Welcome to the Lyme Regis Gig Club 2012.The rowers have already taken to the water as you can see.

Welcome

Racing at Salcomb this week end ?

Dear Member

I’d like to invite you to the Lyme Regis Gig Club Extraordinary General Meeting, which is taking place on Tuesday 28^th June 2011 at 7.30 at The Powerboat Club, Monmouth Beach Car Park, opposite The Boat Building Academy.

The purpose of the Extraordinary General Meeting is threefold, and includes:

Ø Amending Lyme Regis Gig Club’s Constitution to enable us to put the Mens and Ladies Rowing Captains on the same basis within the General Committee and to enable the appointment of a team selection subcommittee which will be responsible for the selection of members of all club teams competing in official competitions. Please take a look at the Club’s Constitution, which is available on the homepage at www.lymeregisgigclub.com.

Ø Elect the new Ladies Rowing Captain.

Ø Vote on and select the name for the Club’s planned new wooden Cornish Pilot Gig, which we plan to commission in October for a launch over the summer next year.

The EGM will also give time for us to have a general discussion on the Club, plans and options for the future and a couple of brief presentations on the new method of ordering kit and the way in which we can use the internet to coordinate activity, share information and pictures.

The Club is looking to appoint a new Ladies Captain and please let me know if you are interested in standing for this vitally important Committee role.

The bar at The Powerboat Club will be open and this is a great opportunity to catch up and make sure we continue to have fun get the best out of Lyme Regis Gig Club and what the future has to hold.

I hope to see you there.

Thanks

The Launch of the Lerret from Cobb Gate

The Scilly Isles Championships

Lyme Regis Gig Club – Report on Isles of Scilly Gig Championships

Lyme Regis Gig Club travelled out to The Isles of Scilly to compete in the 22^nd Pilot Gig Championships over the May Bank Holiday to race against 130 boats representing south west seafaring towns and villages. The event brings together teams from the semi professional to the amateur, from the young, muscular and fit to the rather older and less streamlined to battle through the often rough waters off England’s rocky western coast for the most highly prized gig trophies.

The evening of Friday 29^th April saw the first Veterans’ Races, for those over forty, staged over the 1.59 nautical miles of squally sea from St Agnes to St Mary’s Quay. First away were the fifty two gigs comprising Ladies crews and Lyme Regis Gig Club had two teams in the starting line up and after a hard fought race that saw the A team in Black Ven 45th and the B Crew a close 47^th. Competing next were the Men’s Veterans who raced with 64 boats over the same course, with Lyme represented by three crews. The Lyme Regis Veterans Men’s A Team achieved an impressive 15^th with the B Team 24^th and the C team bringing up the rear in 65^th place.

The main events at the Championships were the four gruelling races held over the Saturday and Sunday in steadily deteriorating weather, under a grey sky and in choppy seas. Both Ladies and later the Men followed each other to row out to the starter’s line for their first races, both of which saw 124 gigs competing over the St Agnes to St Mary’s course in a rolling swell and high winds. On crossing the finishing line of the first race the competitors were then sub divided by their placing into divisions of around twelve evenly matched gigs. Each division then competed in three following shorter races held over the 1.16 nautical miles from Nut Rock to St Mary Quay. The winning two gigs in each of the first two short events went up to the next level and the last two dropped down and the Championship prizes were awarded following the final races.

The Ladies were first to row out to the start line with Lyme Gig Club’s A Team racing Black Ven and the B Team in Rebel. The Championship competition was fierce not least between the competitive Lyme teams who after the flag dropped fought it out between themselves and the rest. After the long race the two Lyme Ladies teams were both in Division F where they continued to battle it out, with the B Team being ahead in one race, but the duel being finished off in fine style by the A’s who won the final race, which saw them on the podium taking the Divisional prize. The Ladies event saw 124 gigs competing with Lyme A Team coming in 61^st and the B Crew 67^th, forty five places up from their 2010 placing.

The Men’s event was also closely contested with Lyme’s A Team in Black Ven being ceded in Division D and finishing a fine 42^nd up twenty three places from the previous year and the Town’s B Team finishing 91^st .

The winners of this year’s Pilot Gig Championships were the brilliant teams from Falmouth who carried off both the Ladies and Men’s winners trophies.

Each year the Isles of Scilly stage a remarkable Championship that sees hundreds of people pitching their skill, courage and determination at sea with long oars and in beautiful traditional pilot gigs to be part of a team, to do their best and see how good they can be. It’s a fantastic, exhilarating, punishing series of races that leaves you laughing, aching and feeling alive. Lyme Regis Gig Club is planning to do even better next year. Take a look at www.lymeregisgigclub.com if you’d like to join us.

