Odessa is finally home in the Marina - having had a huge overhaul from a legendary gig restorer. - Patrick Bird from @kernowboats.
The beautiful gig has been on the gig circuit for many many years, and has belonged to a range of clubs throughout the South West. She has a special place in many people's hearts, being the only mahogany gig in the world. We bought her in 2017, she was our first gig and helped to get our first few learn to rows through their initial training. "She is an amazing gig to row, hard to get going but once up to speed she rows beautifully. She's heavy, and you need a lot of power, but she was great to learn on" said Hedley Jones, one of the first members of the gig club.
However she came to us in disrepair and we were determined to restore her to her former glory once we had expanded our number of gigs. Taking 4 weeks, she was stripped back, sanded, replacing all of the stretchers and painted in Portishead gig colours.
It was a beautiful sight bringing her back home, and she is now taking pride of place in the marina. Although we will never be able to race her as she is slightly too big, she is a fantastic training boat. We are looking forward to getting her out again and hopefully will put many more rowers through their paces and help nurture a love of rowing.
