scottishislandsclass

Where this blog is now at

2011-05-23T10:08:00.000+01:00

Regular visitors will notice that I haven't posted anything new on this blog for some time. This is deliberate, as the blog was always intended to create an archive of information about the Islanders and the people who sailed and continue to sail and look after them.

Instead of creating new postings I have been steadily correcting any errors found in earlier ones and adding details as they are found. In the course of the blog I've received a lot of information and encouraging comments from the families of former owners, but there are still lots of blanks in the story. It's still my intention someday to produce a volume celebrating the Class, which will present the information in this blog, in particular the images, in a more attractive format, but I won't embark on that voyage until I'm satisfied that any remaining blanks just cannot be filled.

So, if you do have information, memories, old photographs or whatever please let me know. And if you haven't already found it please visit my more general site, www.scottishboating.blogspot.com.

Happy sailing!

Dorian Thom, aviator

2011-01-15T10:14:00.000Z

Daring young man

William Dorian Thom was born on 3 August 1892 in the family home at 5 Westbank Quadrant in the West end of Glasgow, the second son of John Thom, consulting civil engineer and owner of the business of Thom, Lamont & Co Limited. He had two older sisters, Mary and Helen and an older brother Herbert. His youngest sister, Mina, would arrive a few years later.

I think that Dorian, commonly called Dorrie, probably attended the Glasgow Academy a short distance from the family home. He had just turned 16 when his father died after years of ill-health and I suspect that he would have joined the family business of Thom, Lamont & Co at that point, as did Herbert. However the two brothers had vastly different personalities. Herbert was always serious, careful and meticulous, with a deep sense of obligation, whereas Dorian believed in enjoying life and taking risks.

The outbreak of war gave Dorian the opportunity to get out of the business and by the summer of 1916 he had a probationary commission as sub-lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps in 34 Squadron, being confirmed in that rank in October. In July 1916 he won the DFC. 34 Squadron flew the primitive and slow BE2es, single-engined biplanes with a maximum speed of about 70mph (110kph), which the pilots themselves called "Fokker fodder" and the Germans called kaltes Fleisch. When 52 Squadron arrived in France they were equipped with slightly faster RE8s, but which had the disadvantage that they easily went into an uncontrollable spin and crashed. The end result was that each squadron fancied the other's machines, so they duly swapped them.

99 Squadron was formed in August 1917 and sent to France to fly twin-engined de Havilland bombers as part of the Independent Air Force. Dorian joined it and survived numerous bombing raids, when the squadron took horrendous losses. When the Royal Air Force was formed in 1918 the Army objected to their use of military ranks, so Dorian became a Flying Officer.

Prince Albert, the later King George VI, was posted to the staff of the Independent Air Force at Nancy in the last few weeks of the war and got to know 99 Squadron. Dorian was appointed to escort him and took him up for a flight in his de Havilland. On Armistice Day, when the prince was 23 years old he sent the following letter to Dorian, who was then 25.

Post war, 99 Squadron was sent to India and flew bombing raids in the North-west frontier. Dorian wrote home that "the machines were certainly out of date but good enough for the job as there were no machines against us" and "if you didn't take off in the early morning you couldn't get off at all as there seemed to be no lift in the air when it got warmer."

Dorian was still in the Royal Air Force in 1924 and eventually left with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He then returned to a directorship at Thom, Lamont & Co Limited. In September 1921 he had married Peggy Ramsay and set up house in Pollokshields, where they had three sons and two daughters together.

One son, David Trenchard Thom was to go on and distinguish himself in the commandos after D-Day and later had an eccentric career as a Newmarket trainer. There is a quirky biography of him in which his biographer Terry Jennings reports him as saying that father Dorian had little interest in the business of Thom, Lamont & Co Limited apart from the director's salary that he drew. The book is entitled "A man before his time" but a better title would have been "A man of his time" as I can't imagine David Thom having lived at any other period in history.

Dorian Thom enjoyed sailing, mainly aboard Aline and Falcon. Needless to say he didn't sail with Herbert. He wrote "I fell in off Falcon when steering, was very annoyed as I had just got my stop-watch back from the makers. It was very amusing watching the Eights trying to get near me - they must have read in a book about gybing as they seemed to be getting further away all the time. However a wee lugsail slipped in and picked me up." One can imagine a certain tension in the boardroom between the two brothers.

Regrettably it seems that Dorian's constitution was not up to the demands of his lifestyle and he died at the early age of 43 on 10 May 1936.

John Herbert Thom - Part Four - Canna cleans up

2011-01-02T15:50:00.002Z

Of course yachting was suspended during the war years. The smaller yachts were laid up, many not to survive long periods of neglect, and the larger ones commandeered. There were occasional disasters such as the fire at Mcleans which destroyed inter alia Westra. The Firth of Clyde was itself dedicated to war service and out of bounds, the only small boats seen being occasional Navy whalers. The press speculated that leisure sailing would never return.

Apart from running the firm of Thom Lamont & Co Herbert Thom volunteered for the Clyde River Patrol and in 1942 he bought Beechwood House, Dunoon, a large house with a great view over the river. Meanwhile Sub-Lieutenant John Thom RNVR was taking part in various dangerous missions, which were to earn him the DSC and bar. His brother Herbert Junior joined the Fleet Air Arm but was found to be colour blind and so was not allowed to fly. Circe was sold to Captain G E T Eyston and went to the Solent.

Post-war Herbert Thom enjoyed himself as a popular guest helmsman on various yachts on the Clyde, generally bringing home the prize. In early 1948 he went to the Solent and helmed Circe for Captain Eyston in the Olympic tuning-up races, winning the Solent Cup in her.

Racing in the Islanders continued in the pre-war spirit with very close competition and generally at least six boats turning out. The Islanders, being a local class, were not affected by the 1948 Olympic Games, which attracted a lot of talent South, so that for example at the opening Clyde regatta there were no starters in seven of the ten classes. Canna had been put up for sale by Mr Norman McK Manclark and the temptation proved too much, so a new "yellow peril" returned.

Canna must have needed some tuning up (and replacement of topside paint with varnish), as she ended up in third place behind class champion James Buchanan's Sanda with Jura, now skippered by Adam Bergius, second. By 1949 Herbert Thom was back as champion and he repeated the feat every year apart from 1959, when he was ill, until again illness cut short his season in 1963. 1956 must have been frustrating for the other owners, as Canna entered 22 races and was first in all of them. (Cruise in Company incorrectly gives this total as 32.) This was also the largest number of first places he ever gained in one year.

By the end of 1957 the David Boyd-designed Sceptre was being built by Robertsons at Sandbank. There was plenty of press speculation about who would helm her in the America's Cup. Asked at the launching if he would be going to the States in September Herbert Thom said "no, but I might change my mind before then." But the challenging club was the Royal Yacht Squadron and it remained to be seen if they would select an all-Scottish team of designer, builder and helm.

On 22 April 1958 the Herald disclosed that Herbert Thom was to helm Evaine, built in 1936 to a Charles Nicholson design, in the trials off the Solent in May. Sceptre's helm was likely to be Lieutenant-Commander Graham Mann, who had won a bronze at the 1956 Olympics at the helm of the Duke of Edinburgh's Dragon, Bluebottle and was the Duke's sailing master.

At the opening weekend of the trials in June Evaine beat Sceptre five times, this being mainly attributed in the press reports to the skill and tactical ability of her skipper. The papers speculated that the final selection would be a choice between youth and experience, the two main candidates being respectively 34 and 67 years old.

After a few weeks of controversy Herbert Thom indicated that he would be willing to go across as helmsman, but had no interest in being appointed "crew adviser." In one interview he even suggested that Evaine should be sent across for the challenge. He also suggested swapping the crews over, but this was not taken up. At the end of the month he returned to the Clyde and maybe just to prove a point not only won the Islander race, but finished ahead of the 8 metres, which had started 20 minutes before Canna. The outcome of the Cup series is of course history.

There was an echo of this history in the summer of 1963 when Sovereign was being tuned up on the Clyde with Sceptre as trial horse. Herbert Thom had watched from the committee boat as the score stood at eight to Sovereign against two to Sceptre. He was given Sceptre's helm and notched up another two wins. This time there was no suggestion that at 72 he should be involved further.

It was stressful racing in a competitive class under the eyes of the general, as well as the yachting, press, because until fairly recently yacht racing attracted a lot of press attention. For example in May 1957 the Scotsman found it newsworthy that Herbert Thom had not come first in a yacht race. By late August 1963 he was exhausted and, perhaps mindful of his father's history of heart trouble, decided to retire. Canna was duly sold and he didn't race again. I'm happy to report that he didn't suffer any long-term effects and lived to enjoy a happy retirement, before passing away in 1986 at the age of 96.

Over a racing career that lasted 60 years Herbert Thom had won 690 flags, including 453 first places. Here is his record sheet.

As a postscript to a life on the water I should record that Herbert Thom built up and directed a highly successful business, whose pumps did service throughout the World. In January 2001 the British Antarctica Survey in South Georgia reported:-

".... visited the old whaling station in search of an item to rescue, and found it in the old 'Coppersmith's Coal Shed'. It was a pump. A particular pump. A Twin Cylinder Vertical Steam Water Pump Circa ... well, we are not sure 'what circa'. The whaling station closed around 1960 when the pump was last used. The only identification we can find on the body of the thing is the manufacturer's label and a designation 5 x 5 x 6 which was probably the stroke and capacity. The pump, serial number 14398, was made by Thomas (sic) Lamont & Co Ltd, Engineers of Paisley, Scotland. But to what use was it put ? That we cannot answer either."

This pump is now in the Grytviken museum.

There's another one at the Tokomaru museum in New Zealand.

John Herbert Thom Part Three Six Metre Adventures

2011-01-01T10:00:00.001Z

Herbert Thom enjoyed just three seasons with Westra, becoming class champion in each of the years 1934, 1935 and 1936. As before the main opposition was coming from James Buchanan's Sanda, which was generally second to Westra's first place. By the end of 1936 perhaps a point had been made and it was time for another change.

The Dragons had arrived on the Clyde and were being built in quantities by McGruers, but Herbert Thom refused to consider sailing a foreign design. He may also have wanted a larger boat, as he had been married to Hilda Stark since 1914 and they now had three children, Hilda, John and Herbert. Instead he was approached jointly by Alex Robertson & Sons and David Boyd, who suggested that they produce a new six metre for him. The result was Circe, which was David Boyd's first design for a metre boat.

By the end of 1937 Circe had won 24 flags including 6 firsts, the largest number in any class, despite being dismasted on the first day of Clyde Fortnight. The Glasgow Herald reported that her helmsman already had 312 flags in 12 years, so was now up to 336.

September 1938 saw a team of four British six metres going to Oyster Bay, Long Island to contest the British America Cup and separately the Royal Northern Yacht Club challenged for the Seawanhaka Cup.

The British America Cup would go to the first team of four to win four races. Team racing has to be regarded as a separate sport from normal yacht racing, as the prize goes to the team with the best overall score and the racing rules must be exploited to achieve this. For example if you find your yourself in first place, but the rest of your team are well down the fleet your tactic must be to baulk the other teams yachts, by luffing them, exploiting port and starboard situations and so on. It requires a different cultural approach , a profound knowledge of the rules and the confidence to put boats at risk and get away with it. It's best done on true one-design boats, which six metres patently are not. I suspect that the British team would have had little if any experience of this rather aggressive version of their sport.

The British yachts were Mr R M Teacher's Erica, Herbert Thom's Circe, Mr J H Maurice Clark's Vrana, all Scottish boats, and Solenta, owned by Eldon and Kenneth Trimingham of Bermuda. The American team consisted of Mr Briggs Cunningham's Fun, Mr George Nichols' Goose, Mr Paul Shields' Rebel and Mr Henry Morgan's Djinn.

The Scottish yachts were duly craned aboard the Anchor liner California, while Herbert Thom, accompanied by his mother and son John travelled on the Donaldson Line's Letitia. The cost to each owner would have been about £1,500, a very substantial sum.

The races were a disaster for the British team.

In the first race, sailed in variable but mainly light conditions, the Americans got first, second, fourth and seventh places, with Circe last.

In the second race, sailed in a nice breeze of 10 to 13 mph, the Americans forced Circe and Vrana over the start line and they were recalled. The Americans got first, second, third and seventh places, Solenta at fourth was the best British boat and Circe came sixth.

The next day the wind was very light. Djinn forced Solenta and Circe over the start line at the expense of being over herself and all three got recalled. Later on Djinn fouled Circe and Henry Morgan promptly withdrew. The British boats were now generally doing rather well, when the race committee decided that the time limit of four hours would not be met and cancelled the race.

On day four Goose luffed Solenta and collided with her, causing both to protest. The yachts had been only five feet apart when Goose's skipper put his helm down hard and at the subsequent hearing she was disqualified. As this was a resail of the third race Djinn remained disqualified for her skipper's behaviour the day before. The British skippers pleaded with the committee to waive this and allow Henry Morgan to compete, but the rule was enforced, so the Americans had a serious handicap. They got the first and second places, but still lost on points. Circe came fourth.

In the fourth race, day five of sailing, there was a good breeze. The Americans won with first, second, fifth and eighth places and Circe came fourth again.

The Americans won again on the final day with first, fourth, fifth and sixth places in very light airs. Circe, considered to be a heavy weather boat, came seventh.

The series demonstrated the classic features of team racing, mentioned above. Everyone declared that they had thoroughly enjoyed the sportsmanship, but I expect the British sailors had learned a thing or two the hard way. I'm not at all sure that Herbert Thom would have felt really at home in this form of the sport; he had too competitive an instinct for that. Also the conditions had not been suitable for Circe.

On the evening of the last day the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club declared that Goose would defend the Seawanhaka Cup and the Royal Northern nominated Circe to challenge for it. It is unlikely that the challengers felt they had much of a chance, but by now Herbert Thom had had time to learn about the local conditions. For the challenge he had his pick of crew from all the British boats. He selected William MacAusland from Mr Teacher's Erica and Sandy Baird and Murray Maclehose from Maurice Clark's Vrana to sail with him and his son John. He selected the best sails from all the British boats too.

Baird, MacAusland, JHT, Maclehose, John Thom

On the first day of the series any American complacency was severely shaken. The Glasgow Herald reported:-

"It was a nasty day for sailing, judged by the standards of ladies afternoon sailing parties. There was an easterly blowing up the sound, seventeen miles an hour at the start and clear to twenty five at the finish. It was piling up a real sea, steep, rugged navy, and out of the low gray clouds heavy cold rain squalls sluiced down now and again. Maybe Circe thought she was back at home in her own Firth O' Clyde waters, for it was a dour day for these parts. At any rate she went, and Goose, fastest all-around yacht of the American six-metre fleet, couldn't hold her under the conditions."

