We are the proud owners of two beautiful wooden gigs, Odessa and Blacknore. Odessa has a long history within the gig community and is well loved, and Blacknore is our much cherished racing gig. We've been wanting for a number of years to be able to raise enough money to purchase covers for them both, as it keeps them dry and much needed kit dry too - but with COVID hitting it's been really difficult.
However today we were able to fit covers for not only Odessa but Blacknore too. During lockdown, inspired by the Dorset Indoor Rowing Championships, we set about launching our very own version - the Somerset 525 Virtual Rowing Championships. Primarily to raise enough money to protect Odessa (and help us maintain our fitness in the process), we thought we might get some good local support.
We had such an overwhelming response to it, we werebanking on about 70 sign ups, we bagged over 300 competitors from all over the globe.
The upshot was that not only were we able to cover Odessa, we had cash spare to cover our other wooden gig, Blacknore (nee Idas, formally Falmouth Pilot Gig Club).
We've worked with Caroline from Hotwells Canvas and Jon from Blockhouse Design who designed and built the boat supports, to be able to fit two beautiful covers at last. Thank you to all the competitors and clubs members who had faith in us delivering a competition worthy of training for.
