Big Gig Regatta to get in the spirit (From Dorset Echo)

Big Gig Regatta to get in the spirit

9:03am Wednesday 8th July 2009

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MORE than 600 rowers are set to descend on Weymouth for a Big Gig extravaganza on Saturday.

Teams from Lyme Regis, Falmouth, Ilfracombe, Caradon, Swanage, Dartmouth, Bude, Boscastle and Cattewater will join Weymouth Rowing Club and seven others in the Universal Engineering-backed Big Gig Rowing Regatta – part of the Spirit of the Sea Festival.

The gigs will be leaving from pontoons in front of the kiosk at the stone pier and spectators are being encouraged to gather at the Nothe Gardens (overlooking Newtons Cove) to get the best view of the races, which will kick-off at noon and go on until 6pm.

People are urged to cheer on their local club, who will be in the club’s green and yellow gigs – Isolde, Sir Tristan and Penny.

The event offers the chance to see the biggest meeting of Cornish Pilot Gigs in Dorset, and will feature eight races around Newtons Cove, with the most exciting parts – the turns – in view of the Nothe Gardens.

Coun Brendan Webster, brief holder for Weymouth & Portland Borough Council Leisure, Tourism and Community facilities, said: “This is going to be quite a spectacle, with brightly-coloured gigs ploughing through the waters of the cove. I hope lots of people will go and support our rowers.”

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