The course was a windward/leeward one from a line off Oak Neck to a turning mark off Oyster Bay and back. At the end of the first beat Circe was a minute ahead, then set a huge borrowed spinnaker for a scary run back to the start. During the second lap the wind steadily increased, but both yachts struggled with genoas on the beat and Circe was still a minute ahead at the turn. Aboard Goose Nichols underestimated and had to pinch up to the mark. This time Circe set a smaller spinnaker than Goose. The latter tried a reaching course with a gybe while Circe went straight for the line and finished a minute and forty four seconds ahead.

The second race had a triangular course, sailed in another blustery day. Herbert Thom gave Circe a perfect start and Goose couldn't catch her, finishing twenty four seconds behind.

The third race was sailed in Goose's weather, a light easterly with a windward/leeward course again. Goose had by far the better start and covered Circe as the latter tacked several times in quick succession. Suddenly the wind whipped round to the southeast, giving a reach to the windward mark, at which Goose was two minutes thirtyfive seconds ahead. The return was now a reach in about seven miles an hour of wind and Goose rounded the next mark just over five minutes ahead. There was now a run to the original weather mark. Circe made up a little and was four minutes ten seconds behind at the final turn. The final leg was now a beat. The wind died and both boats drifted along, Circe holding inshore of Goose. Herbert Thom must have scented a land breeze, because while Goose lay becalmed Circe silently eased sheets and started moving very gently, gradually overhauling her and steadily easing sheets again, picking up speed, while the crew of Goose could only sit and watch. The wind eventually reached Goose, but it was too late. At the very end she tried the expedient of setting her spinnaker, but to no avail. Circe finished half a minute ahead and won the Cup.

Circe on Oyster Bay

A year later Herbert Thom and Circe successfully defended the Cup against the Norwegian Noreg III, designed by Johan Anker. Circe's crew were William MacAusland, Murray Maclehose, John Thom and Herbert Junior. Noreg and Circe were both heavy weather boats quite unsuited to the conditions they encountered.

The first race was sailed in a near calm, with the yachts towed to a start off Toward. The course was a windward leg to a mark off the Big Cumbrae, a run back to Toward and round again. Circe was over the line at the start and lost a minute in the recall. Noreg was the faster boat in the conditions and was one and a half minutes ahead at the first mark, then opened out a lead to finish the first round four and a half minutes ahead. The boats were well separated and Circe was able to stand out to the North on port tack, then the wind went westerly and she was able to fetch the mark on starboard, forcing Noreg behind her. The Norwegian boat then recovered her lead but Circe got ahead again and was twenty seconds ahead at the windward mark. On the final run the positions changed several times as little puffs of wind came and went. Towards the end Circe was ahead when a wind came up behind Noreg and she ran very fast, but it died away and Circe won by twentyone seconds.

The second race took place in similar calm conditions. The course was twice round a seven mile triangle and it was only just completed within the four and a half hour time limit.

The first leg was a close reach and Circe to leeward steadily drew ahead, until the wind increased, Noreg getting it first and turning the first mark thirtysix seconds ahead. The yachts then set spinnakers for the run and just as on the previous day the wind came and went. Eventually the yachts were becalmed beside each other for fortyfive minutes. When the wind came Circe got it first and rounded the downwind mark three minutes ahead. Noreg now got becalmed while Circe opened out her lead to a mile. The wind eventually came up and the second round proved much less eventful. Noreg reduced Circe's lead to just under eight minutes by the finish.

The third race went to Noreg by a margin of four and a half minutes. The course was another windward/leeward one, from Skelmorlie to Ascog on Bute and back, twice. Circe started slightly ahead, but Noreg sailed faster and pointed higher, turning the windward mark two and a half minutes ahead. Downwind Circe had trouble setting her spinnaker and lost several minutes, but eventually reduced Noreg's lead a bit. At the end of the first circuit Noreg was three and a half minutes ahead. On the second circuit Noreg again sailed better to windward and Circe better off the wind, but Noreg had secured her first win.

The next day's racing started in near calm conditions and was declared void after three and a half hours, when Noreg had managed to ghost some distance ahead of Circe. Another two attempts to run this race on succeeding days were also defeated by the prevailing calms. The fourth race was eventually run over a triangular course seven miles long, with two rounds as usual. There was a fresh north-easterly wind and the course was run in just under two hours twenty minutes. Circe led at the start, but Noreg was the faster boat to windward and had a lead of thirtyfive seconds at the mark. On the run Noreg set her spinnaker faster and increased her lead to 58 seconds. Circe was faster on the reach that followed, reducing the lead to 35 seconds again. On the beat again there was a tacking duel, which reduced Noreg's lead down to 25 seconds. Noreg again handled her spinnaker more smartly, Circe caught up once she got going, but the distance remained about thirty seconds. Things became very tense on the final reach, with Circe closed up and tried to luff Noreg above her course with a view to then bearing away swiftly, but Noreg was too alert and bore away immediately Circe did so. Near the end Circe was ahead but Noreg was to windward and the race went to Noreg by one second. Afterwards Herbert Thom went aboard the flagship and pointed out to the race committee that they had laid the finishing line incorrectly. The rules required the mark buoy to be left to starboard, but the line was to be perpendicular to the course. This had not been done, so the yachts could not sail straight through the line, but had to circle the mark and in doing this Circe had to give room to Noreg. He refused to make a formal protest however, so the result stood.

With the score level at two all there were then some more days of agonising calm before the deciding fifth race took place.

The deciding race was run over another windward/leeward course wit the start off Toward and the windward mark off Cumbrae, twice round and a distance of fourteen miles.

Noreg got a better start and sailed better to windward, turning the first mark twentyeight seconds ahead. On the run Noreg sailed over to Bute, while Circe went straight for the mark and got there three minutes ahead. On the next beat the wind fell light. The yachts close-tacked over to Cumbrae, where the wind freed a little and Noreg turned the mark thirtyfour seconds ahead. All now depended on the final downwind leg and the wind went lighter still, making it doubtful if the time limit would be met. This time Circe held over to Bute and after a frustrating spell of calm the wind eventually came from that side and took the lead, while Noreg still lay just outside the belt of moving air. With only twenty minutes left there was now a mile to cover. Circe raced along, her spinnaker now pulling well, and beat the time limit by seven minutes, with Noreg four minutes behind. The race finished amidst screeches of the sirens of steam yachts and the hooting of car horns on shore.

I clearly remember as a child being told that Herbert Thom had carefully studied the settled weather pattern of the cancelled race days and had concluded that if the wind came from anywhere it would be from Bute. Thus on round one he went straight to the mark, so as not to give anything away and on round two Noreg's skipper of course copied what Circe had done last time.

Tenacity, local knowledge, experience, cunning and a bit of luck all went into the mixture that got the Cup for Circe and her crew against what proved a faster boat.

Post script

Since posting this originally I have learned a bit more about Circe's crew at Oyster Bay. Sandy Baird, on the left of the photo, went on to be harbour master at Bermuda. Murray Maclehose, the tall chap on JHT's left, was twenty and a student at Baliol at the time. He went into the diplomatic service in Paris and elsewhere, was involved in Harold Wilson's attempts to end the Vietnam War, became UK Ambassador to Vietnam and elsewhere and was finally became the longest serving Governor of Hong Kong, greatly respected and liked. He died aged 82 in 2000.

John Herbert Thom - Part II - Sunbeam to Gigha

2010-12-26T12:21:00.001Z

In 1925 Herbert Thom returned to yacht racing after his self-imposed exile of seventeen years. He bought the 19/24 footer Sunbeam, designed by Alfred Mylne and built by Robertsons in 1904 and immediately began to make an impact, finishing second in the class with 14 first places and 7 seconds out of 36 starts. In 1926, 1927 and 1928 he was class champion, ending up with a grand total of 108 placings out of 143 starts aboard Sunbeam.

By the winter of 1928 the 19/24s were seen as obsolete. The class dated back to 1897 and after so much hard racing the hulls were tired. As we have seen in an earlier post the Clyde Clubs Conference that winter enacted the rules for the Scottish Islands Class and the first five of the new yachts were commissioned. Herbert Thom declined to join the Islanders, because he disagreed with the decision to instal engines and the associated rule that if you didn't want one you had to carry equivalent weight and have a useless propellor. Instead he bought Fife 6-metre Lucille, renamed her Susette, came third in 1929 and became champion of the sixes in 1930. The Glasgow Herald noted

"As usual, the contests in the 6-metre class were tremendously keen, and provided excellent sport. Mr J H Thom's Susette headed the A Section and took 24 flags in 39 starts.....Susette took a considerable time to strike her form, but from July 5 onwards she was only twice out of the prize list, and Mr Thom had the satisfaction of winning three races in succession before Fintra and Coral went to America and Finvola was laid up..."

Susette

We have seen that by 1930 there were seven Islanders racing regularly and giving very close competition and the one-design nature of this class, in which it was purely helmsmanship that counted, must have appealed. Also James Buchanan had commissioned a new boat that was to become Iona. Herbert Thom relented and commissioned Gigha from Alfred Mylne's Bute Slip Dock.

Gigha well heeled

I have already provided a detailed report on the 1931 racing season, so for new readers will just repeat part of that post here. Again I quote from the Glasgow Herald's end of season report:-

"GIGHA'S FINE SHOW

...Mr J H Thom dominated the Scottish islands class with his new boat, Gigha, which had the score of 29 prizes in 33 starts, including 18 firsts. Her wins included the Bryce Allan Cup, and she also won the Coulson Points Cup. Sanda, last year's champion of the class, was the runner-up with 24 flags in 34 races. In addition she won the McBeth Points Prize at the "Fortnight."

And in October the anonymous Clyde Notes commented:-

"...Mr J H Thom, with his new boat Gigha was signally successful throughout the season, so much so that the varnished racer- the only one in the class- earned the nickname of "The Yellow Peril." The Islands Class is one-design, and I cannot credit the scarcely veiled suggestions in some quarters that Gigha was something different from the others. Rather do I favour the view that Mr Thom is too good for a local class and would be more in place, as he was last year, in the 6-metre lot."

Subsequent events were to show that there was absolutely no truth in this suggestion. Instead I suggest it is the case that Herbert Thom brought yacht racing, certainly the Scottish variety, and whether professional or Corinthian, into the modern age. He brought the same dedication to his sport as he had done when learning his business after the early loss of his father. He studied every aspect. The major significance of trim we have already noted. He carried this to extremes by requiring crew members to lie down below in calm weather, which must have been hell as such weather would also have been very hot. His yachts were varnished, because this made the topsides lighter, and he had to defend his right to this when other owners argued that a bright or clear finish was not a colour. He let it be known that he carried only a minute amount of petrol aboard, just enough to get to the start and home after the finish.

Some of this was pure psychology, which I guess Herbert Thom greatly enjoyed. An example was his racing flag, the International Code signal for "follow me." Far more important was his habit of meticulous note-taking, which involved recording the courses taken by other boats and their positions at different stages. He also spent time studying the tidal currents and wind patterns in the Firth of Clyde, sometimes from the slopes of the hills behind Gourock and Hunters Quay.

I think there is perhaps only one area where his approach was mistaken. He favoured keeping the rigging slack and omitted the wooden chocks at the mast partners that are usually seen as obligatory. He also believed that a hull should be able to flex, whereas I think the present-day view would be that stiffness is desirable in a small hull.

In summary I suggest that Herbert Thom's approach was simply too scientific and serious for at least some of his competitors. Certainly the record of 29 flags out of 33 starts in a new boat bears this out.

The pattern continued in 1932, with Gigha getting 27 flags out of 38 starts and in 1933, with 24 flags out of 36 starts.

Again I repeat part of my previous post.

In general we can see that a finishing order has been established by now, with James Buchanan's Sanda the only boat seriously challenging Gigha. Discontent within the class was now at a height, with much rumouring about Gigha being simply a faster boat. George Jackson's Westra had now missed two seasons and he put her up for sale. When Herbert Thom heard that she had been sold to someone on the Solway he persuaded the purchaser to accept his Gigha instead. He would now take on the competition with the oldest boat in the fleet. The Field correspondent reports:-

"On the relative performance of the two boats the exchange may seem somewhat surprising. There is only one explanation I can think of. Allegations were sometimes heard that the success of Gigha was accounted for by her out-size. Remeasurement more than once showed that there was no foundation for these statements, but Mr Thom is a good sportsman and I expect that he has taken this course to remove any unpleasantness, no matter how unjustified."

Part III of this short biography will follow in a few days time.

John Herbert Thom 1891 to 1986 - Part I - the early years

2010-12-25T12:43:00.004Z

Herbert Thom was born in Cardonald in the outskirts of Glasgow. He came from a family who had worked for generations on or by the sea, his grandfather John Thom having been a Clyde fisherman. John Thom's wife is rumoured to have been the daughter of an English army officer, who had eloped with him.

Herbert's father, also John, was born at Inverkip in 1855 and on leaving school went into the drawing office of Scott & Co in Greenock. Scotts was one of the oldest Scottish firms, founded by John Scott in 1711. By the time John started his training the firm was building almost exclusively steam-powered ships rather than sailing vessels.

John Scott IV had developed new types of high pressure compound engines and John Thom would have been trained in an office at the cutting edge of steam technology. Once trained as an engineer he moved to the Barrow Shipbuilding Company, where he progressed rapidly to become the chief engineering draughtsman. While there he designed and patented various technical improvements, the best known the "Thom Patent" for a special type of piston valve. These were adopted world-wide, an interesting example being the new steam yacht built at Delaware for Mr W K Vanderbilt in 1886. In 1887 Thom's patent slide valves were used in the Royal Navy's state-of-the-art torpedo boat Fearless.

John Thom holding important but indecipherable paper

Thom family, Herbert the little boy in the middle

John Thom's health broke down and forced him to leave Barrows. It's now not entirely clear whether he had developed a severe respiratory problem or angina, but in any event he was never to make a full recovery. After spending time recuperating in Algeria, which would suggest the former, he returned to Glasgow . He joined the Scottish Institute of Engineers and Shipbuilders in 1889 and commenced work as a consulting marine engineer and naval architect. He became associated with George Lennox Watson in designing engines for the latter's elegant steam yachts. At some point after his return John Thom acquired the pump-making company Lamont & Co Limited and renamed it Thom, Lamont & Co Limited. In due course Herbert would spend his working life in this company.

In common with a great many West coast businessmen John Thom's main relaxation was sailing. He owned the 17/19 class yacht Daisy Bell (designed by Watson in 1894), then the 19/24 footer Susette, followed by Susette II and then Sapphire, all designed by Alfred Mylne.

