SALCOMBE Estuary Rowing Club finished their long and successful season with a trip for members and their gig Bolt to the Netherlands for the annual fixed seat championships in Muiden, near Amsterdam.

This was the second time the club has made the long trip over to the two-day event, this time taking both a men's and ladies' team.

The ladies were hoping to achieve a similar result to last year's second place in the Cornish Pilot Gig category. The racing involved three races over two days, each being about 40 minutes long and taking crews out to sea, around an island and back into the narrow canal by the Royal National Yacht club, which was hosting the popular event.

This year 20 gigs competed in the 20th year of the championships, one third of which were English crews having towed their boats over.

Cornish Pilot Gig rowing is growing in popularity in the Netherlands, with many clubs buying old Cornish and Devon gigs. The club was fortunate to have good weather for the racing and, after three long races, the ladies came in third behind the crew from Scheveningen club, from the Netherlands, and Falmouth ladies. The men came 11th out of 20 gigs and had the current world champions Falmouth to contend with. The weekend was a huge success, both on and off the water, and the Dutch clubs were incredibly welcoming to all the English crews.

The club would like to thank Crew Clothing for providing some very smart squad attire for the event.

The club also recently put on a new race in the estuary, named the Devon Cup, in which they invited Devon crews to race the full length of the estuary.

The inaugural event was set up in lieu of the annual summer regatta, which was due to be held in June and was cancelled due to bad weather.

The race involved the men's crews rowing from Salcombe to Kingsbridge, with a quick stop in the pub, and then the ladies raced back to Salcombe.

With the much appreciated help of a few local boat owners, rowers were ferried either way by water and provided great encouragement to rowers during the 30-minute race.

Although a friendly event, once on the water battle commenced and negotiating the moored boats in the harbour just off the start in the men's race was not for the faint hearted.

With the wind and tide behind them and travelling up to eight knots, the eight gigs dodged in between the fishing boats.

Salcombe's men took an early lead thanks to skilful coxing and maintained this to finish a convincing first, with the B crew coming in third.

The return leg saw the ladies' As also take an early lead, with the B crew closely following in third. With a double in store for the club, the ladies A wanted to pull out as much of a lead as possible, coming in about a 30-boat length ahead of second-place Ilfracombe.

The Salcombe B crew came third and the club's veterans finished fifth. The club has now finished racing for 2011 and already minds are turning to the World Championships in May in the Isles of Scilly.

Last year the club saw some great results, especially in the ladies' section, which they are hoping to improve on in the 2012 championships. With the help of Quayside Leisure Centre, club members are starting a programme of winter training to build fitness and strength and maintain their condition through the winter when rowing is limited to only weekends.

In the meantime, club members are also maintaining the three boats and oars in their club shed in Salcombe so that they are in good condition again next year.

If you think you would like a go in a Cornish Pilot Gig and maybe join in the fun in the Netherlands next year, then please check out the club's website for details on how to get involved.

The club caters for rowers of all abilities and levels of competitiveness, so you don't need to be ultra fit to take part. Age is no barrier to success, but with the growth of the sport and the exponential raising of standards at the top level, the club are always looking for keen, committed, competitive rowers to take SERC on to the next level.