Gig Rowing

Pippa Monies

A pilot gig is a six-oared rowing boat. The name comes from the 17th century when the

boats were used to race pilots out to larger boats on the Atlantic, in order to help navigate

them through the difficult coastal waters, before the ships ran into rocks. Today they are

used mainly for sport.

“For all that we lose ( like a you or a me )

It’s always ourselves that we find in the sea.”

“Just imagine a crew of a hundred or two

Shoved three deep in a kind of a barge,

Like a cargo of kegs, with no room for their legs,

And oars inconveniently large.

Quoth he, ‘παντες προσω’ and they try to do so.

At the sight the poor coach’s brains addle;

So muttering ‘οιμοι,’ he shouts out ‘ἑτοιμοι,’

And whatever the Greek is for ‘paddle.’

Now do look alive, number ninety and five,

You’re ‘sugaring,’ work seems to bore you;

You are late, you are late, number twenty and eight,

Keep your eyes on the man that’s before you.”

“The cure for anything is salt water:

Sweat, tears or the sea.”

“With one surge, you drive, screaming through the sky,

Azure looming over, azure looming under

And you jet between two boundaries

Caught in a world of wind and water.”

“All the rivers run into the sea;

Yet the sea is not full.”

Quotes from the following poets:

E.E. CummingsRudolf Chambers Lehmann

Isak DinesenChristian AngelKing Solomon

© Pippa Monies 2013