Susette I

Susette 1903

From his earliest years Herbert was sailing dinghies and taught himself the principles of steering and tacking without a rudder, by weight distribution alone. He never forgot these lessons and later applied what he had learned in boats right up to 12 metre size to ensure correct trim.

By the age of seven Herbert was sailing with his father. He later recalled memories of his father sending him out on the bowsprit to hold the jib-boom to weather and getting dooked in steamer wakes. At the age of ten he was sent up the mast to clear the winning flags that had got tangled up and returned to deck in tears when his father gybed the boat. He was told to stop filling the boat with water. In 1903 he won his first yacht race aboard the Rose, one of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club fleet.

In the early years of the Twentieth Century the Thom family lived in a large flat in Westbank Quadrant, near to Glasgow University and with a great view over Kelvingrove Park. Herbert didn't ever get to university, but in later life he maintained that he had been educated at five schools. I have traced four of these, Woodside, Glasgow High, Glasgow Academy and Alan Glens, all excellent institutions and it's a real puzzle why he moved about so often.

From 1905 John Thom was a semi-invalid and unable to sail, so his yachts were raced by his wife until in 1908 the entire family gave up sailing. By this time Herbert, aged 17, was undergoing training in the office of Thom, Lamont & Co and working very hard to master the business. When John Thom died in September 1909 Herbert became by default the chief breadwinner for the family and was not to return to sailing for seventeen years. His younger brother Dorian had little interest in making pumps and his interesting career will be the subject of a later post.

Keeping comfortable sitting and sleeping

2010-12-20T10:03:00.000Z

The problem of arranging the seating and sleeping in a narrow hull with limited headroom is one of the main challenges facing the designer of a small yacht's interior. If you want a wide enough berth it has to be positioned so high that you lose headroom for comfortable sitting.

Albert Strange pointed out that the solution has to be separate arrangements for sitting and sleeping, with fold-down cots for the latter.

Stroma's original interior sacrificed headroom for a good sleep and during her restoration I adopted a variation of Strange's system.

It's useful to retain some space at a higher level, so I decided to build a dedicated cooking space to port and a navigation table to starboard, in each case about two feet long, leaving about four feet each side for daytime sitting. I made plywood platforms that notch onto stringers at the outboard side and hang from short lengths of rope from a deckbeam, where I fixed eyebolts. Only one hanger is needed at each side, as the aft end of the platform sits on the cooking and navigation stations.

We sit on benches made from recycled church pews about a foot wide and a foot above the cabin sole.

Albert Strange didn't favour mattresses, but nowadays there are alternatives to horse hair and we have a four foot and a two foot long cushion down each side. The smaller ones are handy in the cockpit if it's not raining. The following rather poor image gives an idea of the set-up.

Racing from 1935 to the War

2010-12-02T11:46:00.000Z

fresh breeze

In 1935 a new presence arrived on the scene, with the purchase of Jura by Mrs W M Bergius, very much a family project, as she has her children for crew and her husband donates a Points Cup to the class. Jura proves to be immediately a strong contender.

After only a year of ownership J B Whyte has sold Iona to G N Lyall.

Here are the Official Results:-

                                                      Starts    1st    2nd    3    4    total

Westra- J H Thom           38    18 6    6    0 30
Sanda- James Buchanan                       36 4    12    7    2    23
Jura- Mrs W M Bergius                        33 7    5    2    1    15
Canna- J D Cochrane              30    4       7    5    0    16
Fidra- A R Keith Thomson        36       2 1    5    3    11
Bernera- R K Sharp                              35       1        3    4    1    9
Stroma- Geo Nisbet                               37       1    2    5    1    9
Iona- G N Lyall                                      24       1    1    1    0    3

the fleet

1936 continues in the same vein. The Glasgow Herald reports an exceptional season that has made history, with among other events the first International Fortnight on the Clyde and the Prince of Wales Cup for International 14s. Record numbers of boats have been turning out and two new classes have been recognised, the Dragons and the Snipes. The arrival of the former was probably the main reason why the Islanders failed to increase their numbers. A new Islander with her Watermota cost about £350, against £250 for the lighter and engineless Dragon, which McGruers had now been mass-producing for several years.

A high point of the year was the Tarbert Race at the beginning of August, won by Westra with a time from Hunters Quay to Tarbert of 4 hours 21 minutes, with free sailing in strong winds all the way.

The Official Results for the year were:-

                   Starts    1st    2nd    other    total

Westra- J H Thom              34    18    2    4 24
Sanda- James Buchanan          33    7    15    5       20
Jura- Mrs W M Bergius       34    5    10    5 20
Bernera- R K Sharp                                   32    2    6    7       15
Fidra- A R Keith Thomson                         35    3    2       4    9
Iona- G N Lyall                                          19    2    0       0    2
Stroma- Geo Nisbet          16    0    2       2    4

1937 was reported as a less successful season than 1936, with fewer visiting yachts and a lot of Clyde owners going South for events including the Coronation regatta at Torquay.

Herbert Thom was now sailing his new 6-metre yacht Circe. Typically he has won 24 flags including 6 firsts, largest number in any class, despite being dismasted on first day of Clyde Fortnight. The Glasgow Herald reports he already had 312 flags in 12 years, so is now up to 336.

The paper goes on:-

"JURA CHAMPION OF THE ISLANDERS

Mrs W M Bergius's Jura, sailed by the youngest crew on the Clyde, is the champion in the Scottish Islands class. The members of the crew are Messrs Walter and Cecil Bergius and Miss Margie Bergius, sons and daughter of the owner. With her total of 29 flags Jura shares the distinction with Froya of having won the largest number of prizes during the season. As was the case last year, Mr James Buchanan is the runner up with Sanda. Mr R K Sharps' Bernera and Mr A R Keith Thomson's Fidra have had the most successful season of their careers, with 24 and 20 flags respectively to their credit."

As many as 22 Dragons were turning out. George Nisbet has got one and has sold Stroma to John Buchanan.

The Official Results:-

                                                           Starts    1st    2nd    other    total

Jura- Mrs W M Bergius                            36    19      6 4    29
Sanda- James Buchanan          36    10    12       2 24
Bernera- R K Sharp                                   36    4 11   9 24
Fidra- A R Keith Thomson                         39    5      6       9    20
Stroma- John Buchanan                              23    1    0       6        7
Iona- G N Lyall                                          24    1    0       0        1
Westra- F P Rankin                                    23    0    2 0    2

Extract from the Glasgow Herald's review of 1938:-

"The Scottish Islanders as usual provided keen and interesting racing. Mrs W M Bergius's Jura again tops the class, but this year only by a very small margin from Mr James Buchanan's Sanda, which had 4 wins more than Jura, but 4 fewer flags. Mr R K Sharp's Bernera is again in third place, close to the two leaders and well ahead of the other Islanders."

This year J D Cochrane's new boat Canna appears, but finds the going tough.

The Official Results:-

                Starts    1st    2nd    other    total

Jura- Mrs W M Bergius                              39    11    11    7 29
Sanda- James Buchanan                              36    12    10    3    25
Bernera- R K Sharp                                    36       8   7    6       21
Fidra- A R Keith Thomson                          33     3     6      5       14
Stroma- John Buchanan                               31       3    3    4       10
Iona- G N Lyall                                           23    2    1    5     8
Canna- J D Cochrane                                  23    1    0    3       4

Finally, to bring us up to the cessation of yachting for the War, here are the figures for 1939.

The Official Results:-

                                                         Starts    1st    2nd    other    total

Sanda- James Buchanan           34    15         8   4         27
Jura- Mrs W M Bergius                         34   11       12       2       25
Bernera- R K Sharp                                32       5       7    11    23
Fidra- A R Keith Thomson                     33 2       4    5    11
Iona- G N Lyall                                       14     1       1      0        2
Stroma- W S & C R Dobson                  23 1 1    0        2
Westra- John Buchanan                          13    1       0    0        1
Canna- J D Cochrane                              17    0     2    2        4

Sanda won the Bryce Allan Cup

James Buchanan has his best season yet and is champion at last.

John Buchanan has sold Stroma to the Dobsons and bought Westra. A curious feature of the class is the tendency for owners to sell one Islander and replace her with another one. Were there lingering suspicions that the boats were not truly identical?

Westra, Bernera and Cara

Hull Colours again

2010-11-29T09:33:00.000Z

Followers of this blog will understand that having analysed the racing results for the period to 1935 we are all in need of a little break, so here is something different.

While researching the Thom archive I came across some further information about hull colours. It's never been obvious to me why the original owners took this subject so seriously, but there's evidence that they did, especially when Herbert Thom insisted that a varnished finish was "a colour," which common sense suggests is correct.

The reason Herbert Thom gave in an interview with George Findlay of the Glasgow Herald was simply that a painted hull would accumulate layers of paint and become heavier as the years went by, whereas presumably his boat would be scraped off at the end of the season and refinished in the Spring. I suppose this would also allow the topsides to dry out a bit.

In a letter to Yachting Life in June 1999 Mr Robert S Sharp, son of R K Sharp, the sometime owner of Bernera and Sanda, confirmed the original hull colours as follows:-

Westra           yellow
Cara               mid blue
Bernera     black for one year, then green
Stroma       grey
Sanda      navy blue
Jura   light blue
Fidra   red
Iona      white
Gigha            varnished
Canna           white
Isla               white

To comply with the class rules Iona must have changed colour before Canna arrived. Canna was varnished (JHT again) before Isla arrived.

I'm not going to change Stroma, as I'm fond of her Epifanes green 30.

1934 Racing Season

2010-11-27T13:48:00.000Z

winning flags 1934

"As before, Mr J H Thom headed the Scottish Islands class; he won with Gigha last year, and this time has repeated with another and older boat, which shows that it is the man who counts." The Field.

The Glasgow Herald:-

"Mr J H Thom scored a success in Westra, with which he tops the list in the Scottish islands class with 29 flags in 38 starts. His prizes include the Bryce Allan Cup and the No 2 Tarbert Cup."

Need I add more?

The Official Results:-

                                               Starts    1st    2nd    other    total

Westra- J H Thom           38 20    4       5       29
Sanda- James Buchanan               35       6    11       6       23
Cara- J M Christie                        31    4       11       2       17
Bernera- R K Sharp                     34 2       6       7       15
Stroma- Geo Nisbet                     38 2       1       8       11
Iona- J B Whyte                           19 3       2       3       8
Fidra- A R Keith Thomson           38    1 3       4       8

So we can see that William Russell has sold Sanda to James Buchanan, who has in turn sold Iona to a newcomer to the class, J B Whyte.

A major event in the calendar was the Tarbert Cup Races, held over the first weekend of August. Westra's victory in the No 2 Cup was the first time an Islander had won. Herbert Thom had built a reputation as a heavy weather helm and he was in his element in this demanding race. The Glasgow Herald again:-

"There was a fresh breeze from the south-south-west, with very hard squalls and heavy rain in Loch Fyne. The conditions gave the yachts a hard beat from Hunters Quay... The second division racers found the conditions quieter in the Kyle of Bute than in the firth.....they had a keen race in hard squalls to the finish."

Westra

Westra and Sanda

a close race

Westra

Cara, Bernera, Westra and Stroma

The 1933 Racing Season

2010-11-27T12:44:00.001Z

Herbert Thom in his prime

Cara returned to the racing but Westra and Jura still stayed away, leaving a fleet of seven. Gigha didn't get it all entirely her own way, as Sanda ran her a close second. Again the Glasgow Herald:-

"In the Scottish Islands Class Gigha secured the most firsts, but Sanda has the distinction of winning most flags, not only in the class but in the fleet. Some protests towards the end of the season have yet to be decided, and may make some slight alterations in the records."

The reference to protests, that obviously hadn't been quickly resolved, suggests that Islander racing had not been an entirely pleasurable activity for some. The official records show:-

                                         Starts    1st    2nd    other    total

Gigha- J H Thom          36    14      7         3    24
Sanda- Wm Russell                36    10       11      7    28
Stroma- Geo Nisbet               35      6         4      8    18
Bernera- R K Sharp               33 3   4        6    13
Iona- Jas Buchanan                25    3       5       3    11
Fidra- A R Keith Thomson     32    0       3       1    4
Cara- Dr Christie                    21    0       2       2    4

Sanda's wins include the Bryce Allan Cup

In general we can see that a finishing order has been established by now, with William Russell's Sanda the only boat seriously challenging Gigha. Discontent within the class was now at a height, with much rumouring about Gigha being simply a faster boat. George Jackson's Westra had now missed two seasons and he put her up for sale. When Herbert Thom heard that she had been sold to someone on the Solway he persuaded the purchaser to accept his Gigha instead. The Field's correspondent reports:-

"On the relative performance of the two boats the exchange may seem somewhat surprising. There is only one explanation I can think of. Allegations were sometimes heard that the success of Gigha was accounted for by her out-size. Remeasurement more than once showed that there was no foundation for these statements, but Mr Thom is a good sportsman and I expect that he has taken this course to remove any unpleasantness, no matter how unjustified."

The 1932 Racing Season

2010-11-27T12:07:00.000Z


Gigha well heeled

1932 saw no new boats joining the fleet, but George Nisbet's Stroma, which had not competed in 1931, returned to the fray. Fidra appears under the flag of Mr A R Keith Thomson, who had either bought or chartered her from Mr Wordie. Mr Thomson was certainly her owner by 1935 and his family's ownership only ended in 1978 with the death of his widow. Westra, Cara and Jura, their owners perhaps dispirited at being beaten most weeks by Herbert Thom, stayed away leaving a diminished fleet.

Once again Gigha was almost unbeatable. The Glasgow Herald reports:-

"Gigha for the second season was champion in the Scottish Islands Class with a total of 27 prizes, including 21 wins, a record for the class. Next in place was Sanda, with Stroma close up, followed by Bernera, Iona and Fidra."

The official results were:-

                  Starts    1st    2nd    other    total

Gigha- J H Thom                38    21       4       2       27
Sanda- Wm Russell          33       6       7       7 20
Stroma- Geo Nisbet         37       9       5       8       19
Bernera- R K Sharp           31       2    10       3       15
Iona- Jas Buchanan            29       2       6       1       9
Fidra- A R Keith Thomson 17       0       4       1       5

Gigha and Sanda

before the start at Largs

start at Largs 6 August 1932

close finish

The 1931 Racing Season - Arrival of the Yellow Peril

2010-11-27T11:25:00.001Z

At the start of the season the fleet was joined by two newcomers, James Buchana's Iona, no 8 and Herbert Thom's Gigha, no 9, both built by Alfred Mylne's own Bute Slip Dockyard at Ardmaleish on Bute. Thus while the first five boats had been built by McGruers the next four were all from Bute. An article in Classic Boat from 1995 stated that the two yards used identical sets of moulds for the hulls, but it would be good to have chapter and verse for this, as the article contains a number of inaccuracies, for example stating that the boats had iron keels. This is important, as it is likely that the involvement of two yards gave rise to later accusations about Gigha.

