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Barnstaple Pilot Gig Club members attended the Brixham Pilot Gig Club regatta weekend on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st August, when a total of 16 clubs and 18 Pilot Gig Boats competed in a series of 12 races on the Saturday, and veteran and super veteran crews competed in a knock-out competition on the Sunday.
The Saturday races took place on a kite-shaped course approximately 2.6 kilometres long, with three buoy turns before the long dash for the finishing line. The highlight for Barnstaple was in the Men’s A race when the Barum crew had a powerful start and were one of the first crews to reach the first buoy turn. Up to this point sea conditions were relatively benign, however after the buoy turn the water became choppy and slowed down progress, enabling other crews to stay in contention. After the third buoy turn Lady Freda (Barum) and Goose (Porlock Weir) were in fierce competition to take the lead, and as they crossed the finishing line it showed on the finishing Judge’s video that Goose was ahead by about 600 millimetres.
Other crew positions were:
Ladies B 11th, Ladies C 4th, Men’s B 6th, Men’s C 3rd, Men’s supervets 4th

At the end of the day the overall position for Lady Freda was sixth out of eighteen boats competing.

Write up: David Dixon

Photo credit: Heidi Clark/Natalie Pinto

Gig boat sprint races at Appledore, Monday 15th August

Barnstaple Pilot Gig Club Joined other clubs from Appledore, Torridge, Ilfracombe, Bude, Boscastle and Crackington Haven, and Clovelly to compete in the annual Pilot Gig Boat sprint races on Monday evening, as part of the Appledore and Instow regatta week.

The boats and crews assembled at Churchfield car park made a colourful and bustling site as up to eleven boats left the slipway for each of the seven races, to row to the start line near the Middle Dock. The course was approximately 400 metres long with the finishing line marked by the lamp post at the steps by the slipway.

The first race was for the Men’s A crews, and this was fiercely contested, with Raparee (Ilfracombe) taking the lead early on, only to be overtaken by Nipper (Barnstaple) a short distance from the finishing line. All of the boats were in close contact during the three-minute race, but Nipper maintained strong, disciplined rowing for the whole course length to take the lead, coxed and encouraged by Kelly Baker, much to the delight of club members and members of the public assembled on the jetty above the finishing line.

The following races were Ladies A, Men’s B, Ladies B, Under 18, Novice and Mixed Vets, with the last race almost in the dark after 9.00pm. The trophies for each of the races were presented to the happy winning crews outside the Royal pub, after the boats had been recovered up the slipway and loaded on to the trailers they arrived on.

David Dixon

Barnstaple Pilot Gig Club CIO

Photo credit – Nick Daniel

Barnstaple Men’s A crew, from left to right:

Peter Webb
Kelly Baker (cox)
Alan Pidner
Chris Walter
Jamie Barnes
Kevin Ward
Tom Mudd

🎉🍾 OFFICIAL OPENING WEEKEND 🍾🎉

We can finally reveal the date of our Boathouse Official Opening & you’re all invited 😀

The grand opening will be over the weekend of 10th-11th September, see poster for details.

Come along and see what we have done!!
You can find us at end of Rolle’s Quay, Barnstaple, EX31 1JE

We look forward to seeing you there.

Pilot Gig Boat clubs from Appledore, Barnstaple, Bude and Ilfracombe took part in the annual Two Bridges races last Friday between Bideford new bridge and Barnstaple new bridge. This event took place annually until the 2020 pandemic, so Friday’s race was the first Two Bridges race since then.

The Men’s crews set off first, lining up at Bideford new bridge for the start against the incoming tide and a light breeze. Appledore’s boat Verbena lead almost from the start ahead of Ilfracombe’s Raparee, followed by Barnstaple’s Nipper and Bude’s Bedehaven, rowing up to Crow point to turn into the Taw. From this point all crews benefitted from the incoming tide all the way past Yelland Jetty, Chivenor, Fremington Quay and Ashford to the finishing line at Barnstaple new bridge. Appledore Men took the honours with a time of 1.08.03 for the 9-mile distance, Ilfracombe 1.13.32, Barnstaple 1.18.02, and Bude 1.20.00.

