4 September 2025

By *Carlos Dominguez

Boats as old as industry.
An imported Cornish history of coastal pilot gigs.
Made real by the hard graft of fishermen to deliver the ‘man who knew the local waters’.
To bring home a quarter of a year’s earnings.
In all weathers.
In all seas.
With unfathomable strength, speed & guile to reach over the horizon.
To be first.

We honour that legacy.
Our graft today is to master these ribbed wooden boats; 
make them glide, 
let them run,
the thwack of leather on wooden pins, 
six in unison & time.

Our river tells us what we can do.
Tides with 12th’s like an algorithm,
exposed to the winds, 
hemmed in by the Salty.
Turn on the point, like a rite of passage, from river mouth to bay.

Coxes are like Kings & Queens.
The rulers of their domain; 
they call out the timing,
the metronome of rhythm.
Steering by ropes, 
watching those tides, 
feel the winds.
‘Out to sea or up river?’ 
we ask as humble servants in their boat.

Moon river of Teign.
That flows from the moors to sea, 
as old as time, 
that allows us to navigate its ever shifting banks, 
to row in awe of its majesty, 
its raw tidal power.
To feel close to nature, 
the watery elements & the epic history of our crafts.

*Carlos Dominguez lives in the seaside town of Teignmouth in south Devon in the UK. Teignmouth – “as the name Teignmouth suggests, the town is at the mouth of the River Teign,” Carlos writes – has a gig rowing club, the River Teign Rowing Club, which was founded in 1994. Carlos writes that he joined the club seven years ago and has since “fallen in love with gig rowing as much through its history as the physical act of rowing and the camaraderie that exists at the club”.

His poem “Teign Spirit” reflects his love for gig rowing and the club.