A Cornish Pilot Gig

 

The Cornish Pilot Gig is a six-oared rowing boat,built of Cornish narrow leaf elm, 32 feet (9.8m) long, with a beam of 4 feet 10 inches (1.47m). 

 An important role of the Cornish Pilot Gigs was taking pilots out to incoming vessels from the Atlantic. Competing gigs would race to get their pilot on board a vessel first in order to get the job and hence the payment.

  Nowadays they still race at regattas in towns and villages around the coasts ofthe West Country.

 But the biggest turn out of the year is always for the World Championships, which takes place in May, in The Scilly Isles, 28 miles off the end of Cornwall

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 Bearing in mind the job these boats were design to do racing doesn't stop if it gets a bit rough.

Click Here to check out this footage from 2016 

Saltash Regatta - Pilot Gigs

The gigs work non stop throughout the day.

Immediately a crew crosses the finishing line they make their way back to the pontoon,

 where their club's next crew is waiting to jump in and get to the start line for their race.

Loading complete, off they go to the start line.

Pilot Gigs are built to very strict specification, so performance is all down to the crew.

Regatta Day at Saltash on the River Tamar

Almost every summer weekend there is a rowing regatta, featuring the beautiful six oared Pilot Gigs, somewhere around the coasts and rivers of Devon and Cornwall. 

The host town last weekend was Saltash, on the Cornish bank of the Tamar.

The gruelling course goes from right to left, all the way up to left hand edge of the image

AND BACK AGAIN.

 On the start line.

There is a class for every age group, from junior to super vets, with mixed sex teams as well.

The racing is non stop, with heats starting from lunch time to finals in the early evening.

Hundreds of people of all ages and both sexes take part.

For spectators and supporters there is always plenty to keep them interested. 

There are bars, and many sorts of street food stalls, with musicians and dancers to make the day go with a swing.

Winter training for this Cornish Pilot Gig crew.

A Cornish Pilot Gig is a six oared rowing boat, 32 feet long with a beam of four feet ten inches.

The gigs were used to take the pilots out to incoming ships from the Atlantic. In those days the gigs would race to be the first to get their pilot on board the vessel and thus earn the fee.

Today, gig racing is for sport with over a 100 clubs around the world, but mainly centred on Cornwall and the Scilly Isles.The world championships are held each tear in early in May on Scilly Isles.

This boat is named after Ann Glanville of Saltash, mother of fourteen children, who took over her husband's boat and worked as a waterman to support her family when he fell ill.

She then formed an all women crew who competed in local regattas wearing white caps and dresses.






Their success led to competitions all over the country, including one in Fleetwood, attended by Queen Victoria, who congratulated Ann when her crew beat the all male favourites.
Their most famous victory was in 1833 in Le Harvre, France, where they beat the ten best French male crews by 100 yards.