With the exception of the Ilfracombe crew the exhausted men disembarked at Castle Quay to change places with the Ladies crews waiting there. Ilfracombe did not have a Ladies crew, so Raparee’s crew rowed back to Appledore in their own time before the Ladies race started.

The three Ladies boats lined up on the west side of Barnstaple new bridge for a proper racing start. Appledore took off rapidly and gained about a boat length on Barnstaple, closely followed by Bude. There then followed an exciting cat-and-mouse chase between the Appledore and Barnstaple crews, where the two boats exchanged lead position several times between the start and Chivenor. From that point on the Barnstaple boat gradually increased the lead until it was some six boat lengths ahead of Verbena as the race passed Yelland Jetty.

As the sun set on the horizon the three boats chased across the Torridge river from Crow Point to the Anchor slipway at Appledore, creating a captivating image silhouetted against the magnificent sunset. On reaching the finishing line first the jubilant Barnstaple ladies raised their oars in the air to honour the other crews as they crossed the line. Finishing times for this race were: Barnstaple 52:50, Appledore 53:35, and Bude 56:25.

Photo credit – Mike Matthews
Barnstaple’s winning Ladies crew – Jan Hunter (stroke), Roz Brooks, Kelly Baker, Tracy Torr, Jackie Spear and Jane Robson Curle.

Barnstaple Pilot Gig Club held a topping-out ceremony on Sunday 8th December 2019 at their recently acquired premises, attended by Barnstaple Town Mayor, councillors, members of other local gig clubs, benefactors, and club members. The ceremony was to celebrate completion of the new roof on the 19th century warehouse purchased by BPGC in July this year, after a two-year fund raising effort to raise the purchase price, and to showcase work done on the building to date and the plans for future work.

On a windy and showery day the bacon rolls and hot drinks provided by the club for all present were most welcome. The club chairman Kevin Ward welcomed all those present, briefly explaining the work done to date and thanking all who have worked so hard on the project, before introducing Alan Rennles, Barnstaple Town Mayor, and inviting him to say a few words.

Mr Alan Rennles said how impressed he and fellow councillors were with Barnstaple Pilot Gig club for taking the initiative to raise the funds to bring back to life a sadly neglected building, in a manner that would be a credit to Barnstaple and an impressive Water Sports Centre for many years to come.

The topping-out ceremony then took place when one of the founder members of the club, Mr Tim Sloper, placed a weather vane in the shape of a pilot gig boat and crew on the bracket on the gable at the front of the building. The weather vane was commissioned and donated by Tim Sloper in memory of his late wife Chrissie Sloper.

Much work remains to be done to the building, most of it on a voluntary basis by club members. New windows and doors are already on site and will be installed in the very near future. The next big project on the building will be the renewal of the flooring at first floor level, with under-floor heating connected to an air-source heat pump. Further work will require additional funds, so the club fund-raising efforts continue apace; there will be a Christmas Bingo night next Thursday (12th December) at Barnstaple Rugby Club, a Christmas Raffle is underway with a first prize of a holiday for two, there is currently a Crowdfunder appeal in hand for renovation funds, and many more events are planned for next year. For further information and to keep up to date with the building works see

A Supervet crew from Barnstaple Pilot Gig Club set themselves a challenge to complete a half-marathon distance (21.098km) last Sunday on rowing machines, at the same time as when the Barnstaple Marathon and Half Marathon took place at Rock Park
Their challenge began as the Barnstaple half marathon runners left the starting line, and continued non-stop until the required distance had been covered. The inclement weather did not deter their effort and they continued through showers of rain blown into the club shelter by the gusting wind, so that all were very wet by the end of the row – not a problem for these rowers since it was just like rowing a gig boat in rough waters.
The finishing times varied from 1 hour 12 minutes to 1 hour 35 minutes, and the rowers were supported by other club members during and after the rowing session. The Town Crier gave encouragement and many spectators there for the running were interested in the effort put in by the rowers. The rowers had each gained sponsors for the event, and all monies raised will go towards the refurbishment costs for the new Water Sports Centre recently purchased on Rolle’s Quay, Barnstaple.

