The Cornish pilot gig is a six-oared rowing boat, built of Cornish narrow leaf elm, 32 feet (9.8 m) long with a beam of four feet ten inches.

All modern racing gigs are based on the "Treffry", built in 1838 by William Peters of St. Mawes, and still owned and raced by the Newquay Rowing Club. However non-racing gigs have been built which do

not conform to the exact specification of the Treffry and are disallowed from racing in competitive races.

The pilot gig is recognised as one of the first shore-based lifeboats that attended vessels in distress, with recorded rescues at sea going back as far as the late 17th century.