Cara, yacht no 2

photo by Kevin O'Farrell

The first five boats were built together at McGruer's yard at Clynder and launched at the end of May 1929.

Cara's first owner was J M Christie and by 1938 she is shown as registered to R Armsden.

By the 1970s she belonged to Will and Margaret Rudd who were very successful racing her against much more modern boats. My experiences as one of the crew in those years convinced me that I should get my own Islander.

Around 1978 she went to Wales, from where she was eventually rescued by Martyn Webster, who had her restored by John Hill of Renfrew.

Martyn sold her to Richard and Judy Metcalfe, who based her at Rhu. They had her redecked and in 2007 sold her to Kevin O'Farrell, who now sails her very happily around Heir Island, where the above image comes from.

She is believed to have had a dark green hull originally and is now white.

She was written up in Classic Boat Magazine in 1994 but be warned- the article contains many inaccuracies, stating for example that the boats had iron keels!