The first Cornish Pilot Gig was built in St Mawes at the turn of the 17th century by boat builder William Peters comissioned by the West Country Ports. These craft have slowly evolved over the last 200 years and are still evolving for the application of racing. They are 32 feet long with a beam of 4 feet 10 inches and a draft of about 9 inches. The boat is built from Cornish Narrow Leaf Elm with Oak ribs and a brass keel band. Instead of the use of row locks the boat uses Thole pins. Seven pins are made of pine and seven are made of oak, ash or another hard wood.

The boats original use was to take the pilots to the vessels entering the English Channel . The Pilots where men who had learned the treacherous path along the English Channel and up the back bone of British coast (The North Sea). These men where excellent navigators and each island had one of these qualified men. Each of the Scilly Islands had a Gig and this is where the racing started to take place. The first Pilot to the tall ship got the task of navigating it through the English Channel to it's port of call, along with the pay cheque. So as you can imagine it was very competitive - if you did not get the pilot to the ship first you did not get paid.