Westra, Sanda, Bernera, Cara, Gigha and Iona

Again I quote from the Glasgow Herald's end of season report:-

"GIGHA'S FINE SHOW

...Mr J H Thom dominated the Scottish Islands class with his new boat, Gigha, which had the score of 29 prizes in 33 starts, including 18 firsts. Her wins included the Bryce Allan Cup, and she also won the Coulson Points Cup. Sanda, last year's champion of the class, was the runner-up with 24 flags in 34 races. In addition she won the McBeth Points Prize at the 'Fortnight.' "

The season's records were as follows:-

SCOTTISH ISLANDS CLASS

                  Starts    1st    2nd    other    total

Gigha- J H Thom          33    18    10      1 29
Sanda- W Russell             34       9    11    4       24
Westra- G Jackson           21 5 5    4       14
Bernera- R K Sharp          31 1       1    10       12
Cara- Dr Christie          28    1       5       3       9
Iona- James Buchanan      31 1       1       4       6
Fidra- W Wordie               20       1 1       2       4

Following the Bryce Allan competition in August The Field commented:-

"This [The race from Hunter's Quay to the Kyles of Bute] is one of the most popular events of the Clyde racing season. All the yachts competed on a general handicap for the trophy, and each boat from the smallest to the largest had a sporting chance of success, and Gigha's victory was gained by the narrowest margin, as she saved her time from Mr W F Robertson's 8-metre Caryl, which was conceding her 1 hr 7 min 12 sec, by only 1 1/2 min over a course of 24 miles...."

And in October the anonymous Clyde Notes commented:-

"...Mr J H Thom, with his new boat Gigha was signally successful throughout the season, so much so that the varnished racer- the only one in the class- earned the nickname of "The Yellow Peril." The Islands Class is one-design, and I cannot credit the scarcely veiled suggestions in some quarters that Gigha was something different from the others. Rather do I favour the view that Mr Thom is too good for a local class and would be more in place, as he was last year, in the 6-metre lot."

winning flags 1931

Many years ago I was told, I can't remember by whom, that Gigha was secretly examined after she was laid up for the winter and that her mast was weighed, but no discrepancies found. However the rumbles and rumours were to continue over the next two seasons until Herbert Thom took some decisive action, as we shall see in a future post.

The 1930 Racing Season

2010-11-26T16:33:00.000Z

At the start of the season the existing five boats were joined by Thomas Dunlop Junior's Jura, no 6 and William Wardie's Fidra, no 7, both built by Alfred Mylne's own Bute Slip Dock at Ardmaleish. For a description of the years racing I can do no better than to quote from the local paper once again:-

The Glasgow Herald 4 September 1930

"CLYDE YACHTING

REVIEW OF THE SEASON

...

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The Clyde yacht racing season, which has just come to a close, was favoured with remarkably good sailing weather. There were comparatively few days of prolonged calms and of really hard weather, and what there were of these were the exceptions to eh general rule of racing days with breezes of nice summer strength. Seldom has there been a season in which finishes were so consistently early. The stormiest experience the yachts had was at the Tighnabruaich regatta on July 21, when out of 35 starters 13 boats were forced to give up owing to mishaps. One dismasting took place early in June, but it was due to an extraneous circumstance, Mr J Buchanan's Pallas having her "stick" snapped in the wash of a passing liner. Great popular interest was shown in the appearance of Shamrock V at the Clyde Fortnight, and her successful performances gave immense satisfaction. Nine days hence the challenger will start on her bid for the America's Cup, and there is a widespread feeling of hopelessness as to her chance against the American defender, Enterprise."

Prophetically, for what was to come in the Islands Class in later years, the paper went on to note that:-

"As usual, the contests in the 6-metre class were tremendously keen, and provided excellent sport. Mr J H Thom's Susette headed the A Section and took 24 flags in 39 starts.....Susette took a considerable time to strike her form, but from July 5 onwards she was only twice out of the prize list, and Mr Thom had the satisfaction of winning three races in succession before Fintra and Coral went to America and Finvola was laid up..."

With regard to the Islanders the paper noted

"Mr William Russell's Sanda was the champion in the sporting Scottish Islands Class, which continued to be notable for its remarkably keen racing and close fnishes. The runners-up were Cara and Westra. Sanda also won the cup for the points competition for the class. The official figures show that her margin was only four points ahead of Cara, which were in turn was four points ahead of Westra."

The closing records for the class were:-

                                Starts    1st    2nd    other    Total

Sanda- W Russell          36    14        6          3      23
Cara- Dr Christie           33      9        5          5        19
Westra- G Jackson        35      6 7    8    21
Jura- T Dunlop Jnr         37      3      8          7      18
Stroma- G Nisbet          35      2        6          7        15
Bernera- R K Sharp      30      3      3   2         8
Fidra- W Wordie          30      2        3   2   7

The official figures in the points competition for the cup presented by Mr J M McEwan are:- Sanda (winner) 100 points, Cara, 96, Westra 92, Stroma 77, Jura 74, Fidra, 63 and Bernera, 56.

One person who no doubt watched the Islanders' racing very closely was J Herbert Thom. He had made his name in the 19/24 Class, which disbanded at the end of 1928, having given keen racing since 1897 and the Islanders had effectively taken their place. Herbert Thom had won 108 prizes, including 67 firsts, in his Sunbeam over the four seasons 1925 to 1928 inclusive. In 1929 he had decided to move to the 6-metre class with the Fife-designed Lucille, which he had bought and renamed Susette. He was the class champion, as noted above, his 24 flags including 8 firsts, but maybe felt that his skills would be better tested in the strict one-design racing offered by the Islanders. He duly placed an order with Bute Slip for what was to be Gigha, yacht no 9.

A hearty welcome to friends from Germany

2010-11-16T09:24:00.000Z

I was excited and pleased to find that my blogs have been picked up by www.fky.org, because I have happy memories of friendships made in Germany and sailing in the Baltic. Sailing together in small boats is a great way to get to know another country and make lasting connections. As you will see from my posts I am interested in researching Scottish/German connections and it would be fantastic to develop some research partnerships on specific topics.

It is obvious from the archives of the leading Scottish designers that many fine yachts went from their desks and yards to Germany in the period prior to 1914. A good example of a German client is Edmund Nordheim, who had five yachts designed by Alfred Mylne and built by Alexander Robertson on the Clyde.

After my first sailing visit in 1997 I started to learn German and can now read the language reasonably well, so please don't bother to translate any contribution.

Mit herzliche Gruesse

Ewan

The young Alfred Mylne

2010-11-03T11:26:00.000Z

I am indebted to Martyn Webster for the above image and the following article from The Bailie magazine of 29 June 1904 :-

Mooring 116 has a new tenant for the Winter

2010-10-17T09:53:00.000+01:00

Scottish Boating, my new blog

2010-10-16T08:41:00.002+01:00

I have a lot of nautical material that is only vaguely connected to the Scottish Islanders, or is of general interest, so I have decided to post this on a separate blog.

You can view the Scottish Boating blog here

My idea is to cover a number of subjects, including the history of yacht design and stories about particular yachts, technical issues of design and construction, including my experiences with the six boats I have built and general pieces about small boat sailing in Scotland and around the Baltic.

At the moment I've got a couple of stories with Scottish and German interest posted. There will be some Scandinavian stuff soon. Please take a note of the URL, scottishboating.blogspot.com

I will be delighted to carry any items that I consider appropriate and will always acknowledge contributions.

J Herbert Thom

2010-10-03T08:36:00.000+01:00

I am now researching the racing career of the legendary J Herbert Thom, who really deserves a whole book to himself as one of the most successful racing helms of all time, having proved almost unbeatable in local, national and international competitions.

In the pre-war years Thom won hundreds of races, mainly in the Islands Class and whether sailing his own or one of the other boats. In 1938 he took his new six metre yacht Circe, designed by David Boyd and built the previous year by Robertsons, to Oyster Bay at New York to win the Seawanhaka Cup, which he successfully defended on the Clyde against the Norwegians the following year. Later he was involved in the preparations of the America's Cup challengers Sceptre and Sovereign, but did not helm in either of the actual competitions.

I first heard about Herbert Thom as a sailing-daft child in the 1950s and I know that there are countless stories out there about his meticulous ways, racing tactics and so on. I'm very anxious to record everything and am pretty sure that people a little older than me will have memories they can share.

Alistair Thom has kindly agreed to give me access to his grandfather's archives, so I will have chapter and verse for much of the factual stuff, but anecdotes and memories are what make these projects interesting, so if anyone reading this can help please get in touch.

Herbert Thom was devoted to introducing young people to sailing and there is a fascinating educational film from 1961 on the Scottish Film Archive. The opening sequence shows the man himself on board Canna and apart from the sailing footage the film gives an interesting insight into how attitudes to certain things have changed in quite a short period. I'll refrain from detailed comment so as not to spoil your enjoyment.

Clyde Sailing Video

The yacht on the church - a mea culpa

2010-09-27T10:04:00.000+01:00

image courtesy of the Church website

The lovely yawl Latifa is one of William Fife III's finest creations, but she certainly wasn't around in 1929 when the first batch of Islanders were racing. She was launched at Fairlie in 1936 and is still sailing, having been restored some years ago in Italy.

The finial with the fine scale model dates from 1951 and was dedicated to the late Mr Fife.

The map will have to go back to the drawing board.

Such are the perils of relying on ones ageing memory!

The 1929 Racing Season, Part 3

2010-09-27T10:02:00.000+01:00

By mid August Clyde yachtsmen were into the end of season closing matches. The first of these was on Saturday 17 August at the Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club at Hunters Quay.

"In light and fluky winds the courses were shortened."

I don't know what the courses were, but can imagine a frustrating drift in the tide and gentle little puffs of air in the triangle between the Holy Loch, Kilcreggan and Gourock. The results were:-

Cara        2 hrs 22 mins 20 secs

Westra    2 hrs 24 mins 24 secs

Stroma    2 hrs 25 mins 51 secs

Sanda    2 hrs 29 mins 3 secs

Bernera    2 hrs 29 mins 39 secs

On Saturday 24 August the Royal Gourock Yacht Club held its closing matches.

There was a strong Westerly wind with bad squalls off the Holy Loch and rough seas. The course from the start off the clubhouse at Gourock was a hard thrash upwind to Hunters Quay, then a helter skelter dead run down to Rosneath Patch, then another hard beat back to Gourock, a total of 11 3/5 miles. The results were :-

Westra    2 hrs 17 mins 35 secs

Sanda 2 hrs 19 ins 42 secs

Stroma    2 hrs 21 mins 34 secs

Bernera 2 hrs 29 mins 10 secs

"Cara gave up", said the paper, or rather her crew did, because the boat usually handles the weather better than the mere humans aboard.

The Royal Northern Yacht Club regatta at Craigmore on Saturday 31 August closed the season.

The course was from Craigmore to the Skelmorlie Bell to the Gemlyn Bank and back to Craigmore, then again to the Gemlyn Bank, then to Toward and back to Craigmore, a total of 13 miles. (Right now I don't know where the Gemlyn Bank was, so help please.) The results were:-

Bernera     3 hrs 36 mins 35 secs

Sanda 3 hrs 44 mins 55 secs

Cara 3 hrs 47 mins 5 secs

Stroma 3 hrs 48 mins 12 secs

Westra 3 hrs 50 mins 22 secs

Bernera has achieved her first win and by an outstanding margin of 8 minutes 20 seconds! Class champion Westra is nearly 15 minutes behind.

I have found no evidence of an overall prize being awarded so early in the history of the Class and have attempted my own analysis of the results.

In my estimation Westra was the leading yacht, with six wins, seven seconds, three thirds and finishing unplaced twice. I noticed that often Thomas Dunlop Junior was on board and his experiences no doubt caused him to ask Mr Mylne to build him Jura for the 1930 season.

I would place Sanda second, with six wins, five seconds, two thirds and three unplaced finishes.

Cara comes third with five wins, three seconds, six thirds and one unplaced finish.

Stroma comes fourth with two wins, five seconds, three thirds and two unplaced finishes.

Bernera comes fifth with two wins, six thirds and five unplaced finishes. Her late discovery of form bodes well for her future however.

What is most impressive is the closeness of the finishes throughout the season. The racing must have been incredibly exciting and would have proved what is absolutely the best feature of one-design racing, that it's all down to the helmsman or helmswoman and crew. That everyone won at least a couple of races would have demonstrated to all that winning was always possible. It also suggests of course that all the owners were already seriously competent.

The 1929 Racing Season, Part 2

2010-09-27T08:53:00.000+01:00

On Saturday 29 June Clyde Fortnight started.

The Glasgow Herald reports that all five Islanders have turned out. At the end the paper reports that the Islanders have produced very close finishes. The final positions are:-

Starts       1st    2nd    3rd    Total

Sanda        9    5    3    0       8

Cara          9    2    1    3       6

Westra      9    1    3    3       7

Stroma      9    1    2    0       3

Bernera is not mentioned in the report, but by a process of arithmetic she must have achieved a total of three third places, as these totals add up to 24 rather than 27 and all the other prizes are accounted for.

Saturday 13 July

Royal Western Yacht Club

Four of the yachts took part in the handicap race from Hunters Quay to Tighnabruaich. The results haven't been reported. Sunday was a lay day and on Monday 15 July there was the Tighnabruaich Regatta with a race over 8 miles in sunny, calm, fluky conditions. The results were:-

Stroma    6 hrs 1 min 3 secs

Westra    6 hrs 1 min 38 secs

Sanda         6 hrs 10 mins 11 secs

Cara gave up

Saturday 20 July

Holy Loch Sailing Club

Good racing took place in a fine sailing breeze. The results were:-

Cara         2 hrs 59 mins 17 secs

Stroma     2 hrs 59 mins 45 secs

Bernera    3 hrs 0 mins 50 secs

Westra 3 hrs 3 mins 59 secs

Sanda    3 hrs 5 mins 38 secs

Saturday 27 July

Gareloch Yacht Club

"The Islanders have already a well established reputation for close finishes....Cara had a long lead that looked like a runaway victory...but was caught by Sanda and Stroma." The results were:-

Sanda      4 hrs 7 mins 8 secs

Stroma    4 hrs 7 mins 44 secs

Cara    4 hrs 8 mins 33 secs

Bernera 4 hrs 21 mins 30 secs

Saturday 3 August

Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club, Hunters Quay.

There was a storm and racing postponed. On Monday 5th there were light winds and a nice bright day. The results were:-

Bernera       3 hrs 34 mins 30 secs

Westra    3 hrs 35 mins 20 secs

Cara 3 hrs 36 mins 7 secs

Sanda 3 hrs 36 mins 37 secs

Stroma 3 hrs 40 mins 43 secs

Saturday 10 August

Largs Regatta

There was a South westerly wind, a good breeze. The course was from Largs to the Gemlyn Bank, to Fairlie, back to Largs, back to the Gemlyn Bank and back to the finish at Largs.

