Lyme Regis Gig Club continued their recent advances with some excellent performances at Bridport Regatta and last weekend at Teignmouth, writes Tony Ford.

The sun shone at West Bay for the Bridport Regatta, where 12 local clubs took part. Lyme fielded a record 19 crews in the various races throughout the day, including for the first time two under 14’s crews.

For most of these youth rowers it was their first taste of the intensity of gig racing, and they loved every bit of it. From the build-up to the start line, to the intensity of the mass racing starts, from racing around the buoys to chasing down the opposition towards the end. Both crews did the club proud and should look forward to future races with much confidence as they held their own amongst a field of crews almost entirely made up of under 16’s.

For the Lyme ladies the highlight was a second place in the Ladies A race, beating some high class crews. This result is arguably the ladies best result this year, working their way up through the racing field throughout the race, which is a very hard task indeed.

The Men’s A and Men’s Vets continued their local dominance winning in both classes and are now considered the crews to beat amongst the Dorset clubs.

Overall Lyme came second in the regatta, a highly commendable result. Lyme would like to thank the excellent squad of co-gig rowers at Bridport for a superb regatta.

Teignmouth Regatta also benefited from fine weather. For this regatta the opposition is of a very high level with crews from all over Devon and Dorset. The flat water always benefits the fitter crews who can apply superior fitness with every stroke. However, this also means that the racing is even more exhausting and will sap every last bit of energy from weary muscles. Lyme took three ladies crews and three men’s crews, most of which delivered solid results.

Once again the Ladies A crew put in a solid performance, coming third of the 10 crews racing. This again displays how they have progressed over recent months with all the hard hours training in Lyme Bay paying dividends.

The Men’s A crew had a dramatic race, getting tangled up with the Salcombe crew on both turns and being forced off course as a result. In such exchanges only one crew can prevail and in this case it was Salcombe. By the time they had recovered Lyme had dropped from first to last! However disappointment was soon forgotten as the Men’s Vets crew, facing some of the best crews in the country, dominated their race from the start, taking home yet another trophy for Lyme Regis. Lyme would like to thank the River Teign Rowing Club for a well organised regatta and some great cakes!

Lyme Gig Club have now won nine trophies this season so far, more than ever before, with plenty more races to come, including the Lyme Regis Gig Regatta on the Cobb on Saturday, August 13. Spectators and supporters are very welcome and the Cobb wall makes for a great view of the gig racing throughout the day. See you there!