September has hit and the evenings are drawing in, we still have a few more evening rows planned but it will soon be time to switch to indoor training mode. We’ve had a brilliant racing season finishing with Clovelly regatta on 24th of August with some brilliant results including a trophy for our Ladies B. We’ve been to Salcombe, Goran, Ramsey Island, Caradon Mixed Championships, Rock, Cattewater, Looe, Rame, Brixham Open/Vets Championships & Clovelly. As well as racing we’ve enjoyed camping at several regattas so that we can stay on and support host clubs (by buying beer) and we’ve visited beautiful places around Devon and Cornwall, swam, kayaked, paddle-boarded and ate lots of burgers and ice-cream. Thank you to all the people work so hard behind the scenes to make it all happen.
A special shoutout to our Ladies Vets getting to the Semi-Finals and finishing 14th in the Vets Championships and to a wonderful enthusiastic group of Juniors who have rowed consistently at every regatta without fail and came a fantastic 3rd at Brixham. Well done to Scott, Ben, Tommy, Rowan, Katie and Jasmine!
We still have plenty going on before the year is up with Ladies Newquay Championships, Great London River Row, Mens Newquay Championships and the Tamar Challenge before we jump into our Tamar Winter League. Keep an eye on our social media sites for updates.
On Friday 14th June, a group of hardy rowers from Tamar and Tavy gig club made the long trek to the far corner of west Wales in atrocious weather to take part in a special rowing event on the Pembrokeshire coast. “Ralph’s Day”, hosted by local Welsh gig club, Porthgain, was in memory of renowned gig builder Ralph Bird, one of the founders of modern gig rowing.
Luckily, by Saturday morning the wind had dropped and the sun shone, giving ideal conditions to go ahead with the event. Some 60 rowers from several gig clubs gathered on Whitesands beach near St David’s to launch 9 boats into the surf, with the aim of circumnavigating the beautiful Ramsey Island. The route is some 7.5 miles through sometimes challenging conditions with strong tidal currents, and took around 3.5 hours, including short breaks to take in the scenery and the wildlife. Ramsey Island is an RSPB reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area for the Chough, and the row was accompanied by the constant sound of seabirds on the 120m high cliffs. We were not lucky enough to see dolphins or porpoises this time but the row was punctuated by the frequent appearance of curious Atlantic Grey seals. Rowing back across the channel in the rain, the crew were able to catch a good wave and surf into the beach for an exciting climax to the row.
Club Chairman, David Egerton, said “Tamar and Tavy Gig Club were proud to be part of this beautiful row in memory of Ralph Bird, and we were really pleased to do so in our first gig “Ginette”. This was the first gig ever built by local boat builder Brian Nobbs, helped by advice from Ralph Bird himself.”
June is turning into a really great month for racing with us attending Salcombe and Goran regattas already and crews in place for Ralph’s Day (Ramsey Island race in honour or Ralph Bird) and Caradon Mixed before the end of the month. We’ve had a mixed bag of rowers for some of the crews but everyone has done brilliantly to adapt and coped well with some messy water particularly at Goran.
We’re particularly happy with our Ladies B crews who are currently 6th in the Tribute Rankings thanks to 3rd place results in the last two races. Lovely days out so far and looking forward to the next.
Salcombe
MA – 10th
MB – 7th LB – 3rd
Juniors – 4th
MV – 5th LV – 10th
Goran
MB – 10th
LB – 3rd
MV – 10th
Mens B – World Pilot Gig Championships 2019
Following a successful winter league we had high hopes for our crews this year and are delighted with our best ever results at the recent World Pilot Gig Championships on the Isles of Scilly over the Bank Holiday weekend. This year was the 30th anniversary of the championships, creating a special atmosphere and drawing a record number of entries with 165 Cornish Pilot Gigs battling for victory.
The Open Championships began on Saturday with the long seeding race from the off island of St Agnes to St Mary’s harbour, with rough water and a headwind making for challenging conditions. Tamar and Tavy entered four crews, two men’s and two ladies’ crews, and they all handled the tough conditions really well, given that most of our training is on the river where we don’t see big waves. Our Ladies’ A crew put in an epic row, finishing ahead of many of the eventual finalists in 17th place, and our Men’s B crew managed a fantastic 65th place after being hit by another boat and losing their steering rudder.
