Origins of the Gig Economy
When I was a boy, there was a gentleman living up at the top of the Strand in Hugh Town on St. Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly who carved wooden pilot gigs and sold them off his front porch.
And I was a collector. Each time we went back, I hollered for my favourite boats on Friday nights at the races, and came home with a new gig for my collection – Bonnet, Dolphin, Shah, Serica and, in pride of place, my beloved Czar.
Thirty years on, the gig-carving man is no longer there. But the islands and the boats are more precious to me than ever now I have kids of my own, and our whole family feels that same desire to bring the magic of race night home.
In the lockdown, we bought a set of plans for ‘Swift’ and set to work on a twelfth scale model for the wall above the mantlepiece at our home in Oxford – not carved, but planked from scratch like the real thing, fully detailed inside and out.
Two summers later, we showed the photos to Steve and Alison Sherris at the Silver Street Gallery in Hugh Town and they encouraged us to make some more.
And the result is ‘The Gig Economy’ – a family enterprise making ten, twelfth-scale framed gig models a year, built now from the measurements of the classic Peters gig, ‘Treffry,’ and decorated to order to reflect the livery of each customer’s favourite boat.
Boat Details
- Length: 32”
- Beam: 4 7/8”
- Planking: Lime
- Frame: Oak
