The World Pilot Gig Championships are an annual gig racing event held on the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom during the May Day bank holiday weekend.
The World Championships were first held in 1990, only attracting a few crews from Cornwall, but over the years the amount of pilot gigs attending has increased with crews coming from all over the South of England, the Netherlands, Ireland, France and beyond.
Races There are multiple races that take place over the weekend, of varying distance, all starting on the Friday night. The women's and men's Veterans (40+) and Super Veterans (50+) races take place on Friday evening, while the four Open races take place on Saturday and Sunday. Traditionally a sailing race is held on the Monday along with an Isles of Scilly vs Mainland rugby union match.
St Agnes
The longest race is from the island of St. Agnes down to the finish line just off the quay of St. Mary's (approx 1.6 nautical miles). Both Veterans and Super Veterans races follow this course to decide the winner of the trophy for these categories.
On the Saturday the women and men race separately, with a full line up of gigs. In 2019 163 gigs were on the women's start line with 160 crews competing in the men's race. The finishing positions from the St. Agnes course determine the seedings for the subsequent heats.
Nut Rock
Each gig is seeded based on the St. Agnes race and the heats are split into groups of 12 for the race from Nut Rock back to St. Mary's (approx 1.16 nautical miles). Two heats are held - one on Saturday and one of Sunday morning - with the top two gigs in each group being promoted and the bottom two relegated.
The finals for both the women and men take place on the Sunday afternoon, again racing the same Nut Rock course. Each group then has a winner and the outcome of group A decides who is the overall champions.
Results
Women's results
Year 1st place 2nd place 3rd place 1990 Newquay Padstow Fowey 1991 Isles of Scilly Roseland Newquay 1992 Isles of Scilly Padstow Newquay 1993 Newquay Isles of Scilly Fowey 1994 Fowey Isles of Scilly Falmouth 1995 Falmouth Port Isaac Isles of Scilly 1996 Fowey Falmouth Truro 1997 Falmouth Fowey Isles of Scilly 1998 Falmouth KWV De-Kaag (Netherlands) Isles of Scilly 1999 KWV De-Kaag (Netherlands) Falmouth Charlestown 2000 Isles of Scilly KWV De-Kaag (Netherlands) Falmouth 2001 Isles of Scilly Par Bay KWV De-Kaag (Netherlands) 2002 Falmouth Isles of Scilly Mounts Bay 2003 Isles of Scilly KWV De-Kaag (Netherlands) Salcombe 2004 Falmouth Isles of Scilly Charlestown 2005 Falmouth Isles of Scilly Caradon 2006 Falmouth Mounts Bay Caradon 2007 Falmouth Roseland Caradon 2008 Falmouth Charlestown Roseland 2009 Roseland Falmouth Mounts Bay 2010 Falmouth Roseland Scheveningen (Netherlands) 2011 Falmouth Scheveningen (Netherlands) Charlestown 2012 Falmouth Isles of Scilly (St Mary's) Par Bay 2013 Falmouth Mounts Bay Caradon 2014 Falmouth Isles of Scilly (St Mary’s) Roseland 2015 Newquay Mounts Bay Roseland 2016 Caradon Flushing and Mylor Isles of Scilly (St Mary's) 2017 Caradon Fowey Isles of Scilly (St Mary's) 2018 Caradon Falmouth Mounts Bay2019FalmouthCaradonScheveningen
Men's results
Year 1st place 2nd place 3rd place 1990 Truro Isles of Scilly Isles of Scilly 1991 Isles of Scilly Fowey Truro 1992 Isles of Scilly Truro Isles of Scilly 1993 Isles of Scilly Truro Isles of Scilly 1994 Isles of Scilly Hayle Caradon 1995 Caradon Isles of Scilly Par Bay 1996 Caradon Truro Roseland 1997 Caradon Roseland Par Bay 1998 Caradon Par Bay Roseland 1999 Caradon Isles of Scilly Par Bay 2000 Caradon Roseland KWV De-Kaag (Netherlands) 2001 Caradon Roseland Falmouth 2002 Falmouth Caradon Rame 2003 Caradon Rame Isles of Scilly 2004 Caradon Falmouth Caradon B 2005 Caradon Caradon B Par Bay 2006 Caradon Roseland Caradon B 2007 Caradon Roseland Par Bay 2008 Mounts Bay Par Bay Roseland 2009 Par Bay Caradon Falmouth 2010 Par Bay Caradon Mounts Bay 2011 Falmouth Caradon Mounts Bay 2012 Falmouth Looe Caradon 2013 Falmouth Looe Roseland 2014 Falmouth Looe Caradon 2015 Falmouth Caradon Looe 2016 Falmouth Looe Caradon 2017 Falmouth Looe Caradon 2018 Looe Caradon Falmouth2019LooeRoselandCoverack
Results by crew Women Rank Crew 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Total 1 Falmouth 15 4 2 21 2 Isles of Scilly 5 7 5 17 3 Caradon 3 1 4 8 4 Newquay 3 0 2 5 5 Fowey 2 2 2 6 6 Roseland 1 3 3 7 7 KWV De-Kaag (Netherlands) 1 3 1 5 8 Mounts Bay 0 3 3 6 9 Padstow 0 2 0 2 10 Charlestown 0 1 3 4 11 Scheveningen (Netherlands) 0 1 2 3 12 Par Bay 0 1 1 2 13 Port Isaac 0 1 0 1 13= Flushing and Mylor 0 1 0 1 14 Salcombe 0 0 1 1 14= Truro 0 0 1 1
Men Rank Crew 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Total 1 Caradon 12 5 6 23 2 Falmouth 8 1 3 12 3 Isles of Scilly 4 3 4 11 4 Looe 2 6 0 8 5 Par Bay 2 2 5 9 6 Truro 1 3 1 5 7 Mounts Bay 1 0 2 3 8 Roseland 0 6 4 10 9 Caradon B 0 1 2 3 10 Rame 0 1 1 2 11 Fowey 0 1 0 1 11= Hayle 0 1 0 1 12 KWV De-Kaag (Netherlands) 0 0 1 112=Coverack0011
References
External links
Official site World Pilot Gig Resource Gig Rower