Club News

On Saturday 31^st August Tamar & Tavy Gig Club Ladies A team travelled to Newquay for the Ladies County Gig Championships, competing in a line up of 90 crews. The conditions proved to be extremely challenging, with a delay to the start due to rough seas, but there was a sense of relief and a big cheer when the umpires decided to go ahead and the racing began! The T&T Ladies were drawn in heat 14, by which time conditions had worsened considerably, making for a tense wait and lots of nerves, but it was great to finally get out on the seas. The team, formed of Sandra Anstey, Meg Keegan, Katie Turner, Lyn Renton, Sarah Gall and Nicky Evans battled large swells and white horses and had a very challenging race, but thanks to some truly amazing coxing from Jo Cameron, made it round the course in just over 21 minutes. Unfortunately we did not make it through to the next round of the competition, coming 58^th overall, but headed home proud of our achievements and having successfully taken on the waves!

Tamar & Tavy Gig Club Ladies A team, Nicky Evans, Sarah Gall, Lyn Renton, Katie Turner, Meg Keegan and Sandra Anstey at the Newquay County Championships

Tamar & Tavy Gig Club enjoyed a fantastic day of rowing at the Tamar Challenge on Sunday 18^th July, entering a Ladies and a Men’s crew to race the 9 miles up the Tamar from the Tamar Bridge to Cotehele Quay. The challenge was hosted by Cotehele Quay Gig Club, and was very well organised and a great day out. Weather conditions were perfect, which was a welcome relief for the crews who enjoyed the calm waters and sunny weather.

The race handicaps meant that the T&T Ladies crew were the first to leave the start line amidst cheers from the waiting crews and spectators. The crew, formed of Lyn Renton, Carolyn Dawe, Katie Turner, Mel Cotton, Helen Samson-Hill and Julie Eastaugh had a storming first leg up to Weir Quay where they were finally overtaken by Rock Ladies vets who went on to win. They maintained their speed and with some strong rowing and fantastic coxing from Tricia Stewart held second place all the way up the river, only to be taken by Falmouth Men’s B and Caradon Men on the 2^nd to last bend. This was a fantastic result for our Ladies who came 4^th out of the 12 crews with a time of 1 hour 14 minutes.

T&T Ladies Tamar Challenge crew: Helen Samson-Hill, Carolyn Dawe, Mel Cotton, Katie Turner, Tricia Stewart (cox), Lyn Renton and Julie Eastaugh

The T&T Men’s crew, formed of Martin Painter, James Roobottom, Rob Dawe, Dan Highscapes, Ian King, and John Rogers also had a great race. They enjoyed the good conditions, and some excellent rowing and great coxing from Chris Dill meant that they came home in 1hr 10mins. All rowed hard, and enjoyed the race. Supporter numbers were high which added to the atmosphere and gave the crews a much needed boost as they came into the final stages of the race. Many thanks go to Cotehele Quay Gig Club for organising a fantastic event and providing such a good day out.

Tamar and Tavy Gig Club enjoyed a successful weekend on the 15th & 16th June 2013 at the Mixed and Veterans Championships hosted by Caradon Gig Club in Saltash. We entered a Mixed, a Mixed Super Vets and a Juniors (under 16) team on Saturday and a Ladies Super Vets team on Sunday. Despite the weather conspiring against us, with strong winds making conditions particularly challenging, spirits were high and the crews were determined to succeed, as always.

The Mixed team formed of Heidi Brodribb, Tim Brodribb, Mark Turner, Dan High, Sarah Gall and Charity Philips had a strong first heat, coming third out of four and qualifying for a place in quarter finals thanks to some strong rowing and great coxing by Katie Turner. They then battled it out in a tough quarter final heat against some of the top clubs and unfortunately narrowly missed out on a place in the semi finals, but finished within the top half of the crews, and with the satisfaction of knowing it was a job well done.

