Gig Boat practice off Lyme Regis

In the days when ships needed the use of a pilot to see it into harbour, boats like these would race each other to be the first to get a pilot on to the ship and get paid for it.  In recent years a sport has grown up in Cornwall to race boats of the same type against each other (gig racing) and it now takes place all over the country with the world championship in the Scilly Isles each year. The original old boats are now being replaced by new boats built to the same design. Lyme Regis Boat Building School has produced many of them