It started off overcast, but has reduced to haze in time for the first races of the day.

In both competitions it is close running between Roseland, Falmouth, Caradon and Newquay. Other clubs are in with a chance, especially Mount’s Bay in the ladies and Par Bay in the mens. It all depends on what the heat A crews have been saving for the final.

|Ladies|

Gigs in heat A for final (in round 3 position order):
Irene Too, Polvarth, Miller’s Daughter, Kensa, Hope, Waterwitch, Killigerran, Dall Lewyer, Pilgrim, Double Dutch and, up from heat B, Irene and Merthen. Tregarthens and Melusine were relegated from heat A in round 3.

In the final, Polvarth got off to a good start, but was soon caught by the Irene Too. By half-way, Irene Too had a lead of 2 lengths over Polvarth, who was only half-a-length ahead of Miller’s Daughter. Polvarth dug in again, gaining little ground on Irene Too, but pulling away from the Caradon gig. Irene Too won by 3 lengths, Polvarth lead the Miller’s Daughter by 3 lengths, and the Kensa won fourth position 3 lengths back in a tight race fought against Killigerran and Hope.

See http://pilotgigs.info/pilotgigs/results.phpx?r=WPGC2007-L-F for full results.

|Mens|

In the final Miller’s Daughter lead at the beginning, soon caught by the Polvarth. They two gigs took it in turns to be half a length ahead. On the line, officials said the Miller’s Daughter was in the lead by a three feet. Phantom came a definate third 2 lengths behind, and ahead of the Emma Louise and Irene Too.

See http://pilotgigs.info/pilotgigs/results.phpx?r=WPGC2007-M-F for full results.

See http://pilotgigs.info/pilotgigs/gallery.phpx for pictures from the day.

More photos can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/remote_upload/gigs_sunday2007/ , http://scillywebcam.blogspot.com/

Normally there would be a sailing race at 10.30, but due to high wind and swelly seas, it has been cancelled. There is also the rugby tournament on the Garrison and this year the addition of a golf tournament, though it is doubtful if players will get very far with the high winds.

It started off a misty day, but since the 1200 coxswains meeting has brightened up significantly, with a little mist remaining on the horizon.

The first round races are from St Agnes, with all gigs lining up as usual, with the slight change that this year the marshalls are not ordering gigs alphabetically — at the coxswains’ meeting they said that a trial at last night’s veterans race was successful, so they will be implementing it at the St Agnes startline.

|Ladies|

95 gigs raced. See http://www.pilotgigs.info/pilotgigs/results.phpx?r=WPGC2007-L-1 for results and http://www.pilotgigs.info/pilotgigs/gallery.phpx?g=40 for photos of probably all of the gigs on the startline.

At half-way, the Irene Too, Miller’s Daughter and Kensa were lengths apart, the Miller’s Daughter eventually overtaking the Irene Too to finish first by 3-4 lengths. There was not a particularly close battle for 12th place, the group A gigs being decided quite easily.

The Royal and Penlee Point lost over nine positions due to a collision with another gig, possibly the Volante.

In the second round, there was a casualty in the Ann Glanville, a gig being borrowed by Calstock for the championships. The lady was escorted from the gig by one of the marshall RIBs.

|Mens|

See http://www.pilotgigs.info/pilotgigs/results.phpx?r=WPGC2007-M-1 for results and http://www.pilotgigs.info/pilotgigs/gallery.phpx?g=41 for a few pictures (the lineup was very quick, so not many photos were taken).

With 103 starters, the mens’ rowers have broken the 100 mark for the first time in the championship’s 18 year history.

The Phantom and Roseland’s new gig the Polvarth proved very strong throughout the race, the pair finishing over three lengths ahead of the Miller’s Daughter. Pilgrim, fighting to be in group A seemed to be caught in significant wake at the Newman buoy, would prove in the second round it deserves to be in group A.

Behind the Pilgrim in heat B, there was a close battle between three gigs hungry to be in the top group for tomorrow, the Emperor, Richard Lander and Hope, with the Emperor succeeding in today.

In earlier heats, the leading gig Peveril nearly missed the finishing buoy, but managed to swing around to get on the inside for the line — losing one position and nearly colliding with the Golden Eagle (4th).

In heat E, the Volante lead its group but was disqualified for failing to pass between the finished buoys, and so will be demoted to heat F in round 3.

The Roscarrok was supposed to row in heat G but had raced in an earlier heat, and so was relegated to the bottom in heat I.

The Islands are preparing for the eighteenth World Pilot Gig Championships, which will take place this weekend. Scilly News will be there doing it’s normal coverage.

The WPGC 2007 brochure explains there is one new club this year, from Bristol, bringing with them their new gig, the Isambard. There are also two new gigs, Salcombe’s Bolt and Roseland’s Polvarth.

