Gig Rowing, historically a West Country sport, has been growing in popularity over the last few years, and the Solent region has proved perfect for getting on the water in these lovely boats.
Hill Head Sailing Club is nestled by a natural harbour at the mouth of the River Meon. It is a typical local club, run by the members and full of people who simply enjoy being out on the water.
The club borrowed two scout rowing boats to do some trial rows and found that there was a group of members keen to develop a rowing group.
Part of the club’s history is an old, clinker-built wooden boat called Alston - named after one of the club’s founders. The Alston has been lovingly maintained by members over the years, keen to keep hold of this part of the club’s history. Two members took on the task of converting The Alston into a rowing gig, adding thwarts, footrests, rowlocks and a rudder.
Before long, The Alston was proving a popular boat to row, solid and very seaworthy. It was so popular, in fact, that a crew rowed her all the way round to Langstone Harbour to take part in the Tudor Challenge - a 10 mile race around the harbour hosted by Tudor Sailing Club.
With rowing proving so popular, Hill Head Sailing Club’s Rowing Committee applied for and was successful in being awarded a grant from Sport England to purchase a brand new modern fibreglass Bursledon Gig. These gigs are used by a number of local clubs and benefit from being very versatile - they can by rowed by between two and four people plus a cox, and are ideal for local waters.
Hill Head Sailing Club took delivery of their new locally built gig, in September. To mark this new venture for the Sailing Club, Mayor Cllr Pal Hayre presided over a naming ceremony for Bramble, with the boat being blessed by Revd Steve Dent.
Hill Head are now looking forward to training hard over the winter so that they can take part in local regattas next year, as well as simply enjoying being out on the water on those lovely crisp winter morning and is developing their rowing calendar for next year.
The club is keen to welcome anyone with an interest in rowing to contact the Rowing Captain Julie Thorpe at rowing@hillheadsc.org.uk for a trial row.
