Last Saturday, the 6th of March, saw the islands gig dinner where awards and trophies for last season are handed out. As usual Tregarthens hotel provided the venue. Last year the spectators saw the Golden Eagle wining on many occasions, but, this year, not without some competition from the St Agnes boys in the Shah, Murray, Julian, Joff, Tristan, Ross, Piers and Kit crossed the line for two of the trophy races, the Turks Head Cup and the Scillonian Club Shield, Kit Legg also picked up the Coxswains award. This award is one of the most prized awards as it cannot be won just by wining races, the coxswain of all the gigs are asked to vote for who they think should win and it is to cox with the most votes that receives the award, well done Kit.
If the gig dinner has passed that means it won’t be long until May and the World Championships. Last year the Tregarthens ladies crew did us proud and won, again, and the men did extraordinarily well coming third to some stiff competion from Caradon and Rame. Caradon gig club has won the mens for many years with the exception of 2002, when Falmouth rowed home gold, I have heard rumours that this year Caradon means to grab the double and win both the mens and the ladies, I don’t think that Scilly or Falmouth will go down with out a fight though. The heats we’re also good last year for the Shah boys wining their group, beating Dartmouth and Rame by more than a few lengths, and many more of the Scillonian crews coming close to a title.
Two months to go until the fabled Championships, everywhere is booked up on St Marys and the off islands are starting to become taken too. With each year the number of gigs has grown, will the trend increase this year? Will the sea be as rough as last year? How will they do?