A small contingent of Dart Gig Club ladies made the trip to Newquay for the annual County Championships held over the weekend of August 31 and September 1.

Unfortunately for the club, Dartmouth's annual regatta rowing finals were on Friday, August 30, and most of the ladies wanted to remain in town for the celebrations.

The crew arrived in Newquay at 8am to find the weather wasn't a bit like that in Dartmouth. There was a very stiff NE wind kicking up large seas which resulted in the start being postponed several times.

Exiting the harbour at low water is often a problem, and with waves rolling and breaking just off the entrance, it was impossible for racing to begin.

By noon the tide had risen enough to allow the racing to start. Dart were in race two, rowing in Looe's gig Samphire.  Awaiting the start, the boats were tossed all over the place in the rough conditions.

For two of the crew and the cox, this was their first Newquay and so it was a real baptism of fire.

Off the start, Teign A pulled clear and the Dart crew struggled to get into any sort of rhythm, with the boat rolling up and down the swell and waves coming at them from strange angles.

Half way down the first leg Dart started to pull ahead of the remaining four gigs. When rounding the marks, the coxes had been given very clear instructions to keep clear of the marks to try and avoid damage to the loaned gigs.

Dart made a good turn on the first mark, and then had to try and settle again with the swell coming in on a different direction.

It was a real challenge to try and find the water to row in and to keep the timing together. Dart remained in second position and rounding the second mark headed for home and enjoyed the challenge of trying to surf on the swell coming in from astern.

It took the rest of the day for the first round to be completed. Unfortunately the Dart crew were unable to return for day two of the championship, but the race had proved to be a great experience for all concerned.

The result put Dart 48th out of 83, with half a dozen of the less experienced crews having withdrawn from the rowing.

Crew: Peta Chivers, Clare Thorp, Chloe Gardner, Karen Harvey, Lauren Kennerby, Lucy Swash and cox Jonny Holmes.

Men's Newquay is in two weeks' time, heralding the end of the gig racing season, other than the club's own lay up race on September 29.