"Westra won by 3 minutes 1 second, an unusually large margin..."

The results were:-

Westra    1 hr 59 mins 9 secs

Stroma    2 hrs 2 mins 10 secs

Sanda 2 hrs 3 mins 46 secs

Cara 2 hrs 4 mins 58 secs

Bernera    2 hrs 5 mins 29 secs

Bernera had been over the line at the start and was recalled, so if we assume that it cost her a minute the five boats had sailed about thirteen sea miles within six minutes of each other.

My next post will cover the remainder of the season.

The 1929 Racing Season, Part 1

2010-09-26T14:21:00.001+01:00

As soon as the railways and fleets of steamers were established the Firth of Clyde became the playground for the people of Glasgow, rich and poor alike, who would go "doon the watter" to resorts such as Dunoon, Rothesay and Largs.

In the illustration above a party of cheery souls from Paisley in a charabanc are about to descend the Haylie Brae into Largs for ice cream and folly.

Meantime a fellow on his motor bike is zooming North from West Kilbride towards Fairlie, where his boat is moored, while his pal from Glasgow has just passed the Cloch Lighthouse in his red sports car.

An elderly lady is being taken out for a drive from Dunoon down to Toward Point, while a young couple have hired bikes to cycle round the Big Cumbrae and a local worthy is sculling off the North of the island.

A family on holiday at Port Bannatyne are out in a rowing boat off Ardmaleish Point. My late father recalled that on such a summer's day in the 1920s a whale appeared alongside the boat and alarmed the family, until my great-aunt, recently returned from her exploits in South Africa and quite fearless, sang to it and made it go away.

Most important and certainly more relevant to this post the five original Islanders are engaged in close competition between Cumbrae and Bute.

The Firth of Clyde must be one of the finest stretches of water anywhere for tactical yacht racing. It contains a network of sea lochs and some lovely islands against a mixed backdrop of hills and coastal towns. While relatively sheltered the Firth has to be treated with respect, as the hills cause plenty of wind shifts and squalls, while the tide creates interesting sea conditions and has been responsible for many races being won and lost.

By the 1920s the racing season was well developed, with the organisation shared among a number of yacht clubs based at the main centres. The racing was a spectator as well as a participant sport and many of the folk who went doon the watter would have known as much about the yachts as present day fans know about footballers.

The Glasgow Herald newspaper (it had not yet started to pretend it was a national daily and dropped the "Glasgow" in its name) reported on the racing in all the classes and what follows has been compiled from its archives.

The sailing season started formally on 24 May 1929, but only Westra, Cara and Bernera were ready, so they decided to wait for Sanda and Stroma before inaugurating the Class.

The following weekend Sanda and Stroma were still not ready. Maybe they were trying to get their new Watermotas to start. In any event the others went ahead on 1 June 1929 at the Royal Gourock Yacht Club.

The paper reports:-

"The new class replaces the 19/24s, whose first race was exactly 32 years ago at Greenock...Westra, Cara and Bernera turned out....Westra won by 1 minute 26 seconds from Cara.

They impressed as smart, roomy and desirable little racing cruisers. The two other boats, Sanda and Stroma will join the Class very shortly....On the opening stretch to Hunters Quay Westra opened up a promising lead from Cara and Bernera, but down wind to Rosneath Patch Bernera ran past both leaders and Cara also overhauled Westra. In beating back to the home mark Bernera did not do so well and Westra soon worked into the lead again and showed the way to Cara to the finish."

On Saturday 8 June these three boats met again at the Clyde Corinthian Yacht Club regatta at Hunters Quay. There was a nice Southerly breeze. The paper reports:-

"Cara got her first premier flag, beating Westra by 3 minutes. Bernera was badly tailed off."

The course was from Hunters Quay to Inverkip, then to Cove, back to Hunters Quay, then to Kilcreggan and back, a total of 14.5 miles.

On Saturday 15 June four of the boats were at Rothesay for the Royal Northern Yacht Club regatta. The course was from Rothesay to the Gemlyn Bank at Skelmorlie and back, then to Toward Black Buoy and back, a total of 13 miles. The results were

Westra 2hrs 34 mins 27 secs

Cara 2 hrs 34 mins 47 secs

Stroma 2 hrs 36 mins 21 secs

Bernera 2 hrs 36 mins 50 secs

Thus less than two and a half minutes separated the fleet after 13 miles!

On Friday 21 June the racing was back up the Firth at the Holy Loch Sailing Club

Only two Islanders appeared and Mr W Bergius' Tringa, "the only one of the old 1.75 rater class forward" was invited to join them. The results were:-

Tringa, special prize 8 hrs 15 mins 38 secs

Westra winners prize 8 hrs 15 mins 40 secs

Cara second prize 8 hrs 18 mins 26 secs

I was interested to note that the prizes for these races were in cash, usually a first place made £4, second £2 and third £1. Most of the yachts would have carried a paid hand, so these prizes would have financed his bonus for winning.

My next post will describe the mid-season events.

A mystery yacht

2010-09-23T08:41:00.000+01:00

My friend Jim Robb came across this photo some years ago on the East coast, but it seems equally possible that it was taken on either the Clyde or the Forth. In any event it is a rare shot of one of the old racers in action, at a time when it would have been very difficult to keep a camera operational at sea.

Years ago in a pub at Bowling I met an old fellow who in his youth during the Great Depression had made a little money hauling a yacht through the Forth and Clyde canal after Clyde Fortnight. The job took two days and in addition to his fee he was given the fare back West, but of course just walked home. He told me that the Grangemouth boys did similar work at the start of the Fortnight.

Looking carefully at the background we can just see some substantial buildings of a seaside town to starboard and a similar, more distant, row ahead, in each case with a backdrop of low-lying hills. My bet is that this picture was taken off Gourock with the yacht reaching in a good South-westerly breeze.

The rig suggests one of the old Clyde classes from the turn of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Perhaps she is a Clyde 30, which were gaff-rigged originally and about fortytwo feet overall, thirty on the waterline.

The iron tiller was a hallmark of William Fife III, so perhaps she is one of his creations.

She is flying the owner's racing flag, but in a race on the Clyde surely the owner would have been at the helm? The powerful chap on the helm, wearing a heavy fisherman's smock, is clearly a paid hand. The fellow balancing on the whisker pole, who also wears a smock and rubber wellies, may be a second hand. He must have been confident that the pole wouldn't break. The chap sitting to leeward is certainly the owner, with his nice oilskin jacket and yachting cap. The girl standing in the weather rigging is also sensibly dressed. Has she gone up to pose for the photo, or is she concerned about the second hand's heroics?

The yacht is bigger than an Islander, but the image gives a feel for what a typical day on the water was like about a hundred years ago. The normal Islander crew comprised owner, friend and one other, who was often a paid hand.

Answers or polite suggestions on a comment, please.

A few additional bits and pieces

2010-09-19T09:40:00.001+01:00

I'm pleased with the progress of this blog so far. It's heading for 700 pageviews and I've had a number of encouraging messages.

I'm really keen to gather all available information about the history not only of the Islanders, but also of our boat-building tradition in the West and of the yacht racing that took place around the Clyde. There was a great deal of interest in the latter, with the races being regularly written up in the Herald and Scotsman and the yachts being featured in postcards such as the above.

Perhaps the tradition of different hull colours facilitated a bit of gambling on the results. It would be fun to know.

In the meantime I've discovered that of the first five boats, numbers 1 and 2, Westra and Cara, opted to have no engines, while Bernera, Stroma and Sanda had Watermotas.

The sailing season started formally on Friday 24 May 1929, but only Westra, Cara and Bernera were ready, so it was decided to postpone the inauguration of the Class. On Saturday 1st June these three went ahead regardless, at the Royal Gourock, as the others were still not ready.

I've also come across a copy of the new Constitution and Rules that were adopted in 1999, so here they are:-

These rules were intended to be sufficiently flexible to encourage the construction of new boats in the Class, while preserving the main things that matter. So far only the indefatigable Martyn has risen to the challenge and the result is his beautiful Shona, engineered and built by Richard Pierce. Richard still has his drawings and calculations, should anyone be interested.

Stroma's 2010 Season Part 2

2010-09-15T14:32:00.000+01:00

Gigha, courtesy of the island's Heritage Trust

My log for 1979 contains the following entries for the Glasgow Fair Weekend:-

"Self and PS

Saturday July 14 HW Oban 09.42 BST, pressure 1030, cloudy, rainy wind S force 2

Departed Ardfern 09.00 wind increased to SW 4/5 had quick beat down to Craighouse. Becalmed off Nine Foot Rock and had slow sail through Small Isles Bay. Got anchor down at 18.00.

Sunday 15 July, pressure 1035, bright, light W wind

Departed Craighouse 08.45 wind backed SW force 3 had pleasant reach across to Gigha, anchored in 11/2 fathoms in Ardminish Bay (white sandy bottom) at 12.20.

Monday 16 July HW Oban 11.21 BST North going stream in Sound of Gigha starts 02.44.

Departed Ardminish 05.20, visibility very bad, pouring rain. Wind SW 5/6. Tied in one reef as didn't know what seas would be like outside.

At McCormaig Isles wind moderated, day cleared, shook out reef. Had very fast reach and kept tide till past Crinan. On mooring Ardfern 13.20."

In a typical Fair Weekend (i.e. rain and wind) we had sailed about 80 sea miles, allowing for tacking, in just over 20 hours.

Peter sent me this post card to celebrate our trip, he does this sort of thing.

1916 postcard

My memories of Gigha were of a fairy tale island blessed with exotic plants, incredible white sand and a tide that moved fast but didn't seem to go in or out. It was also an incredibly quiet place with the large old-fashioned hotel the only place to visit and no other facilities.

Since 1979 the island had suffered under various somewhat colourful owners before being taken into community ownership. By 2009 I was keen to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the trip, but the attempt ended when we were becalmed in thick fog and it became dangerous to go on. After an anxious hour or so the weather cleared enough for us to feel our way into Crinan.

Just before midsummer 2010 we had better luck. Peter couldn't make the trip, but his son Ken (not born in 1979) came with me and our old friend Ken Campbell, who often sailed with us in the 1970s. The only lesson from the trip was that if you don't want everything done twice don't sail with two men of the same name.

The problem with this trip is that you have much less tide going South, as it turns progressively earlier the further you go, for example Gigha is three and a half hours ahead of Oban. Coming back North the opposite is true, so timing doesn't matter so much.

To avoid an unseemly early start we set off from Kilmelford on the Friday evening, June, and sailed round to Toberonochy.

Kilchattan Bay is a favourite spot of mine, soaked in history. King Alexander II anchored his fleet there on the night of 7 July 1249 on his way to meet with Ewen of Argyll, who controlled the inner isles at that time. Ewen had been pursuing a diplomatic balancing act between the Scottish and Norwegian crowns for some years and had been trying to persuade Alexander that it was possible to owe allegiance to two masters. The King was not buying this and set off with his fleet.

Alexander's trip was not a great success, as he was stood up. Ewen of Argyll had gone to Stornoway, taking with him the ten year old prince of the Isle of Man, for the boy's protection and also no doubt as a bargaining counter. The following day Alexander died at Horsehoe Bay on Kerrera, leaving his kingdom to his own ten year old son, who became Alexander III. I have read a lot about this period and have never come across any suggestion of foul play, so it seems likely that Alexander II was already stricken with some deadly illness and made his trip in an attempt to obtain some control for his successors over this part of what he claimed as his realm. His son was crowned just a week or so later at Perth, which suggests that the Court had the arrangements already in hand. Of course the Western Isles weren't to come under the control of the Scottish kings for many years after that.

The walls of the old kirk at Kilchattan bear graffiti that may have been done by Alexander's marines during their visit. We can tell that the graffiti depicts Scottish ships as they have rudders. The graffiti doesn't photograph well, so here is an image from a tomb slab showing the typical shape of a Scottish vessel.

image courtesy of unknown memorial sculptor

She has short ends and a centrally hung rudder, as opposed to the Viking ships, which had the long ends suited to open water passages, but required a steering oar, slung of course over the starboard side. This difference would have given the Scots an advantage in our narrow inshore passages subject to strong tides and the Vikings an advantage offshore.

Luing is full of haunting reminders of an industrious and sometimes turbulent past, when the islands were the centres of all sorts of activity. Visitors will find everything apart from shops, including prehistoric duns, an old water mill haunted by elves, who demand a hair as a tribute, curious religious messages carved by a madman whose hobby was making his own gravestones, and the scars left behind by the unremitting slog of the slate industry. They will also find a population of more hares (the other type) than humans, a special herd of cattle and a landscape like that of the Outer Hebrides.

We set off from Kilchattan Bay the following morning with about three hours of tide against us, to get the best use out of the South-going ebb later, carrying one reef in the main, destination Ardminish if the wind held and Craighouse if it didn't. We were lucky that a Westerly Force 3 to 4 held all day with bright sun. For hour after hour Stroma reached along, as always light on the helm, at maximum hull speed. Passing Skerryvore we decided to go for Gigha as we still had a few hours of tide with us. We were anchored in Ardminish by late afternoon, about seven and a half hours after setting off.

The following day there was a yachtsman's gale from the North, so we had a day to explore Gigha and for the older Ken to re-discover his childhood haunts from holidays in John McMillan's cottage more than fifty years ago.

The Isle of Gigha today, after several years of community ownership, has to be the finest example of what wonders can be achieved once the iron grip of the traditional Highland landowner is broken.

For a start the visitor moorings were all occupied, mainly by visiting Irish boats, for whom Gigha is an easy destination, but also at least one by a crew from across the Atlantic.

On shore there is a welcoming quayside restaurant, the hotel is jumping and there are various craft and other attractions to be added to the famous Achamore gardens.

There is a lot of building activity, in an attractive style that respects our traditions, while maximising solar gain and modern materials. There is an element of uniformity that I found pleasing.

In summary, what was virtually an economic basket case has become a vibrant, self-sustaining community with a great sense of purpose. The Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust website can be viewed here.

We left early on the Sunday morning with the wind still a strong Northerly and after a few hours of being flung around in the lumpy seas thrown up by wind against tide we decided not to go on and settled for a fast, bumpy reach across to Craighouse, where it was a relief to hook up to a visitor mooring.

We didn't see much of Craighouse, as we had an early start next day, but there seems to be a big contrast between Gigha and Jura, the latter not having moved on very much in thirty years and still belonging to a few rich owners.

The next morning we got away very early, in very little wind, with the younger Ken towing us out behind the trusty Peigi, which went with us everywhere this Summer.

