We took part in several regattas and the World Championship in the Scillies, though our own regatta was cancelled due to bad weather. We had a week away rowing on Milford Haven, including a moonlight row with a local rowing club.
Photos of our crews at the Bridport Regatta here.
We took Keith Owen and Little Picket to Cork in Ireland for the Ocean to City Race, in which 200+ boats of many types rowed or paddled their craft for 27km, from the sea to the city centre. See the photos here.
We also formed joint management of the former Sailing Club, now known as the Watersports Hub. We had a great Christmas Party, photos here.
Our home regatta went very well, though as usual we didn't challenge to silverware. Photos here.
We took two boats to the Lake District and rented a large house near Bowness. We rowed on Windermere, Ullswater and Derwent Water.
Back in Devon we rowed to Budleigh for breakfast one Sunday morning. Photos here.
Click photo to see a selection from the North Devon tour.
Covid lifted and we were able to row again. There was no competitive rowing but we had various social events and a long weekend in North Devon.
We brought our own Nessie for the trip to Loch Ness. The sight impressed the Japanese visitors on a passing tourist boat.
We towed two gig boats 500 miles north to Glasgow, raced on the Clyde, had fun on Loch Lomond and Loch Long, and were chased by a monster on Loch Ness. There's a photo gallery here.
Nick Thompson won the Splash Award for his “Epic Fail” when he wasted everyone’s time by using a camera with no memory card. Nick says he’s in training to retain the trophy in 2020.
Sidmouth Gig Club celebrate another good year with Awards Night
This year Sidmouth Gig Racing Club celebrated another good season at the Woodlands Hotel on Saturday, 23rd February. Forty members and friends met in the evening for drinks and dinner which was followed by the annual Awards event.
The Master of Ceremonies was Gina Rodgers, the club’s Chair, ably assisted by Barry Morton, who is noted for the fancy dress events he masterminds for the club in the Raft Race and Boxing Day swim.
The main rowing award is for Best Crew. This went to the Ladies C crew for their performance in the Rame Regatta. The rowers were Julie Turner, Sarah MacCourt, Amanda Bleazard, Linda Wheate, Kirsteen Welch and Megan Rodgers, plus cox, Gina Rodgers.
The Awards for the best new rowers went to Val Ranger and Grant Clarke, and the most improved rowers were Pete Blackmore and Rachel Horwood.
Top Veterans were Sarah MacCourt and Alan Rodgers, and special awards went to Sarah Green and John Richardson.
The best young rower was Jess Green and the Clubman trophy went to Megan Rodgers, while the ‘Extra Mile’ went to Mike Perrington.
The prestigious Splash Award which went to Nick Thompson for his Epic Fail by spending an hour photographing two rowing crews and a canoe using a camera with no memory card.
Finally a special award was given to our retiring Chairman, Jeremy Cloke, who received a framed enlargement of a photo taken of our early morning Solstice Day row.
Cap'n Perrington prepares to meet his fate as the ship slides into the deep, pursued by the iceberg and watched by a passing albatross.
Once a year we build something that will float, and enter a crew for the Sidmouth Regatta Raft Race. We expect to come last, but often win the 'fancy dress' award thanks to the vivid imagination of Barry Morton. 2018 was no exception, our theme was RMS Titanic. There are some photos here.
Raised oars mark the finish of the final race to decide the World Champions. Sidmouth were tucking into the refreshments by this point.
We competed for the fourth time in the World Championships over the May holiday weekend in the Scilly Isles. Eight men and 11 Ladies formed crews in both the Mens A and SuperVet classes, and both finished strongly, making significant improvements on our 2016 results. All the Sidmouth Men and Ladies took part in various crews for the five races over the weekend.
Our Men finished in 108th place out of 140, and the ladies were 111th out of 142. In their SuperVet races the Men were 20th and the Ladies were 22nd. Possibly the most successful Sidmouth rower was Sarah Green who kindly stood in at short notice for Appledore Vets, due to a rower’s illness, and came 8th in the race, much to the delight of the Appledore crew!
The Sidmouth crews made their mark after the final race by dressing as the Sidmouth Smugglers, complete with rum brought back from their trip to Bermuda in the autumn.
There's a photo gallery here.
The towering cliffs east of West Bay are the backdrop to the Bridport Regatta.
Sidmouth Gig Club’s Mens and Ladies crews took part in five races at the Bridport Regatta which was held at West Bay last Sunday, 3rd July.
The triangular course was just over a mile in length, running to the west of the harbour mouth. After early drizzle the day turned into warm sunshine with a light breeze, though the choppy water made rowing tricky for competitors.
Overall Sidmouth’s boat, Keith Owen, came 11th out of 15. Our best results were in the Mens C and Ladies C races, in which both crews came fifth.
Sidmouth will be back in competitive action through the summer at Paignton, Teignmouth and Lyme Regis, and finally the Sidmouth Regatta to be held on Sunday 18th September.
Sidmouth Mens Vets look cheerful after their race. (L>R) Alan Rodgers, Paul Bradley, Richard Huntington (Cox), Colin Bartlett, Andrew Noel, Tony Faulkner, and Tony Lambert.
Nine Gig boats from seven regional clubs competed on Sunday 30th August at the third annual regatta to be held in Sidmouth. The hosts were Sidmouth Gig Racing Club who entered all seven races with their boat Keith Owen. The event received support from Sidmouth Sailing Club, and many local businesses and individuals.
Many new members have joined the local club this year, and we competed in all seven categories; Ladies A, Ladies B, Mens A, Mens B, Ladies Vets, Mens Vets and Mixed. Our visitors came from Teignmouth, Exmouth, Lyme Regis, Bridport, Weymouth, and (from 110 miles away) Langstone on Hayling Island.
No fewer than 38 Sidmouth members took part as crew or coxes, and for some it was their first competitive race. Many other members and their families helped with logistics, providing food and drink for hungry rowers, and manning safety boats. Sidmouth’s best result was our Ladies A crew, coming fourth out of seven, with a time of 14m38s. However it was the Mens B team which recorded the club’s fastest time of the day, 13m43s, in a very close race in which Keith Owen was four seconds behind Rodney Bey (Exmouth) and two seconds in front of Isolde (Weymouth B).
Once again Sidmouth’s Mens Vets included the event’s oldest participant, Tony Faulkner, a sprightly 87year-old. Gig Rowing is noted for the sporting nature of its competition; crews will row their hearts out to win but at the end of a race it’s “Three Cheers” all round and warm friendship on the beach and in the cafes and bars.
The overall winning boat was Tristan (Weymouth A) who were outright winners in four races. Sidmouth finished a creditable seventh; as a young club we’ve a way to go before we can match the big boys of the southwest, but all agreed it was a great day’s sport, despite the cloud and rain.
There's a video here showing us in action, mainly ashore, in the Scillies, for the world championship.
For a while we kept Alma at Lyme Regis. The harbour there enabled seven rowers to launch and recover the boat, and there was less chance of cancellation due to the sea conditions.