Mixed team at Saltash Regatta 2013: Dan High, Mark Turner, Tim Brodribb, Katie Turner (cox), Heidi Brodribb, Charity Philips and Sarah Gall

The Mixed Super Vet crew, coxed by Becky Masters and formed of Penny Twine, Christine Roberts, Karen Auborn, David Auborn, Ian King and Simon Howes had a tough first heat but rowed superbly and qualified for the Plate final. Here they rowed a strong race, and with some great coxing from Becky came home in fourth, another brilliant result! Bill Stacey-Norris coxed a very strong and determined Juniors team, who got through their first heat into the finals where some brilliant rowing earned them 5^th place.

Sunday brought even tougher conditions, with crews having to battle both wind and rain. T & T Ladies Super Vets weren’t put off though, entering a strong crew; Carolyn Dawe, Julie Rendle, Lynn Renton, Mel Cotton, Julie Eastaugh and Helen Samson-Hill who had a fantastic first heat, with some excellent coxing from Rob Dawe resulting in them coming 2^nd and earning them a place in the final. Here they fought hard, overtaking one boat and coming close to taking a second, finishing the race in 4^th place. A fantastic weekend was had by all!

Saturday 7th September saw three teams from Tamar & Tavy Gig Club in their Cornish Pilot Gigs, Belinda O’Flynn, Tamar & Ginette at the annual Great London River Race. A junior team of under 14’s; a ladies super vets squad and a men’s crew, aged 17 to 75! Having trained hard over preceding months, coping with last minute injuries, drafting in of a replacement coxswain for the ladies, not to mention the logistics of just getting there, all were up, out of their tents for the 0630 start to a very long and exciting day. For over 20 miles the 319 boats entered, race from Milwall to Richmond, navigating the numerous number of bridges across the river. The weather, much improved from last year with a mixture of sun & cloud and ambient temperature, saw a strong head wind and tide providing for a demanding race.

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Rock Regatta

LONDON RIVER RACE REPORT

Saturday 7th September saw three teams from Tamar & Tavy Gig Club in their Cornish Pilot Gigs, Belinda O’Flynn, Tamar & Ginette at the annual Great London River Race. A junior team of under 14’s; a ladies super vets squad and a men’s crew, aged 17 to 75! Having trained hard over preceding months, coping with last minute injuries, drafting in of a replacement coxswain for the ladies, not to mention the logistics of just getting there, all were up, out of their tents for the 0630 start to a very long and exciting day. For over 20 miles the 319 boats entered, race from Milwall to Richmond, navigating the numerous number of bridges across the river. The weather, much improved from last year with a mixture of sun & cloud and ambient temperature, saw a strong head wind and tide providing for a demanding race.

Getting on the water was the primary challenge and the help rendered to others, by the Tamar men’s crew, made them last on the water and a 6 minute adjustment to their final time. At the start some support boats hindered the participants among them our ladies in Ginette who also had a collision with a dragon boat – that craft suffered a broken oar as a result of their actions. Despite this Ginette got a flying start but later on in the race she was undercut by a large whaler at one of the bridges and gigs they had been in front of overtook them and they never quite regained their placing. Tamar had an ongoing battle with 2 other gigs, ‘Water Witch’ and ‘Cream of Cornwall’ throughout the race. Belinda O’Flynn with our indomitable juniors, made steady progress through the myriad of boats; blisters and periods of heat proved to be their immediate rivals.

Tamar & Tavy Juniors crew

Tamar crossed the line at the 3 hour mark; Ginette was a few minutes later and the juniors came in at the 4 hour point. Notwithstanding the bumps, blisters, sore backs and tiredness, all achieved something incredible and no doubt had much to talk about in The Swan, where a well earned feed and a cleansing ale/lemonade was had. A brilliant effort by everyone involved; rowers, towers, supporters and parents.

Tamar and Tavy Gig Club took 8 crews to Rock Regatta on Sunday and came away with some excellent results particularly in the junior section of the club.

The regatta was held at the beautiful Daymer Bay with crews rowing from the beach out round two buoys at the Doom Bar and back to the beach. The setting was absolutely stunning, made even more so by the beautiful sunny day. There was an off shore wind which made rowing the last leg hard going and with quite a lot of surf getting on and off the beach was quite hairy at times.

