family members and supporters gathered for a celebratory meal (it’s amazing how many of us there are when we’re all together!) this year hosted by the Bishop and Wolf (thanks to Angie and Hugh Richards for their menu and order juggling skills), and afterwards a few well deserved pints were sipped in a number of reputable hostelries.

Thanks to all who contributed to our fine time at the Championships – rowers, coxes, cheering supporters and family members, and I’m sure most of us will plan to be back for the 21st Anniversary World Pilot Gig Championships! We’re grateful for the financial support received towards the cost of our new gig Tamarisk, including the Heritage Lottery Awards For All Grant, and generous individual donations, and to Mullion Cove Hotel for sponsoring crew vests.

Anyone wishing to join the club, including juniors can contact the club via secretary Sam Jane on 01326 290464