Salcombe Estuary Rowing Club

On the weekend of the May bank holiday, Salcombe Estuary Rowing Club attended the World Pilot Gig Championships in the Isles of Scilly. With a predicted weather forecast of sunshine and light winds instead of the usual strong winds and heavy

rain, Salcombe arrived with ­optimism and a positive ­attitude to how the weekend was going to pan out.

Friday evening kick-started the event with the vets’ and supervets’ races, running from St Agnes back to St Mary’s. The ladies’ races went first, with Salcombe ­racing in Wolf and Cadmus and finishing with some excellent results for the start of the weekend.

The ladies supervets crew finished in third place out of a field of 35 and the ladies vets in 12th out of 44.

Following on from the ladies’ successes, the men vets and supervets also came out with excellent results: the supervets crew finished 14th out of 33, while the vets came in at 13th out of a field of 41.

The weather was showing no signs of deteriorating during Saturday’s day of racing for the men’s and ladies’ events. Salcombe went to the start line all guns blazing to achieve the best results they could for the club.

Saturday morning started with the long-distance ­seeding race from St Agnes to St Mary’s. With a start line 158 gigs wide, three Salcombe crews in each of the men’s and ladies’ races were determined to make it into the highest possible group for the heat races in order to ­finish with excellent results in the final race on Sunday.

By the end of Saturday’s ­racing, the Salcombe ladies’ A crew secured a place in division B, the B crew ­finished the day in division e and the ladies’ C crew ended up in division H.

For the men, the A crew in Wolf secured their place in division A, within the top 12 gigs. The men’s B crew ­finished the day in division F and the men’s C crew ­finishing in group K.

Sunday showed a sudden turn in the wonderful ­weather, with thick fog banks coming in off the other islands, resulting in the first of the races being cancelled. With only the final race of the championships left, it was a one-race shootout for the Salcombe crews to do the best they could in their ­division races.

The fog lifted enough for the final races to commence in the afternoon, so the Salcombe ladies rowed out to the start line at Nut Rock to race the sprint back into St Mary’s in their ­divisions to determine their final places in the World Pilot Gig Championships.

With the lower heats ­starting first to allow ­everyone to cheer the world champions in at the end of the race, the sprints began. Salcombe ladies C ­battled for first place in their division in Bolt, but just lost out and ­finished in third place for division H, 87th overall out of the total of 168 crews.

The next Salcombe crew across the line, in division E, were ladies B in Cadmus, who finished 51st overall. Competing in division B were Salcombe ladies A, proving that all the hard training throughout the treacherous winter months was worth it as they crossed the line and finished in 16th overall.

A crew coach John Whitelock said the ladies “put all their practice into play and got the result they deserved”.

The ladies’ crews were not the only ones to endure an intense training regime to be prepared for the world ­championships – the men’s crews also proved that their dedication and commitment to training was worth it. Men C battled against the likes

of Exmouth and KWV Loosdrecht, one of the Dutch crews that entered the ­championships, and came out on top, earning themselves a place on the podium for ­winning division K, ­finishing 121st overall.

Next up was the Salcombe Men’s B crew in division F against Bristol and Devoran, among others. They finished fourth in their heat and 64th overall out of a field of 144.

With the bad weather beginning to set in once again, the division A race was chased back to St Mary’s by a thick layer of fog, obstructing the view for ­spectators, but more ­importantly worsening the conditions for the A crew rowers.

After a good start, the mix of bad weather and rough water coming off the ­spectator boats meant Salcombe A couldn’t break the distance between themselves and Mount’s Bay. Despite the battle of the final race, their immense on- and off-water training throughout the winter and the start of this season also paid off, ­giving them 10th place.

Salcombe Estuary Rowing Club would like to thank all the sponsors, supporters, coaches, coxswains and ­finally the World Pilot Gig Championship Association for organising this fantastic event and hosting it in the Isles of Scilly.