Outside the Small Isles we picked up a gentle Westerly, which came and went all day, part sailing, part drifting on the tide, until we just got past Crinan. As the tide started to turn against us we picked up a new wind from the North west, which gave us a fetch to Asknish Point and then a reach home.

We had covered about 90 sea miles in about 28 hours under sail.

Stroma's 2010 Season Part 1

2010-09-13T14:28:00.001+01:00

We were launched at the beginning of April, so by the end of September will have managed a full half year afloat, the longest for some years. Mostly we have enjoyed short day sails with old and new friends, but there were a couple of longer trips that are worth a mention. This is the first of them.

The Royal Highland Yacht Club is both one of the oldest and the one of the most modern in the World. The oldest because it dates from 1881, the most modern because it is now well on the way to being a cyber-club, which should ensure a thriving membership.

I have a nice memory from years ago of an oldish well-dressed couple from one of the South coast "Royal" clubs, on the front at Oban asking for directions to our clubhouse, to exercise their rights of reciprocity. They were about fifty years too late. Members of the Club are scattered all over Scotland, with many further afield, so it makes perfect sense not to have a fixed base. Instead we meet at various musters and other events, in and outwith the sailing season, the Summer ones being in well-kent anchoring spots. This gives a perfect opportunity to make a short trip, knowing there will be a convivial event at the end.

The Opening Muster this year on a May weekend was in Loch Spelve, where we enjoyed a mussel feast courtesy of the farm there.

Peter and I set off in Stroma on the Friday, to make a longer weekend. To get more of a sail we went South round the Isle of Luing and carried the tide up past Scarba, the Grey Dogs to the Pladda Light.

Fladda ahead, Mull beyond (image Peter)

Easdale on starboard bow (image Peter)

North of the Isles of the Sea, (image Peter)

An Easterly wind of about Force 3 gave a flat sea and we had a pleasant short voyage to Puiladobhrain (Pulldoran), which we have often made and countless others have been making since yachting began. You can't really beat Pulldoran as a safe spot from which to jump off on a cruise, a lovely safe lagoon about five minutes hike from the Tigh an Truish and its legendary seafood.

Safe in the pool of the otter (image Peter)

A great bonus this year was meeting up with our friends Hal and Iain and their pals on the Molly Ban. They anchored outside the lagoon, as at nineteen metres the Molly Ban would have blocked the entrance.

Molly Ban (image courtesy of riverclydephotgraphy.org)

One of the great delights of hopping around our inshore waters is that our sailing tender the Peigi goes with us. She was my first attempt at boat-building, a Joel White Nutshell design courtesy of Wooden Boat and still going strong after twentyfour years. Of all the tenders I have come across this must be absolutely the best, incredibly sea-worthy, easy to row and able with care to carry a load. Best of all is the sailing rig, set up in a couple of minutes, enabling one to explore the corners of remote anchorages. I had some worries about her a few years ago, when we towed her through the Dorus Mhor on a reach at far above her design speed, but she came through without shipping more than a few drops.

Peigi gets rigged to go for coffee (image PS)

Early on the Saturday I set up the rig and sailed over in Peigi for coffee, then a shot on one of Hal's geodesic canoes, which he launched from the sort of hanger in the stern of Molly Ban. I was pleased to get back without a swim.

At about midday we set off for the sail to Loch Spelve, a fast reach in a strong Northerly wind, the sun dancing on a sparkling blue sea, a panorama of little islands to the South, far beyond the normal range of vision.

The Islanders are fantastic on this sort of beam reach, light on the helm while approaching maximum hull speed of about 7 knots. And this stretch of water, framed by the hills of Mull, Kerrera and the upper Firth of Lorn and the Isles of the Sea is small boat heaven.

The entrance to Loch Spelve is long and winding, past the rows of buoys for the mussel ropes, which severely restrict one's sea-room (but of course enable our nice hosts to exist). We were safely anchored by mid afternoon and had a great feast later.

I lost count of the number of tacks getting out on the Sunday, but here are some shots of us leaving, courtesy of Chardonnay.

images by Diana

Once clear we had a good run down to the Cuan Sound. Our arrival was timed about right, as we were just at the start of the South-going stream, which is about two hours before High Water. In other words the water level is still rising when it is going South, something to remember if one ever gets stuck.

The Sound is a useful passage to Loch Melfort and is perfectly safe. In particular I don't believe it would be possible to get stuck on the Cleit Rock even if you tried, such is the water pressure around it. The only time we experienced any problem was on a calm day a few years ago when we were buzzed by a powerful RIB, whose bow wave turned Stroma round and we lost steerage way. We had to proceed sternwards for a while, until we could get out of the strongest of the tidal stream and gybe ourselves round in a little bay.

This year we had no problems and were safely moored at the head of the loch in time for tea.

Shona, yacht no 12

2010-09-10T14:45:00.001+01:00

photo by Richard Pierce

Shona is the new boat, built by Richard Pierce for Martyn Webster and launched in 2000. There is quite a bit written about her elsewhere on this blog. Here in Martyn's words is her naming voyage:-

"In the Scottish Islands One Design Class a condition of the individual yachts being "in class" is that they should each be painted a separate distinctive colour; also that the name of each boat should be the name of a Scottish island ending in the letter "a". Yet how many of the class have actually visited their island namesake? Some of the islands are relatively close to the river Clyde, where most of the fleet are moored, but some are more remote and would require a special expedition to visit...I am thinking of Stroma and Fidra in particular.

The book written by Hamish Haswell Smith "The Scottish Islands" (Canongate, 1996) has fascinating details about most of the Scottish islands and it was this book that I consulted when deciding what I should call the newest yacht in the class, built by Richard Pierce in Cumbria and launched in 2000. I decided on "Shona", partly because I liked the name, partly because I knew a beautiful girl called Shona and partly because I wanted to visit the island with the yacht.

I have been privileged to own a few Scottish Island boats. "Cara" I owned for a decade and visited Cara, the island, with her on several occasions. As a colleague once told me, the island of Cara is difficult to avoid, it being the one that you run into in the mist after having rounded the Mull of Kintyre. "Isla" and "Bernera" I owned only briefly - enough time to start the process of restoration before handing them on to their present owners, who as far as I am aware, have not yet ventured out of the Clyde in search of their named island.

In 2001, encouraged by Ewan Kennedy, at that time still restoring "Stroma", I decided to take Shona to visit Eileen Shona which sits at the mouth of Loch Moidart, just North of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. Ewan and I set off from loch Melfort and easily reached Tobermory the same day, experiencing an interesting tide rip off Duart point, which with the wind in the opposite direction succeeded in soaking us thoroughly. The relatively small freeboard does result in quite a lot of water coming aboard, but none of it got inside which remained snug and dry. Anchoring in Tobermory bay that evening we went to visit the fleshpots of that town which still existed then, before Ballymory, the children's television programme, turned the place into a juvenile touristic venue. I found that Ewan was well known in the Mishnish bar and I set about trying to establish myself as a worthy Mishnish patron. The result was that the next day, on setting a course to round Ardnamurchan, it was not just the sea that was covered in mist. . . my own head took some time to clear.

The seas off the peninsula are well known to be frightening, but we were lucky to have relatively good weather with a light breeze. Nevertheless the waves in that area are considerably larger than those in the more sheltered waters of the Clyde estuary. Shona behaved impeccably, taking a little water over her bow, but shedding it before it reached the mast. We had less trouble here than we had had the previous day at Duart.

Once the peninsula was passed and the mist had lifted we could make out the not very distinctive shape of Eileen Shona and set a course for her. Anchoring a couple of cables offshore we landed in the inflatable dinghy and scrabbled about on the barnacled rocks, picking up a few rounded rocks and a sprig of heather which we took back to the boat. We photographed each other, the boat, the island, the rocks and the heather and made the necessary introductions between the island and the yacht.

The heather didn't last, but the pebbles still sit at the base of the mast, to remind Shona where her spirit comes from."

launching day

Isla, yacht no 11

2010-09-10T14:36:00.003+01:00

Isla was built by Bute Slip Dock Company in 1959 she was first owned by Mr and Mrs Peter Simpson, who had previously owned Bernera, and originally painted white. By that time Canna and Iona were no longer white, because the Rules did not permit two boats to be the same colour at the same time. Here is the report of her launching.

Isla eventually spent about fifteen years shore at Kilcreggan before being bought by Martyn Webster, who had her restored and sold her to Peter and Heather Wylie in 1996. She is now based at Gourock.

Canna, yacht no 10

2010-09-10T14:35:00.000+01:00

photo by Clive Brown

Canna was built by Bute Slip Dock Company in 1938 for J D Cochrane.

She was owned by J Herbert Thom from 1948 to 1963. Originally painted white, she became varnished after 1954, as Herbert Thom preferred this and took a lot of trouble to establish that a varnished finish was a "colour" in terms of the Class Rules, which were in the early days incredibly strictly enforced.

From 1963 to 1968 she belonged to Mr and Mrs W Turner. I have a gap in my records from then until she was in the ownership of the Roberts family in the 1980s, by which time she had a folkboat cabin and a cut-down rig.

She became pretty well derelict and eventually she passed to the Balvicar boatyard, where she lay for many years, while they started work on the more serious problems.

Salvation arrived when she was bought in 2001 by Paddy Shaw of Taynuilt who restored her in the space of one heroic winter, working in a disused farm shed with one end open to the elements. She is now based in Loch Etive, which is her base for Paddy's numerous adventures in her.

Gigha, yacht no 9

2010-09-10T14:33:00.000+01:00

Gigha was built by Bute Slip Dock Company in 1931 for J Herbert Thom she had a varnished hull in common with his other boats. He fought the other owners for this privilege, as some thought that varnished wood was not a colour. Subsequent owners included:-

            1938 W N Newall
            1960 Miss L C Edwards
            1978 A H Mowatt.

During Mr Mowatt's ownership she spent many years laid up in the open on the shore at Kings Cross on Arran and became derelict. Eventually her restoration was undertaken by the well-known boat-builder and now model-maker David Spy. After a complete rebuild she emerged almost unbeatable in races on the Firth of Clyde.

She is now owned by Scott Raeburn and based at Troon.

For anyone interested her hull colour is now a special light blue/green, which Scott prepared himself.

Iona, yacht no 8

2010-09-10T14:32:00.000+01:00

from a photo by Ian G Gilchrist

Iona was built by Bute Slip Dock Company in 1931 she was originally painted white. She was registered to the following owners:-

            1935 J B Whyte
            1938 G N Lyall
            1948 R R Boyd
            1951 G Forman
            1953 Mr and Mrs J H Christie
            1963 J G Mowat

There is a rumour that Iona was destroyed deliberately around 1980, for what reason and precisely how we do not know. Some reports are that she was towed out past Hunterston and scuttled, others that she was broken up on shore. I would dearly like to know anything further about her. Apart from Westra she would be the only boat that no longer existed.

Fidra, yacht no 7

2010-09-10T14:11:00.000+01:00

Fidra was built at Bute Slip Dock Company in 1930 for William Wordie OBE TD, of 52 Cleveden Drive, Glasgow, a member of the Royal Northern Yacht Club from 1924, who also owned Fiumara the Mylne designed Aux Ketch and Froya an eight metre.

Mr Wordie sold Fidra in 1935 to Mr A R Keith Thomson. After his death she remained in Mrs Thomson's ownership until 1978, making one of the longest continuous period of one family's ownership to date.

Throughout she conformed to her original plan and her hull was painted red.

After being purchased by Walter Brown in 1978 she was converted for cruising at McGruers and her rig was modernised.

Since the 1980s Fidra has belonged to renowned double-bassist Rick Standley.

Jura, yacht no 6

2010-09-10T14:10:00.001+01:00

from a photo by Ian G Gilchrist

Jura was built by the Bute Slip Dock Company in 1930 for Thomas Dunlop Junior, Member of the Royal Northern Yacht Club since 1919, 50 Wellington Street, Glasgow and the son of Sir Thomas.

In 1934 she was bought by Mrs Bergius, passing to Adam Bergius in 1946. See his greetings post for some of his experiences aboard Jura.

By 1978 she is shown as registered to Allan Foster. For many years thereafter she was based on the Forth and sailed there latterly by Alan MacKenzie.

Adam Bergius had her successfully converted for cruising by Freddy Mylne and she still has this configuration, but is in need of a rebuild. She awaits a new owner at Lowestoft Boatbuilding Training College.

Sanda, yacht no 5

2010-09-10T14:08:00.001+01:00

from a photo by Ian G Gilchrist

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

Sanda's first owners were W & T E Russell, who raced her successfully until the end of 1933, when they sold her to James Buchanan, member of the Royal Northern Yacht Club from 1929, of the Govancroft Pottery, Glasgow, who raced her up to the War. Mr Buchanan originally owned Iona, one of the newer Bute Slip boats, and one can speculate that he maybe felt the McGruer boats were faster.

She is shown as registered to R K Sharp in 1951 (but why did Mr Sharp sell Bernera and then buy another Islander?).

By 1977 she belonged to Mr and Mrs C P Kingston of Penarth.

Now in Yorkshire with Huw Jones, who found her near Mallaig in 2009.

For those who are interested her hull colour was originally dark blue.

The image shows her starting at Hunter's Quay in the Tarbert Race, just ahead of Dragon no UK 26. This Dragon, Argee, was built by Robertsons in 1937 for Miss Sheila Leitch, so we can approximately date the photo. (I suspect she may have been a member of the famous Tarbert sailmaker's family.)

Stroma, yacht no 4

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photo by Richard Pierce

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

Her first owner was George Nisbet, a Glasgow shipowner, who bought his first tramp steamer, the second-hand SS Greatham, in partnership with John Calder in 1905. Nisbet, Calder & Co lasted until 1913, then George Nisbet & Co operated as ship owners and managers, forming a number of companies such as Clydesdale Navigation Co Limited. There was eventually a substantial fleet of ships with names starting with Blair. Their record is a history of the suffering of the British merchant fleet through two world wars, with in addition a number of tragic losses in storms at sea, such as the horrendous fate of the 26 man crew of the Blairgowrie, which sank in a North Atlantic hurricane in February 1935.

George Nisbet campaigned Stroma until 1937, when he sold her to John Buchanan. She is shown in the Registers as belonging subsequently to:-

            1938 F P Rankin
            1939 W S and C R Dobson
            1949 W A Caldwell
            1956 T O Buchanan
            1960 J H Lang
            1963 Henderson and Smith

By the 1970s she belonged to Ron MacLachlan, who was a well-kent figure around the Clyde and cruised her extensively. Ron sold her to Alexander and Keith Neilson, who sold her to John Thomson, a roofing contractor from Ayr, who moored her in Ayr Harbour and raced her successfully, winning the Southern Cross, a night race round Ailsa Craig which took place in near gale force conditions.