• Ladies A Team: Jackie O’Leary, Michelle Prosser, Deb Hunt, Dawn Hunt, Sue Beckers, Karen Tomkins Cox: Henry Barlow
• Ladies B Team: Kerry McGuire, Jackie Ireland, Bridget Pocock, Diana Dixon, Gail McGarva, Janet Tristram Cox: Rex Ireland
• Ladies A Veterans: Alison Robinson, Diana Dixon, Beverly Bailey, Suzanne Spurdle, Mandy Maine, Jo Schmidt Cox: Andy Schmidt
• Ladies B Veterans: Kerry McGuire, Karen Hull, Jackie O’Leary, Michelle Prosser, Nicky Moore, Yvonne Sterry, Cox: Marcus Dixon
• Mens A Team (+Vets) Chris Walters, Henry Barlow, Neil Spurdle, Cam Short, Ben Short Cox; Rex Ireland
• Mens B Team (+Vets) Andy Schmidt, Brian Fletcher, Elliot Dale, Neil Spurdle, Paul Dyer, Tony Short, Cox: Rex Ireland
• Mens Vets C Team: Marcus Dixon, Rob Prosser, Dave Gowney, Andrew Pocock, Chris Waller, John Stork Cox: Lis Harden

Sunday the 15th is the Regatta of the Lyme Regis Gig Club

12 Teams are competing from all over the South West in our first Regatta spend the day watching this great rowing event. Starting from 10am till finish . See you there.

The following wording is to enhance the launch of the Lerret

In 2009 Gail Mc Garva was awarded a scholarship from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust,funded by the Royal Warrant Holders Association,to build a Lerret, a boat wholly native to Lyme Bay,originating from 1682. A beautifully beamy double-ended clinker vessel of 17ft, elm on oak.The Trust are dedicated to the preservation of British crafts and craftsmanship.Gail has built this boat 'by eye', without the use of designer drawings,under the mentorship of Roy Gollop,one of the last remaining boatbuilders in Dorset with this particular skill.

There was only one seaworthy Lerret remaining called Vera,built in 1923 from Langton Herring,which Gail is now custodian of.The lines were taken from this boat ,to build a 'daughtership' to Vera. This new build preserves the lineage of the Lerrets, breathing new life into a new generation of this unique craft. The inherent characteristics of this vessel have remained virtually unchanged from its inception,designed to be launched and landed from the steep stoney shelved beaches of Lyme Bay.

The Lerrets though primarily used for mackerel fishing,had earned such respect for their seaworthiness,that by the early 19th century the newly formed RNLI ,adopted two Lerrets for service as life-boats. Archive material recounting their stories of saving lives at sea is extensive and quite remarkable.

The new Lerret is not a static museum exhibit but is an expression of living history.The Lerret is to be actively used as a training boat to enable young people to gain confidence at sea,develop their rowing skills and work together as team.

All boats have a story to tell and the story of the Lerret is wholly pertinent to our Dorset shores and our communities.

Gail as a traditional wooden boatbuilder is totally committed to the building of craft of historical resonance that hold vibrancy in their modern day communities.

On the 31st July the Lerret daughtership was launched from Lyme harbour alongside the mother boat Vera as a vibrant celebration of living history.The launch was part of Lyme's Lifeboat fortnight to celebrate the Lerret's history as a RNLI lifeboat.

The new Lerret and procession,complete with an oar salute from Lyme Regis Gig club, journeyed from the Boat Building Academy,who kindly housed the building of the boat,to the harbour slipway. All boat bearers and rowers were dressed in their ‘Sunday best”,white shirts and waistcoats,echoing boatyard launches of the past.A brass band heralded the arrival of the new Lerret.

Gail Mc Garva gave a speech of thanks and presented Roy Gollop as mentor with a bowler hat as a gift of appreciation for all his guidance and support.Again this echoes boat building yards of the past,where the foreman of the yard would have worn a bowler hat.

The new the Lerret was named by the president of The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust,William Gunn.She is called ‘Littlesea’,the local name for The Fleet behind Chesil Beach.Gail first heard the name from Majorie Ireland,who is 90 years old and whose family worked the Lerrets along these shores.The name ‘Littlesea’is a tribute and celebration of Majorie’s family and all the Lerret fisherfolk.The president of QEST presented Majorie Ireland with a bottle of champagne.A blessing was carried out by the Vicar Keith Vivien and a specially written song for the Lerret was sung by Sue Beckers. The boat was then carried through an archway of Cornish Pilot Gig oars, scattered with sea salt for safe passage at sea and then launched into Lyme's historic harbour,cradled by the arm of the Cobb.Littlesea was guided out to sea by the RNLI lifeboat ‘The Pearl of Dorset’,accompained by Vera the motherboat and escorted by Lyme's two Cornish Pilot Gigs,which were also build by Gail in 2008 and 2009.

Hope this helps paints a picture of launch day and the story of the Lerret.

Best wishes

Gail

The Launch of the Lerret

Another boat built by the talented boat builder Gail M