First off were the Ladies and then Mens Vets crews. Both crews had members rowing their first race giving them invaluable experience competing in sea conditions. The boats were with the main packs all the way and had really good races.

Next out were the Under 14s with Fen Eastaugh, Rosie Lloyd, Megan Haynes-Parry, Charlie Fethney, Ollie Wood and Angus Hogg. Although they had a bad start all rowed a brilliant race finishing in a fantastic 3rd position. With two fairly new rowers this really was an excellent result.

So many juniors wanted to row in this regatta that four other under 14s, Anya Anstey, Freya Novak, Caitlin Haynes-Parry and Vicky Fethney got together with 2 rowers from Cotehele Quay and formed another crew. This boat also did really well and again provided all the rowers with good experience of sea conditions. Sam Lloyd also stepped up to help a crew from another club who were short of a rower although he hadn’t planned on rowing at all.

The Under 16s race was next and T & T crew Amber Friendship, Miles Eastaugh, George Masters, Fran Kelly, Alice Kalninis and Drew Mortimore, coxed by Paula Haynes-Parry had an excellent race battling with another boat for 2nd place towards the end. They couldn’t quite hold them off so also finished in brilliant 3rd position.

The Ladies A race went off in two heats and the T & T crew were 9th overall out of 17, the ladies B crew were 13th out of 21. The Mens B crew, after having a serious battle on the buoy involving broken thole pins, were also 13th.

The biggest surprise of the day was in the last race. A boat comprising ladies and men were sent out to take part in the mixed race but after leaving the beach they discovered it was actually a novelty race which involved leaping out of the boat at the end, running up the beach with half the crew carrying the other half. For the rest of the club watching it was, needless to say, hilarious but they took it in good part with hardly any injuries!

All these results were fantastic but particular mention must be made of the clubs junior section who not only performed brilliantly but also really enjoyed themselves in the surf and on the beach all day.

The coxes did a great job as always, Bill Stacey-Norris, Tricia Stewart, Paula Haynes-Parry and Nicky Sellers. Mike Vosper once again towed the gig down the narrow lanes and the supporters also did a great job especially the youngsters leaping up and down in the surf shouting encouragement to the crews.

A great day was had by all.

Tamar and Tavy will be holding their own regatta on Saturday 27th August at Weir Quay. There will be a barbecue and evening entertainment and everyone is welcome.

The club welcome new members with sessions to suit everyone from purely social rowing to training for competition and also junior sessions on a Friday night which often involve a barbecue. All ages are welcome with the current membership ranging from 10 years old to rowers in their 70s.

Chilly weather on Friday, heavy sea swell on Saturday and perfect conditions on Sunday, set the scene for the World Gig Championships. All the crews sent from this Bere Peninsula club, showed huge amounts of grit, determination, and sheer ‘Grunt,’ especially when asked by their coxes for more!

The seeding races took place on the Saturday morning, were long and hard but this grouped the boats fairly, according to ability. All the races were hard fought, throughout the weekend and not without incidence. Oars were seen to clash on more than one occasion!

The club was represented by a fantastic combination of age and experience (the average age being late thirties/forties), old hands and debutants. The results achieved were the culmination of solid, consistent training throughout the winter months, great personal commitment and outstanding support from family, friends and the wider club community.

Ladies Group I Winners:
coxed by Bill Stacey-Norris, Viv Barnes, Tricia Stewart, Julie Rendle, Nicky Evans, Fizz Ward, Helen Samson-Hill

The results:

Ladies Veterans (A), 21st of 53;
Ladies Supervets (B) were 5th;
Men’s Veterans, 23rd of 48;
Ladies (A), 66th of 125;
Men’s (A), 2nd in their group final, 62nd of 120 overall;
Ladies (B), 109 of 125, group I winners, trophy holders and pictured above; coxed by Bill Stacey-Norris, Viv Barnes (stroke), Tricia Stewart (5), Julie Rendle (4), Nicky Evans (3), Fizz Ward (2), Helen Samson-Hill (1).

All of which continues to demonstrate a local club going from strength to strength and looking forward to the rest of the 2012 season!