After emergency repairs to the rudder, we held our nerve in the first of the shorter seeded group races on Saturday afternoon, but were still relieved to see an improvement in the weather for Sunday. With less wind and calmer waters, our crews were able to row to their potential and Sunday morning saw both our Men’s A and Ladies’ B crews storm to victory in their respective heats. After a weekend of hard racing, we finished with happy, if exhausted, crews and enjoyed the warm glow of our best ever results.
Many of our rowers had expected this anniversary year to be their last chance to compete as recent rule changes to limit the number of entries for next year meant that we would only be able to take one boat. However, we were ecstatic to learn that the high placing of our Ladies’ A crew earned us an extra wildcard invitation- a mixed blessing for some rowers who now have to look forward to another winter of hard training in the cold and rain!
Ladies A – 33rd
Ladies B – 136th
Mens A – 95th
Mens B – 65th
Mens A and B crews at Saltash
Throughout the Winter months the new Tamar Winter League series has kept Tamar & Tavy Gig Club busy, five races took place starting at our very own Weir Quay (great opportunity to show off the fab new boat house and facilities), up river to Cotehele and down river to Saltash, Rame and finally at Torpoint who put on a difficult event with some strong winds to content with. It has been a great chance to get out and race but also to socialise with our neighbouring clubs and support each other with some friendly competition. The very first race of the series saw our Ladies A crew head straight into first place, what a great start, the Ladies A managed 3 wins through the league coming in overall 1st place. Mens B also managed a couple of wins in a row at Rame and Torpoint leaving them 3rd place in their group. We had some cracking races with great results throughout including 6 wins meaning a close 4th place overall. We’ve had the opportunity to test out our Championship crews, get the newbies out on the water in race conditions and practise in some rougher water at Torpoint which is all too rare for us river rowers. The 30th World Pilot Gig Championships are just around the corner now and we’re all very excited to get there and see how we do.
The start of the gig rowing season kicked off on March 2nd with the Three Rivers Race at Saltash. Tamar & Tavy Gig Club sent two mens and two womens crews and as is tradition the weather was less than kind to them and the 70+ gigs competing. Strong winds meant that the long straight in the middle of the race was a hard battle with some lumpy water, all good practise for us river rowers.
The ladies races were up first and huge issues with radios meant that the starts were bad for both crews. The A crew started in the wave behind were they should have been, but quickly took the lead of the pack and began to make up ground with the wave ahead, eventually managing to overtake all 12 boats and a few from the next wave as well in a time of 1:04:27, 16th place overall.
Even though Saturday was a rainy day in Appledore it didn’t deter the ladies Supervets ready and eager for the Appledore Supervets Race. Arriving at 8am ! 12 Ladies Supervets A and B took to the waters on Saturday 7th April. Ladies A was coxed by Dave and were the first to race and came 3rd taking them to the Sunday semi finals! The Ladies B coxed by Ian were next to Race and came 5th and whilst they didn’t make the semi final were selected for the Sunday Plates race. All looking forward to another early start Sunday albeit one hour later, a sleep in..whoo hoo..
But what a difference a day makes, arriving in Appledore for 9am start it was cold and bright and the sun trying to break through and finally the sun shone just before the race started just beautiful and the water calm and welcoming..
Ladies A were first to race and coxed by Ian today the team rose to the challenge and around the second buoy soared away from the final two to take fifth place. Ladies B coxed by Ian did well coming 6th of 7th
A day all thoroughly enjoyed giving all of us good experience and readiness. Scillies – here we come !
On March 10th four teams ladies and men’s A and B teams set off to Saltash to take part in the 2018 3 Rivers Race, the first of the season.
The day started dark, windy with lashings of rain as our non competing very kind and committed members rowed Ginette from Weir Quay to Saltash.
By the time the race started at 11am the clouds started clearing and the rain slightly eased and off we went. It was a tough row but enjoyed by all,
The results;
Ladies A 34/77 time 1:01:23 Ladies B 69/77 time 1:08:53.
Mens A 48/79 time 00:58:33 Mens B 70/79 time 1:04:32
Really great day.. as the first race for the season with our new coaches we are really pleased with our results.. onwards and upwards.. getting ready for the Scillies.
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Great news in 2018 ! our new boat shed is being built in weir quay a purpose built shed where we can store our gigs indoors and train, shower all indoors. This is due to a great team effort and a real credit to all involved ..
This will be the clubs 15th year attending the event and we are all working hard to make this a great year for the club. Before that we are planning to attend Caradons 3 river race which is a gruelling 5 miles and Pendeens Plastic Gig Championships. Wish us luck !
