The inaugural Junior International Cornish Pilot Gig Championships sponsored by Plymouth City Bus and Go Cornwall Bus will be held on Saturday 12th October from the Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre in Plymouth. 

This event is also supported by the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership.

The Junior International is open to club and composite entries, with a view to encouraging as many juniors to participate as possible. To register please visit JustGo.

Crew categories are:

• U14 Open 
• U14 Girls 
• U14 Mixed (3 open, 3 girls)
• U14 Free (at least 1 of either open or girls)
• U16 Open
• U16 Girls
• U16 Mixed (3 open, 3 girls)
• U16 Free (at least 1 of either open or girls)

The race format will draw on a pool of loan boats and each crew will have a minimum of 4 races. All categories of crews will race within the same races but there will be medals for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for each category.

Participation and Engagement Officer Nick George “This is a great opportunity for junior rowers to round of the 2024 season with some top competition at a weather proof venue. Crews have already been confirmed from the Portishead all the way down to the Isles of Scilly. The breadth of categories means that there are plenty of opportunities for young people to secure medals and we look forward to celebrating their successes on podium!”.

If you are not sure where to stay whilst competing, the Mount Batten Activities Centre provides family rooms and hostel style accommodation. Established in 1999 on the site of a former RAF base in Plymouth, the Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre is one of the foremost watersports centres in the South West.

It is perfectly situated on the tidal estuary of Plymouth Sound, making it an ideal, and safe, location for the thousands of people, of all ages, that use the Centre each year – whether for recreational or professional use. The Centre commands stunning views looking out towards Plymouth’s historic Barbican area, the Hoe and across to Mount Edgcumbe.

Opening all year round (except for two weeks during the Christmas period), the Centre provides a wide range of watersports and land-based adventure activities. The Centre facilities also include accommodation for up to 60 guests, boat storage and a waterside cafe bar, The Lookout, that is also open to the public as well as Centre users.

Watersports offered include canoeing, kayaking, sailing and stand-up paddleboarding. Land-based activities for visiting groups include abseiling, rock- climbing and use of the Centre’s indoor climbing wall. The Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre has a small, friendly, dedicated and highly experienced team, always on hand to ensure that visitors have an enjoyable time in a safe and welcoming environment.

 

Plymouth boasts plenty of history and site of interest for young rowers visiting the City. Why not get all the family talking with are our top ten facts about Plymouth:

 

1. Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the world in 1577, starting from Plymouth. It took him 3 years sailing against the tides and winds. The statue commemorating the voyage can be seen standing proudly on Plymouth Hoe.

 

2. The Mayflower Steps are close to the site in the Barbican from which the Pilgrims are believed to have finally left England aboard The Mayflower, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to settle in North America on 6 September 1620. The Mayflower Steps are flanked by the British and American flags and mark the final English departure point of 102 passengers who set sail on The Mayflower in 1620.

 

3. The Mount Batten Tower, a state-of-the-art gun tower of the mid-17th century, is a three-storey circular structure built largely of limestone quarried from the headland but with some use of local granite too. Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre have been custodians of the Tower since 2017 following significant funding from Historic England and the Coastal Revival Fund for sympathetic improvements secured by Plymouth City Council; the Tower is open throughout the year, is a venue for weddings and ceremonies and a key part of visiting school and group visits.

 

4. In 1768, 1772 and 1776 Captain James Cook set sail from Plymouth on three famous voyages of discovery that mapped and explored the Pacific Ocean discovering Tasmania, New Zealand and Hawaii.

 

5. Charles Darwin’s voyage on HMS Beagle which helped confirm his theory of evolution set sail from Plymouth in 1831.

 

6. The Mount Batten peninsula, including the now site of the Mount Batten Watersports and Activities Centre was once RAF Mount Batten, a former Royal Air Force station and flying boat base. Originally a seaplane station opened in 1917 as a Royal Navy Air Service Station Cattewater it became RAF Cattewater in 1918 and in 1928 was renamed RAF Mount Batten. The two hangars on the peninsula which now are home to local businesses, are listed.

 

7. Sir Francis Chichester was the first person to sail single-handed around the globe starting in Plymouth in August 1966 and finishing 226 days later.

 

8. Plymouth has been the start and finish point for some incredible female sailing pursuits. From the starting point for Dame Ellen MacArthur DBE’s record-breaking single-handed monohull east-west crossing of the Atlantic, to the start and finish point of Asia Pajowska’s circumnavigation of the globe single-handed and unaided. Record breaking sailor Dee Caffari MBE, who has sailed around the world six times, also has links to Plymouth. She has completed in a number of races that have previously started or finished in Plymouth, including the Artemis Transat and the Fastnet.

 

9. Jacka Bakery on Southside Street, the Barbican, is Britain’s oldest working bakery and is the site of the bakery which is rumoured to have made the ship’s biscuits for The Mayflower.

 

10. Smeaton’s Tower – the centrepiece on Plymouth's Hoe, is probably the city’s most well- known landmarks. The lighthouse was originally built on the Eddystone reef in 1759 but was taken down in the early 1880s when it was discovered that the sea was undermining the rock it was standing on. Approximately two thirds of the structure was moved stone by stone to its current resting place on the Hoe. Now standing at 72 foot high, Smeaton’s Tower offers fantastic views of Plymouth Sound and the city from its lantern room which, along with the rest of the building, has been painstakingly restored to its original glory.

 

Sources: Plymouth City Council’s Book of Wonder and Visit Plymouth