Dart Gig Rowing Club was one of 13 clubs to join Teignmouth for their annual gig regatta on Saturday, July 18.
Dart's gig Smudger arrived on the beach in bright sunshine and calm waters, but by the time the racing got under way at 12.30pm the sky had clouded over and the wind had got up, producing very similar sea state to last year.
The water was choppy making for interesting conditions getting on and off the beach, and tricky water for rowing. The course was laid off to the east of the town, with the start and finish being directly off the yacht club.
The ladies' B race was the first race of the day. The crew had a strong start and made good progress down the first leg, despite the tricky sea conditions.
By the first mark, the crew had settled into sixth place. The crew rowed hard on the very long last leg to keep local rivals Salcombe behind them. They came home sixth out of a field of 12.
The ladies' C followed – with three of the B crew joining the three C rowers. The relatively novice C rowers found the sea conditions awkward and the boat came home ninth out of 10.
The course proved to be rather long and the number of races meant that progress through the programme was rather slow.
By the time the men's A went out to race they had been waiting nearly six hours.
The crew's training paid off and they made a very solid start, soon settling into fourth place behind Caradon, Ilfracombe and Cattewater. The seas made it awkward to maintain course down to the first mark.
The crew made a good turn on the first mark, catching up with Cattewater, but unfortunately Cattewater surfed away down a wave and Dart were unable to catch them.
On the long final leg Dart fought hard to stay ahead of Brixham, coming home fourth out of 11. The club were very disappointed when both the ladies' vets and men's vets races were cancelled.
Ladies: Peta Chivers, Clare Thorp, Carol Squire, Kate Cooke, Katharine Money, Emma Burnell, Katie Lillington, Maggie Russell, Linda Cann and cox Paul Kunert.
Men: Chris Gale, Tony Doige, Rupert Kempley, Andy Pomeroy, Adrian Bailey, Dave Sharam and cox Clare Thorp.
Stan Bray rowed with Brixham men's C.