Since September 1976 she has belonged to me. I kept her at various locations between Oban and the Clyde, then in 1989 I was persuaded to lend her to Scottish Maritime Museum (Irvine), on the basis that she would become a working exhibit and be progressively restored to first class condition, serving as a teaching aid for carpentry apprentices.

What happened subsequently will be the subject of a separate post. By 1995 she had become a wreck and I spent the next eight years restoring her.

Since 2003 she has been berthed at Kilmelford.

For those who are interested in such matters her original hull colour is not confirmed, but soon after her launch she was grey, then light green, then she went through a white period and is currently, following her restoration, light green again.

Bernera, yacht no 3

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photo by Clive Brown

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

Bernera was commissioned by Mr W M Dunn, but it seems he hardly sailed on her, if at all, because within a year she had been bought by Robert K Sharp, who owned her from 1929 to 1950, one of the longest periods of continuous ownership, with just a short break. During the War Mr Sharp served in the Dover Patrol, an extremely dangerous exercise. By 1944, having become very stressed and convinced that he would not survive, he sold Bernera, only to regret his decision immediately. He approached her purchaser, who agreed to sell her back to him.

Here is an image of Bernera alongside the King's yacht Britannia on the Holy Loch during a Clyde Fortnight in the early 1930s.

In 1950 Mr Sharp sold her again and once again regretted what he had done. Fortunately Sanda was on the market, so he was able to buy her. Bernera remained in the ownership of her new owner D H Taylor until 1956, then she belonged to Mr and Mrs P Simpson until 1959. By the 1960s she belonged to Mr R E Pender, then she was converted for cruising by Terry Wade in the late 1970s. Eventually she was bought by Martyn Webster and reconverted to her original configuration by John Hill at Renfrew in 1997.

Martyn sold her to Arup and Mary Ray, who had further extensive work carried out and she is now berthed at Kilmelford.

Arup Ray and Bernera at Kilmelford

For those who are interested in such matters she had a light green hull originally, subsequently grey, then went through a white period like most old boats and is now light blue.

Cara, yacht no 2

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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!

Westra, yacht no 1

2010-09-10T13:06:00.005+01:00

photo by Ian G Gilchrist

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

The first owner of Westra was George Jackson, who possibly carried on business at 14 Royal Exchange Buildings, Glasgow and had joined the Royal Northern Yacht Club in 1919.

In 1934 she was purchased by the legendary J Herbert Thom, whom you can read about in subsequent posts on this blog. He bought Westra in order to put paid to rumours that his previous and newer yacht Gigha was faster than the others. He proved this with a vengeance, becoming class champion in Westra in 1934, 1935 and 1936, winning 83 flags from 110 starts. By 1938 she is shown as registered to J Buchanan.

She had a varnished hull and thereby hangs a tale, because Herbert Thom preferred his boats to have varnished hulls and came into conflict with the other owners over whether this was allowed by the Class Rules, which required the hulls to have a colour. There was some logic in Thom's preference, because he wanted to avoid the accumulation of layers of heavy paint on the topsides. Many years ago I heard a suggestion that the matter had gone to some form of adjudication, but I don't believe that it extended further than some mild mutterings from some of the other owners.

In the Autumn of 1940 a German bomber that had got lost on its way to blitz Clydebank set fire to Munro's boatyard at Gairletter on Loch Long and Westra was one of the yachts destroyed, along with three Dragons, three Loch Longs and one of the Pleiades. I haven't been able to discover any more details about this, but numerous tales went about and I remember being told of a river of lead from the keels, which seems highly unlikely.

Blue Books and Blue Ensigns

2010-09-10T12:01:00.001+01:00

When the Islanders were built it was normal practice even for small yachts to be entered in the Register of British Ships and obtain the Blue Book, now much coveted by restorers of ancient classic yachts. When I bought Stroma it never occurred to me that this was so and it was several years before I discovered that technically she still belonged to Ron MacLachlan, several owners before me. After quite a bit of research I traced the intervening owners and everyone co-operated in my obtaining documentary proof from the Registrar of British Ships at Greenock that I now owned all sixty four shares of the Sailing Ship Stroma, the eighteenth vessel registered by him in the year 1929 with the Official Number 161770.

This practice of owning ships in sixty-fourths goes back certainly to Roman times and probably to ancient Phoenician times as well. It must have been seen as a convenient way to legislate for multiple owners and of course each sixty-fourth share could itself have a number of owners, so the possibilities were endless.

A lot of the romance has gone out of this nowadays of course, since we have to obtain a computerised certificate from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, for which they levy a charge every five years. Another example of intrusive Government activity making us pay for absolutely nothing, just as we are charged for having our moorings on the sea-bed.

Once your vessel is registered and if you happen to belong to a yacht club that is "Royal" you can go a step further and obtain an Admiralty warrant for your ship to wear the Blue Ensign. As I am not a great monarchist I was in two minds about this until the late Captain John Campbell, who went through the War in the Merchant Navy in charge of a troop ship, told me how offended he was to see tiny little pleasure boats sailing about under the Red Duster. Of course detractors whisper that the Blue signifies you must have bought your yacht on hire purchase, as your ship requires to be registered before you can put a mortgage on her.

In our West coast waters you can be pretty sure that when you see another Blue Ensign on the water you are meeting up with another member of the fine old Royal Highland Yacht Club and that gives one a good feeling.

Class Rules

2010-09-10T11:33:00.002+01:00

It seems likely that the first ever one-design racing boats in European waters were the Water Wags of Dublin Bay, devised in 1886 and still going strong today. The idea caught on, for reasons that were expressed by H C Folkard twenty years later as follows:-

"The introduction of a one-design class is the result of the uncertainty and dissatisfaction occasioned by rules of measurement and rating of the Yacht Racing Association as applied to small racing yachts, the frequent alteration of those rules, and the facilities afforded for evasion, whereby unfair advantages have been gained, coupled with the expense attendant on the short career of a racing-boat under such rules, involving the building of a new boat nearly every year."

By 1927 Lloyds Register of Yachts was able to list over sixty one-design classes and by the last edition of the Register in 1980 there were 250 of them. There is an inherent problem with one-designs however, going to the very root of human nature - everyone wants his or her boat to go faster then everyone else's. This applies whether or not there is a good commercial reason, such as a fishing boat wanting to be the first to land her catch, a tea clipper chasing the London market or a pilot boat looking for the richest of the incoming client ships. Who among us can honestly deny that the blood stirs when another sail appears during our pleasant afternoon on the water? And with one-designs success and failure are ostensibly down to the helm and his or her crew, so that it becomes much more personal than with cheque-book yachting.

Because everyone has an incentive to maximise performance the rules become more and more prescriptive. At present I haven't found a copy of the original rules of the Islanders. They were rewritten in 1958 after the conversion of Jura and here is a copy:-

One can easily see the amendments that would have been necessary in 1958 and we can assume that these rules follow the original ones pretty closely in other respects. The image above is of a Brunton two-bladed folding propeller and I suspect that very few of the boats have one fitted today, whether or not connected to a 3 hp Watermota.

The first racing in the Class took place at the end of May 1929 among Westra, Cara and Bernera, with Stroma and Sanda following the next month. From then until war stopped racing the yachts raced often and keenly. Their exploits were written up in the yachting pages of the Herald and Scotsman newspapers but constructing a narrative from those records would be very time-consuming and not make for interesting reading. I'm hoping that this blog will generate comments from those with memories or family records of those years to add some colour to the bare facts.

Over the years I have heard various stories. I was told that when the Class decided to order a new sail the Secretary would obtain prices from an agreed list of sail-makers on the basis of a multiple order, and the sails when delivered would be drawn by lot, as indeed did the first five owners select their boats in this way. I have also heard of surreptitious visits to boatyards in winter to weigh the masts of the opponents' boats.

Herbert Thom had a lot to do with this and won consistently, but also regardless of whether he was sailing his own or one of the other yachts. He deserves a biography as one of the most successful British yachtsmen of all time. Again perhaps this blog will result in memories of him begin recorded before they are lost forever.

The very strict rules were no doubt a reason why the Islanders eventually ceased to race. By the early 1960s there were plenty of state-of-the-art racing machines available, with opportunities for sail-trimming, tuning and tweaking within their rules that went far beyond the pure helming skills that Islanders depended on. It's a tribute to the pitch pine used in their construction that so many hulls survived, sometimes laid up for many years in the open, sometimes as shoe-string cruisers, to become restoration candidates.

In February 1997 at a cheerful meeting in the Glasgow Art Club the owners of most of the boats came together and agreed to re-establish themselves as group. The initiative came from Martyn Webster, who had decided to build a new boat. He was concerned that Mr David Boyd of Sandbank would only have been able to supervise her construction in some metaphysical way. The owners amicably agreed that they should not exclude a new yacht built with modern methods, provided matters such as weight distribution would be essentially unchanged. Since then there has been friendly co-operation among the owners and encouragement to new owners to keep the original external appearance and configuration, without the strict application of a rule book. I suggest that this happy attitude is more likely to encourage the survival of the boats among owners who appreciate the sheer joy of sailing a truly thoroughbred traditional yacht.

Building the boats

2010-09-09T20:37:00.002+01:00

image courtesy of www.paulkennedyart.com

Much has been written over the years about the McGruer dynasty, narrating how they got started, building small boats at Glasgow Green before moving down river, and the subsequent exploits and achievements of this most talented and inventive family. I thought it would be interesting to put together some notes about the methods which they used and the workers involved. Over the years I have met many former employees, indeed it was suggested by a friend who lived in Helensburgh that formerly most of the local craftsmen were trained at McGruers.

It was a tragedy that latterly there were no younger people coming forward to be trained, or possibly the company was not offering apprenticeships, just when there was a world-wide resurgence of interest in wooden yachts. When the original company finally went into liquidation at the end of 2001, having not built any new wooden boats for about ten years, they were the last of the famous Scottish yards to shut down. (That company is not to be confused with a new company of the same name, which carries on surveying and other services.)

When the McGruers moved from Tighnabruaich to Hattonburn at Clynder in 1914 to establish themselves for the first time in their own yard an attraction was said to be the burn with its running water, which gave the power for a mill to generate electricity. Whether or not this is so, by the time the Islanders were built the yard was served by a steam donkey engine driving a wide range of electric tools. Early on the family had realised the benefits of electric power. They had purchased not only powered saws, but more specialised devices such as electric screwdrivers. Some of these came from abroad, France being one place where there were specialist manufacturers. Some were invented and made locally by engineers working in the various industries in the Glasgow area.

Having access to powered hand tools slung from overhead cables must have made the work less arduous and uncomfortable. One of the most useful tools was a spindle cutter set in a workbench, on which planks could be cut out conform to a pattern. This was operational when the yard started to build Dragons about 1926. They would cut complete sets of planks for a Dragon, three copies of each plank, so that they were always left with patterns for the next boat. The hulls were of course planked up on standard moulds, so truly what was going on was an early version of mass production. The safety aspects of such installations before such things were fully understood would be an interesting subject for further research.

The family did appreciate the dangers of making large lead castings and only the smallest keels were made on site. Normally a pattern would simply be sent to one of the numerous shipyards in Glasgow, Port Glasgow or Greenock. Latterly Morris & Lorimers were casting most of the keels. There was a master pattern for each type of keel, Dragon, Scottish Islander or whatever.

There were also plenty of local blacksmiths and engineers to turn out the required metalwork. When the Islands Class boats were built the practice was to use iron bolts, even thought these were incompatible with lead keels. Probably this was because the local blacksmiths could not work with bronze, which is usually turned rather than forged. When eventually the company started to use aluminium bronze, which is easier to work, they made their own. McGruers did operate various steamboxes, latterly using a twenty foot long tube with a double boiler.

Although innovative, McGruers did not try building boats upside down, which is much easier than right way up. Indeed this seems to have been pioneered by American rather than European builders. Shadow moulds would be set up in traditional fashion, the hulls planked up, then the stringers and any steamed frames put in.

When the order was received for the first five Islanders in the winter of 1928 the possibilities for mass production were fully exploited. The hulls were quickly assembled from standard moulds and patterns and the boats then finished side by side. They were all ready for their new owners to select their boats by lot in time for the 1929 season.

At just over twentyeight feet Islanders were the largest boats that could be built from continuous planks without joints. The hull shape is so easy that no steaming was needed. Conform to the traditional Scottish (and Scandinavian) practice there was no garboard. The planks were allowed to taper forward to a feather edge as they met the wooden keel. There was no fuss, stress or complicated joinery work such as is needed with boats built to the Anglo-American tradition with a wide garboard strake. The topsides were planked first, the planks slightly wider forward to meet the stem nicely, then the bottom was planked up simply as one would build a brick wall. The only disadvantage of this method that I am aware of is that the feather edge can be easily damaged when the plank has to be removed to allow subsequent repairs. The method lends itself, of course, to the use of narrow planks such are harvested in the North of Europe.

A variety of timber was used in building the Islanders. The keel, stem and stern -post were of oak, the horn timber of teak, the hull planking of pitch-pine and the timbers American rock elm. The transom, cabin-sides and furniture were of mahogany, the decks planked with tongue-and-groove yellow pine. The large components would be difficult to build today in the same materials. For example the transom has a radius of almost three inches and would have been chopped from a massive slab over four feet long by eighteen inches deep. It is interesting to note that Isla, built thirty years after the first boats, has a flat transom, which would have been much more economical.

Old-growth pitch pine was imported from Canada up to 1939, when supplies stopped for the War and did not resume thereafter. It is excellent for hull planking, there being several examples of boats still afloat after well over one hundred years. Enormous teak and mahogany logs, up to four feet square, would arrive by sea and would be rendered into workable boards at Gilmour & Aitken's yard in Jamestown, Alexandria. They still supply excellent timber.

The hulls were fastened up with a mixture of metals, suggesting that the yard had little understanding, or more likely little concern about the effects of this in salt water, and of course the boats had no electrics. The major components were held together with iron drifts, the bolts in the lead keel were also iron, while the hull planking was secured with copper nails, bent over rather than rooved. This practice is again consistent with the Scottish and Scandinavian rather than Anglo-American tradition. It leaves the timbers cleaner and neater, is easy to do as well as lighter and cheaper. The deck planking was held on with iron nails driven into deck-beams which were not dove-tailed, but simply nailed into notches in the shelf. The chain-plates were simply bolted through the shelf, unbelievable given that the boats were to be raced hard.

Comparing the boats as built with Alfred Mylne's plans shows a number of variations. For example the front corners of the cabin were drawn curved, but were built square. Alfred Mylne and the McGruers worked together constantly, indeed at the time the yard mainly built to his designs, so one can assume he approved of what they did. The Islands Class plans were cleverly drawn for cheap construction and perhaps Alfred Mylne was having a little joke with the corners.