Rowers taking part were David Dixon, John Popham, Graeme Clarke, Alan Pidner, John Nickell and Tony Layton, and all were presented with half marathon medals on completion of the session.

 

 

Barnstaple Pilot Gig Club ran their third Dragon Boat Festival on the Taw on Sunday, with local crews competing against crews from Bude, Exeter and Saunton for some spectacular racing on the Taw.

The course ran from where the River Yeo emerges into the Taw, to adjacent to Queen Anne’s statue on The Strand, and the boats and crews launched from and returned to Castle Quay slipway.  The event was kindly hosted by Queen Anne’s cafe, so Race Control was situated on the lawn on the river side of the cafe. Three boats were in action (Barum Bobby and Phillipa J from the Barum club, and Giggles borrowed from Torridge Gig club), and in the first two races all three took part.  The third race was between the two third-placed crews from the first two races, the fourth race was between the second-placed crews, and the fifth race was between the the first placed crews.  The sixth and final race was between the three best-performing crews to determine the overall champions.

The final race was between Exe-calibre (from Exeter), Pearce Construction and Saunton Sands Surf Lifesaving  club, all determined to win the trophy.  Saunton Sands and Pearce Construction fought a tight race, neck-and-neck for the first half until the discipline of the surf-lifesavers paid off as the Pearce Construction crew lost their timing slightly and slipped back half a boat length to allow Saunton Sands to take the trophy.

Other crew taking part were : BPGC, Bude Pilot Gig Club and the Eastleigh crew.  The ‘Over and Above’ charity provided the PA system and music for the event, and Safety Boat cover was provided by Barnstaple Sea Cadets crew.

 

 

Barnstaple Pilot Gig Club Chairman Kevin Ward is pleased to announce that the Club has now completed (as of 3rd July) the purchase of the The Warehouse on Rolle’s Quay for use as a Water Sports Centre and communal meeting place for the people of Barnstaple and surrounding areas. The Club has been engaged in an active fund-raising drive since November 2017 and has managed to raise £200,000 in that time to complete the purchase. Expressions of interest in using the building have already been received from North Devon Scouts, the W I, Bideford canoe club, University of the Third Age, Petroc, Morris Dancers, West Buckland School, and two Surf Life Saving clubs.

Kevin said ” We are immensely grateful to all of the club members and the people of Barnstaple who have supported our own fund-raising efforts, managing to raise more than £30,000 in the past year and a half. We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of the grant funders who responded so well to our proposed project, to raise the balance of the funds needed. The largest grant was £75,000 from Sport England, and the next largest £49,850 from the Fullabrook Wind Farm Community Interest Company. Other grant funders included the Trusthouse Charitable Foundation (£30,000), Garfield Weston (£15,000), Bernard Sunley (£10,000), Investors in Devon (£1,500), and Barnstaple Town Council (£500).
The next step for us is to complete the necessary renovation works to the building to make it useable as a boathouse, workshop and meeting room, with a target date of 24th February 2020 for completion – this being the tenth anniversary of the formation of Barnstaple Pilot Gig Club. I am confident on past performance that the club members and the people of Barnstaple will rally round to ensure that we achieve this target, and the club will go from strength to strength.”

To celebrate the completion of the purchase, the club arranged a river outing on Sunday, with all four boats leaving Castle Quay in Barnstaple to row to Fremington Quay. Thirty club members made up mixed crews for the row, and all disembarked at Fremington Quay to enjoy refreshments at the cafe. The boats then rowed back to Castle Quay and, after the boats were returned to the temporary yard in Mill Road, the club members were shown around the new premises on Rolle’s Quay.

Coincidentally, during a training row on the previous day club members on a training row were able to assist the owner of a ‘houseboat’ that had come adrift on the Taw and was grounded on the north bank near Ashford. The gig boat Barum Bobby, rowed by a social crew, later replaced by a men’s racing crew, towed the stranded craft for almost a mile upriver to a safer location.

1813_T_03 B – Proposed Elevations E + W

1813_T_02 B – Proposed Elevations N + S