LYME Regis Gig Club has been busy in regatta action this month, attending three meets at different locations across the south west.

Club members first travelled to the well-regarded Ilfracombe Regatta in North Devon and, despite being under-strength achieved outstanding results.

In all races, bar one, Lyme never placed lower than fourth from the 12 boats racing and were no lower than second place in any men’s races.

The men’s supervets picked up a winners’ trophy with another outstanding performance, their fourth consecutive win this season.

Overall, Lyme were placed second behind Ilfracombe, resulting in one of the club’s best overall results ever.

Lyme then travelled to Falmouth for the World Champions’ home regatta on Saturday June 24 – for the first time in Lyme’s history.

Racing off Gylly Beach in Falmouth, the course was a 600m straight sprint.

Lyme, the only club present from Dorset or Devon, fielded two ladies crews but both failed to qualify automatically for the semi-finals.

In the repechage, they both performed well and made it through as qualifiers to the semis, where they were seen off by crews from Mounts Bay, Helford, Looe and Falmouth.

Two men’s crews were fielded with the mens’ A coming through the repechage to the semi-final. They too were outclassed by the top home crews of Falmouth, missing out on the final by one place.

The men’s and ladies’ veterans fared well with the mens’ finishing a respectable third overall and the mixed crews coming home sixth and seventh.

One day later, Lyme attended the small and unusual Flushing and Mylor Regatta on the shores of the Carrack Roads estuary, north of Falmouth and was based on the origins of Cornish Gig rowing.

Crews in fancy dress ran their gigs, launched off the beach and rowed their ‘pilot’ out to a waiting ship, where the pilot picked up a written message, raced back to the beach for the pilot to jump off the gig and run up the beach to the finish.

Lyme dominated, with all four mens’ and ladies’ crews winning their respective heats and the mixed crew following suit.

The ladies’ final was between Lyme A, Lyme B and Flushing, with Lyme A coming home clear winners.

A photo finish decided the mixed race, with pilot Seb Ford sprinting up the beach to edge out Bristol.

Sadly, the mens’ crews couldn’t make it a clean sweep, with the Lyme pilot narrowly missing the ship allowing Bristol to win.

Lyme claimed two wins from three and made up five of the nine finalists.