| Gig Rowing is one of the country’s fastest growing water sports. It has its origins in the working boats of the Isles of Scilly. But when they were phased out, the Scillonians and the Cornish gradually adopted the gigs for sporting purposes. And over the last twenty years the number of clubs has mushroomed.
Now there are clubs in Devon, Avon, Dorset and Wales and places as far afield as Boston in the USA, the Faroe Islands and Holland.
The highlight every year comes on the May Bank Holiday weekend, very early in the season, with the World Championships on the Isles of Scilly. Now with more than 90 crews this has become as much a social event as a sporting one.
There have been books about gig rowing before but they tended to be about the sport’s history, or about technical aspects. Dan Williams, an education worker in Falmouth and Truro and a member of Devoran Pilot Gig Club’s redoubtable B team, touches on these aspects but for him the camaraderie and parties are as important as which oar goes where.
He recounts epic nights such as the one in Gorran Haven when his wife Anne, who as can be seen from the book’s title, is a fellow rower, became a champion “tosser”.
What they said about Rowing with my Wife
For an introduction of all that's fun and not so much fun about gig rowing, it would be hard to better Rowing with my Wife, by Dan Williams. This fun book is the first to be written on the subject of the adventures of a gig rower, both on and off the shore.
It's a warts and all exposure of the pleasure (in the bar, afterwards) and the pain of giving it your all during a race.
The Cornishman
“... an amusing book”
Cornwall Today
“You don’t need to know much about gigs to enjoy the gentle humour of Dan’s prose, and you might well learn something you don’t know – certainly about Cornish ales which are consumed enthusiastically at regular intervals.”
Western Morning News
“ A fun look at the Duchy’s popular sport and in particular those involved in his local club.”
Falmouth Packet |
