Scillies World Championships 2nd-5th May 2008

What a weekend! 29 members of Padstow Gig Club and supporters arrived during the gorgeous sunny Friday afternoon!

The first race was the Ladies Vets Race from St Agnes back to St Marys. 38 crews rowed out in lovely calm conditions.

Ladies Vets Crew: Sarah A (6), Sally (5), Fiona (4), Ninette (3), Polly (2) and Kate (1)

They had a great race, coxed by Jason, and finished 10th overall - a fantastic result!

Then the Mens Vets Race got under way, also St Agnes back to St Marys.

Mens Vets Crew: John O (6), Jonathon (5), Steve K (4), Clifty (3), Paul (2) and Patrick (1)

58 crews started and coxed by Helen our crew raced in to finish 15th - brilliant!

So that was a really good start to the weekend!

Saturday 3rd May 2008

Unfortunately the weather was not quite as nice as Friday, so the Ladies Crews lined up at St Agnes with quite a strong wind and swell. 106 crews attempted to line up, but if you look at the photos you can see it was a bit of a scrum!

Ladies A Crew: Annie (6), Helen (5), Sarah (4), Emma (3), Caireen (2) and Ali (1)

We had a really good first part of the race and were right up there with the leaders, but then had a bit of a blip in the chop before settling down and racing back to finish 9th!

109 Mens Crews then set off into the sunset! Our B Crew borrowed Wasp.

Mens A Crew: Tom (6), Scott (5), Steve (4), Chris (3), Jason (2) and Spud (1) - cox Annie

Mens B Crew: John O (6), Murty (5), Steve K (4), Clifty (3), Paul (2) and Patrick (1) - cox Helen

The mens line up was apparently even more of a bundle than the ladies, but the Mens A Crew fought their way through and had a good race, finishing 20th place. (sorry not sure exactly where Mens B finished - somewhere between 73 and 84 - I think 82nd).

So it was on to Round 2 and the heats from Nut Rock back to St Marys. The Ladies A Crew were in the top heat A, so had to sit around at the start line for over an hour! It was freezing and miserable! We then had an awful race and finished in last place - and going down to heat B for the 3rd Round.

The Mens A Crew had a good race and went up to 16th place for Round 3. The Mens B Crew went up a few places and finished in 76th place overnight.

Sunday 4th May 2008

After a bit of a foggy start the mist lifted and a beautiful scorcher of a day arrived!

The Ladies A Crew had a much better race and came in 2nd to Pilgrim in their heat and went back up to Group A for the final - we were delighted!

The Mens A Crew maintained 16th position for the final and the Mens B Crew had a really close race and won their group, going up a group and into the final in 73rd position. They were very happy!

So eventually the Finals arrived and the Ladies had their best race of the weekend coming in 11th place! Very, very happy! The noise and cheering of all the gigs moored up and people on the quay was unbelievable and we were all really choked up!

The Mens A Crew had a brilliant race too and finished in 17th place overall - a fantastic achievement! The Mens B Crew went up still more places and finished 68th overall!

So 4 crews inside the top 17 IN THE WORLD!!! Not bad at all!!