OUR GIGS Having progressed from the initial idea, the club now has 3 gigs and owns its own shed. 

Our first gig, the Spirit of Rame has been with us since the dawn of the Rame Gig Club. Jimmy Donne and Son of St Budeaux, Plymouth built her; she was the first to be made outside of Cornwall.

The second build was the Minnadhu, this is a Cornish word meaning “black rock”. It was named after one of the fields overlooking Cawsand and Kingsand Bay; the Minnadhu is probably out fastest boat and very comfortable to row in. Jim Currah built her in 1994.

Finally, Jim and his son Dave Currah built our newest member, the Penlee Point, in 2004.

Used primarily as pilot cutter, whose crews would race to get their pilot aboard incoming vessels first and so receive the custom of that ship; this included the carrying of goods and cargo to shore sometimes illegally. The boats are traditionally clinker built, the oarsmen used  “T” hole pins of wood instead of the much favored rowlock so as to eliminate any structural damage should he miss a stroke or “catch a crab”. All present day gigs are 32 ft. long and weigh around 7cwt. They have a crew of 6 oarsmen and a coxswain; this is perhaps a relic of the days of smuggling when H.M. Excise limited the number of oars lest the gigs outran their own 8 man cutters.