Sidmouth Gig Club had a fantastic day out at Salcombe Regatta on Sunday, writes Charis Buckingham

Conditions were kind with the rain holding off and the sun making an appearance.

The club entered four races including the Men’s Veterans, Men’s and Ladies’ Super Veterans and the Mixed Barbarians.

Sidmouth got off to a slow start with Keith Owen remaining lonely and untouched for most of the morning!

However, Nigel Winchester kicked off the day’s events by rowing for HMS Raleigh in their Men’s A Team.

Winchester said: “It really was a fantastic experience. I learnt a lot rowing with such an experienced A Team crew and have certainly picke dup a few tips we can use for Sidmouth!”

The Men’s Veterans had a tough race, but remained on the tail of the pack, chasing the lead boat, achieving a respectable ninth.

Salcombe decided to amalgamate the Men’s and Ladies’ Super Veterans teams upping the excitement for spectators. For Sidmouth this meant that the majority of our rowers were on the water at the same time, resulting in the ladies rowing in Keith Owen being coxed by Appledore and the men rowing in Janice-Anne being coxed by Nigel Winchester.

Both teams did extremely well with the men coming fourth out of the five male teams, rowing a strong race.

The women rowed a fantastic race beating the last placed male crew, a superb effort!

The day ended with the Mixed Barbarians race which was a lot of fun and meant that Sidmouth’s members got to row with rowers from a variety of different clubs.

Overall, it was an extremely good day out with lots being learnt for the upcoming races during the rest of the season.