There are 106 gigs on the Islands, so we hope that either the mens’ or ladies’ St Agnes race will involve more than 100 gigs for the first time in the championship’s 18 year history — it all depends on the amount of crews available. We will see tomorrow…

We have posted the list of gigs competing in this year’s championships at http://www.pilotgigs.info/pilotgigs/competinggigs.phpx , updated at 3 pm.

The Islands are preparing for the eighteenth World Pilot Gig Championships, which will take place this weekend. Scilly News will be there doing it’s normal coverage.

Stay tuned.

Scilly is about to prepare for the early World Pilot Gig Championships, this year taking place between April 29-30. ScillyNews, as ever, will be on the frontline offering the most up-to-date information available on the web. Stay tuned.

A recent attempt at breaking a 108-year old transatlantic rowing record failed when Dutch rowers were blown 100 miles off the Islands in strong winds, rendering them unable to finish the race.

The crew of the 29′ Naturally Best arrived at the finish line off Scilly on 11 July, having started their journey on 31 May, smashing the current 55-day record.

ThisIsCornwall reports: “Steve Dawson, 43, from Boston, Lincolnshire; Nigel Morris, 40, and George Rock, 41, both from Ingleby Barwick, Teesside; and Rob Munslow, 26, from Monmouth, South Wales, crossed the finish line near the Bishop’s Rock lighthouse, off the Isles of Scilly, in 40 days, 22 hours, nine minutes and 30 seconds.”

The 2005 World Pilot Gig Championships were the most disrupted by weather than any previous. Sea fog was to blame for delays to events and some heats being cancelled. Despite the weather and alterations, a good time was had by all.

|Vets Races|

The veterans races were supposed to be run on the Friday evening, but were delayed until Saturday morning. The startline was reassigned as Nut Rock races (as opposed to starting at St Agnes) to reduce the race time so that all of the days events could be fitted in.

The good old sea fog came down as the mens vets crews made their way to the finish line. It came in very thick, the coxs relying on the spectator boats for guidance through the fog.

Disappointingly, the only local gig to enter a crew in the vets races was the Emperor mens crew.

|St Agnes Heat One|

Due to be run immediately after the vets races, the adults St Agnes heat one was postponed until Sunday morning.

Sunday was slightly overcast most of the time and pretty windy all of the time. The starter took ages to line up the gigs for both ladies and mens races, battling against tides, winds and cheeky coxswains.

In the mens heat the Millers Daughter took an early lead and managed to increase their lead all the way to the finish line. The Emma Louise took second place and the Punchbowl Trophy (previously awarded on Friday nights, as a competition between Scilly and Truro gigs) after battling with Mary Newman and Phantom (built by Peter Martin, who was coxing the Emma Louise).

All other heats were cancelled, leaving only the final for gig crews to prove their worth. This meant that the St Agnes race was very important, as this year there was no promotions or demotions between groups.

|Finals|

The weather had significantly improved for the finals, fresh wind blowing on sunburnt skin with added salt for extra reddness.

The Emma Louise got off to a poor start in the ladies final, starting part of the race in 11th postiion, but managed to gain back on the competition, finishing a few lengths behind the new gig from Falmouth, Irene Too. Caradon’s ladies were successful for the first time in a few years at getting to the podium in third position (but not without the help of an ex-Island rower!)

Caradon proved to be very strong in the final of the mens competition, the Millers Daughter uncatchable event before half-way. The competition for second-fifth places was very tight between the Mary Newman, Phantom and Emma Louise until Mary Newman started pulling away after half-way, managing to lead the others by two lengths as they crossed the finish line. The Phantom managed to pull foward to lead the Emma Louise by about half-a-length at the finish, leaving the local crew off the top three this year. By the finish, the Emma Louise was almost level with the Irene Too and Kiligerran, both gaining on the local gig right up to the finishing line, but the Louise managed to stay ahead of both as she crossed the finish line fourth.

Pictures of the competition for second-fifth can be found in the galleries on http://www.pilotgigs.info/. There you will also be able to find full results and other galleries, as well as information on all of the clubs and gigs that have competed in recent years. Contact us if you have any information on any of the clubs which you would like us to add, including contact information, web site details, new gigs, etc..

|Awards Ceremony|

The award for sportsmanship went to the Breton crew in the Serica for letting the CRAB crew ‘not finish last’ in the St Agnes race.

The mens champions were celebrated with a few flares, one of which went astray as it got caught in a flag, causing a commotion for a couple of seconds as the winners feared for their legs. Stage diving was as popular as ever this year, with the Dutch acting as a human net.

A video of the top three awards for mens and ladies will go up soon on http://www.pilotgigs.info/.

Results and pictures of all races can be found at http://www.pilotgigs.info/.

Additional information:
Incidents on buoys in mens first round longline race, inc
first buoy: Manacle Belle outside another gig;
second buoy: Irene and Hope.

|Other Trophies|

Sportsmans Trophy: Bretons (Serica) for making sure the CRAB crew don’t come last.

More later…