Certainly it was touch and go with the Class getting built at all, because McGruers had said they needed seven orders to hold their price and they only got five. By using what metals could be got and doing without dove-tails etcetera they were trying to preserve some profit.

By contrast with the other metal- work, which was made locally and was somewhat agricultural the rudderhead fittings were skilfully cast and fabricated from bronze. It would be interesting to know how and by whom this was done.

Around the time the boats were built the workforce would have numbered about thirty permanent workers, local residents and usually the family of older employees. In Spring local painters and labourers would swell the ranks to deal with fitting out the fleet of racing and cruising boats that wintered at the yard. Many of these were paid hands on the yachts.

Most of the tools used in boatbuilding are special and the workforce had to make their own, many of which of course passed down within families. These included shaped planes with wooden soles and various jigs and gadgets.

Although conditions must have been hard, working through the winter in sheds only partly protected from the weather, the workforce is reputed to have been extremely happy. I was told by a long-retired boatbuilder that when a boat was reaching an interesting stage everyone would be desperate to get in to work in the morning. Of course at the same time ship-building in the Clyde yards was going on entirely in the open, so perhaps McGruer's men felt themselves lucky. Both types of activity involved exciting creative work which sometimes had to substitute for proper pay. McGruers' workforce could also reflect that they worked for one of the best-known yards and even in bad times there would be a reasonable order-book and job security for the permanent employees at least. At one of the smaller yards in the area it was not uncommon for there to be no wages at the end of the week and the local publican had to offer an informal banking service.

The designer unconstrained

2010-09-08T15:18:00.001+01:00

half models by David Spy at www.yachtmodels.co.uk

As is well known the major challenge for any designer of racing yachts is exploiting the rating rule. Whether we are talking about America's Cup boats or small restricted design classes whichever yacht goes faster through the water will have a better chance of the gold. Such boats can have great disadvantages, sometimes being quirky and even unsafe. Once outclassed, as they inevitably are, they may have little residual value.

It must come as a welcome relief, therefore, to be asked to design something that is unconstrained by a rule. The designer can then apply his creative ability and experience purely to achieve the requirements of his client.

The picture above shows examples of the work of the three greatest Scottish yacht designers (in my opinion) of all time.

At the top is Thistle, George Lennox Watson's 1887 design for a syndicate of members of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club to challenge for the America's Cup. She was the only one of the three to be built to a rule, the YRA rule of the same year, which was intended to encourage greater beam to produce stiffer yachts than previously. She was 86 feet 4 inches on the waterline.

The designers of the other two did not require to comply with a rule.

The middle yacht is Rosemary IV, designed and built by William Fife III of Fairlie in 1928, when his yard was without an order, to keep the workforce busy. She is 36 feet on the waterline. Having no client to please allowed Fife even more freedom and the design is in my view one of his best, having significantly shorter overhangs than his normal productions.

The yacht at the foot is Alfred Mylne's Islander, also designed in 1928. Not only are the ends much shorter than the designs that Mylne did to a rule, she has much firmer sections than either of my other examples.

When the Clyde Clubs Conference were considering a new design in 1928 Alfred Mylne would have been extremely keen to get it. There was a general recognition that existing classes, such as the 19/24s, whose rules had resulted in some pretty extreme boats and several accidents, should be replaced with a new more wholesome design.

The Conference considered various existing designs, such as Westmacott's Sea View Mermaid and Solent Sunbeams and Alfred Mylne's own Belfast Lough River Class of 1921, before deciding to commission a new Mylne design.

The Conference would have been aware of the success of the Rivers Class and wanted something slightly larger, probably because of the better opportunities for short cruises on the Clyde and the Scottish West coast. The Islander would be 20 feet on the waterline as opposed to the Rivers 18, with the same overall length of 28 feet 6 inches. The sail area would 420 square feet, against the River's 350.

In February 1929 The Yachting Monthly reported that

"The new class has one feature which is a sign of the times, in that the boats will be fitted with auxiliary power and side propellers, those owners who do not wish to carry an engine being required to fit the engine and carry a weight equivalent to that of the engine."

The view was also also expressed that

"fitted with auxiliaries the new boats will not be very fast, particularly in view of their moderate sail spread..."

There is no doubt that with modern sailcloth the boats are nowadays not under-canvassed. The seas are timeless and the short overhangs, buoyant ends and firm sections are still as valid for safe sailing in a small boat as they ever were.

Ace Marine now own the Mylne archives and further information about Alfred Mylne can be found at A Mylne & Co

Alfred Mylne also has an entry on wikipedia here

Alfred Mylne in his prime

On classic designs and modern methods

2010-09-08T12:15:00.000+01:00

Ewan and Martyn on Shona, photo by Richard Pierce

It is unlikely that the new Islands Class owners will ever recapture the spirit of friendly competition and daring enjoyed by the original bunch, but at least in recent years there have been serious attempts to resurrect the Class and return the surviving boats to their original configuration.

This process was started by Martyn Webster about twenty years ago when he brought Cara back from Wales and had her professionally restored. Having found a new owner for her he repeated the exercise with Isla and Bernera. During this period David Spy recovered Gigha from the shore at Kings Cross on Arran, where she had lain for many years, and restored her to perfection. My own boat Stroma was on loan to the Scottish Maritime Museum for a time, as she had become unseaworthy and I did not know what to do with her. By 1995 she had deteriorated further and it was clear that the Museum had no resources, so I started what was to become an eight year restoration. Then Paddy Shaw took on Canna and restored her, incredibly, over just one winter. In the meantime Martyn, having sold Isla and Bernera, commissioned a new yacht, Shona, from Richard Pierce, formerly of Windermere and now of Luing. As a result of all this there are now seven boats in Class and the Association has been reformed with a new constitution.

There is an enormous volume of material available to those who wish to undertake yacht restoration. The problem is that much of it is contradictory, being invariably written by persons in one of a number of camps and often with no actual experience of such projects. Some believe that old vessels have a soul that will be destroyed by restoration. They expect their boats to leak through decks and coachroofs, through the hull when at rest but especially if they ever sail in winds above the most gentle. Some will glue a new glass skin to an ill-prepared old hull, stiffen the interior with girders, fit a new, highly-stressed rig and take on the racing circuit. It is very difficult nowadays to find a traditional six metre yacht that has not had this treatment.
A third and very much smaller, but high profile, group believe that restoration must be done precisely in accordance with the original plans and specifications, using original materials and methods. The obvious problem with this approach is the cost involved. Less obvious are the difficulties in complying with modern safety requirements, requiring non-original engines, navigational and safety equipment and so on. Authenticity is fine for those who want and can afford to pay for it, but for most ordinary people it is not an option.
The obsession in much of the yachting press with this last group, typified by the extensive coverage of events in the Mediterranean, only encourages elitism and must frighten off many who would otherwise see the acquisition of a traditional yacht as a viable option.

When I started the restoration of Stroma I had no clear idea about how this should be done. I wanted only to do the best job possible within my means, which did not extend to employing specialist ship-wrights. On the one hand I have always liked and respected traditional ways. It is reassuring to know that something works and with new methods you can never be sure. On the other hand I had seen yachts beautifully restored using traditional methods that after a couple of years had reverted to their previous condition. This was probably always so, because racing yachts were not built or adequately maintained to last indefinitely. I think that the expense of maintenance was accepted as a fact of life by owners in former years.

It seemed to me that if the structure could be kept together better and water excluded properly the future costs would be kept down. I had built a few small boats using epoxy saturation techniques and they had held together pretty well. I read a great deal about the various methods and became even more confused.
Some of the literature suggested that it was a bad idea to have a rigid hull structure. On reflection however, the important consideration is to keep flexing within the elastic limit of all the materials and coatings used in the structure, and this vital consideration is well illustrated by the frequent failure along planking lines of the paint on traditionally constructed yachts. Once the paint skin film breaks, water enters the planking, and a downward spiral of deterioration starts.

I became convinced that the main reason why owners would have William Fife build them a new racing-yacht every year was not just a search for a faster boat, but because a new yacht being stiffer would always beat an old one. When an old vessel with loose fastenings strikes a wave she shudders and slows as the energy dissipates through the structure. After two or three such waves she will have lost a proportion of her kinetic energy. The stiffer vessel will punch her way through and maintain her speed.

The end result was that Stroma was restored using a mixture of old and new techniques. Woods such as mahogany and teak are too scarce to be used in quantity. Even if they could be sourced it seemed to me that I should have hang-ups about using them in great quantity. To give one example the original transom was hewn from a solid block of mahogany about four feet by eighteen inches and, to get the radius, about six inches thick. To replicate this went quite against my principles, let alone levels of skill. The new transom was laminated from marine plywood over a building jig.

I was lucky that friends gave me wood including an ancient mahogany log and some church pews from which by careful use I was able to make all the visible woodwork around and inside the boat without conscience problems.

I do not regret having sheathed the hull in epoxy/glass internally and externally. When Stroma was relaunched in September 2003 she floated perfectly, disproving at least the moaners who predicted she would be weighed down with all the glue and cloth I had added. In fact I think the weight added is probably about equal to the weight of the water which she no longer absorbs. She no longer displays cracks between the planks but otherwise looks as she did before.

The project was to consume about five thousand hours of my time. Being spread over eight years the cost was easily affordable and of course I saved the cost of a social life during that period.

The other restorations have been done in a much more traditional manner and have been entirely successful. Clearly there are various options which will work. There seem to have been no significant differences in boat speed on the occasions when the new and restored boats have met.

Shona, the new boat, is of monocoque woodstrip core epoxy glass construction, which can be quite light. Because the yacht was required to demonstrate traditional sailing properties Richard Pierce kept the weight distribution as original by increasing the scantlings, which resulted in a massively strong hull. He has confirmed that she took 3400 professional man-hours to plan and build from scratch, excluding spars and rigging. The result is a beautiful powerful boat combining traditional looks and the lack of maintenance of a modern yacht.

The Islanders are now virtually the only surviving indigenous Scottish one design class. I hope that these recent developments show that they remain ideal for their intended purposes of round the buoys racing and occasional short cruises on the West coast. With two or three candidates for restoration still available as well as a set of drawings for new construction there are opportunities for anyone interested.

Greetings to the Class from Adam Bergius

2010-09-08T11:09:00.000+01:00

Butterflies, captured by Iain Gilchrist

I always thought of Islanders as thoroughly wholesome boats capable of much more than day round the buoy racing. However by the time my mother bought Jura in 1934 to teach her family in the ways of racing that was the well-established role of the Class and a keen racing class it was. Jura did a few cruises before the War but my brothers Walter and Cecil and sister Margie were all keen racers and I was content to be the lucky lad asked to go when there was likely to be a bit of pumping to be done. She was sailed with great success during this period.

When I returned from the Far East in late September 1946 it was to find a letter saying that Jura was mine and there she was lying at her mooring at the foot of Fountain Brae between Kirn and Hunters Quay as if nothing had happened and all ready to go. My father told me to get some friends, take her away for three weeks and join the firm on 6 November.

That was the Sabbatical to mark the end of the War and what a Sabbatical it was. Calm days and frosty nights. Snow on the hills with spectacular colours below. It was bliss and we were all very happy and comfortable with a brisk Primus stove central in the cabin with a copper toaster on top to keep the boat dry and warm inside. We got to Loch Torridon and back, climbing a good many hills on the way.

Next season and from then on after the Saturday race Jura would be off down the Firth with her crew and out of this came the islander’s annual race to Colintraive, with first prize an oil painting of the winner by the accomplished painter James Buchanan of Sanda. Second prize was a 40oz decanter of whisky to be returned empty! I still cherish James’ painting of Jura bowling down the Holy Loch on an evening race with straining spinnaker and crew in their red sock caps. These were jolly occasions when most competitors slept in Colin Rae’s hotel but the Juras had to slum it aboard.

I never felt that the extra weight carried by Jura really affected her performance. In spite of my limited accomplishment as a racing helmsman she had her fair share of prizes and won the Clyde Fortnight Points Cup in 1947. She would have also had a resounding win in the CCC Tobermory Race of, I think, 1950, but she was disqualified for going over the Sgeir nan Gobhar in the Sound of Mull to get the benefit of the strong flood over the shoals. This was considered reckless navigation. My argument that as the rocks were not shown as a mark of the course in the instructions I was quite entitled to pass them on either hand and local knowledge was all that was needed to ensure a safe passage. I was still disqualified! The next year in the same race an elderly friend and distinguished member sailed his fine big cutter under spinnaker between the twin peaks of the Bogha Nuadh and Bogha Ghair just as both were breaking in the heavy groundswell. Spectacular!! Also quite safe and I was delighted in spite of a number of censorious voices around that he was not disqualified. Later on in the Mishnish Hotel he smilingly admitted that with the old low-cut spinnakers you could never see where you were going!

The Royal Highland Regattas were also very much part of Jura’s life so it was little wonder that by I think 1951 I was rather anxious to get rid of the evil ever-leaking coachroof, form a couple of quarter berths and as I was now married have a double berth up forward. Also for the rough sailors have way with the mast leaks by stepping it on deck and at the same time end the halyards on deck.

Freddie Mylne drew up the plans for the conversion and estimated that it would not add to the overall weight of the boat. He also suggested shortening the boom and redesigning the jib. All of these modifications were accepted by the Class with the exception of the jib. All this was done against the background of falling entries for races, rising age of the owners and the advent of the Cruiser Eights. Could the Islanders have a rebirth as the poor man’s Cruiser Eight? They could have given a lot of fun in a wider field and visited Dublin Carrickfergus and of course West Highland regattas.

Unfortunately it was not to happen and if Jura’s conversion led to the demise of the Class it was a pity. However with the ever-growing strength of the Dragons and Loch Longs and the future arrival of Pipers, Solings and Etchells I think it was inevitable that the Islanders in their original form would go out of fashion. Now the passage of time has rendered them venerable and I am sure the right decision had been taken to restore them to their original design and good luck to everyone who takes this on. If the new owners are as cheery a bunch as the former ones they will have good fun afloat and ashore.

The Scottish Islands Class

2010-09-08T10:49:00.000+01:00

In December 1928 the Clyde correspondent of Yachting Monthly reported that “something in the nature of a mild sensation has been caused in local yachting circles.” The existing racing classes had all got scattered and consideration was being given to a new class.

The next month the magazine reported that Alfred Mylne had designed the new boat and five owners had placed orders with McGruer & Co and commented “Fitted as auxiliaries the new boats will not be very fast, especially in view of their moderate sail spread.” The new class was to be known as the “Scottish Islands.” They were launched around the beginning of June 1929.

Eventually there were twelve yachts in the Class, of which ten happily survive. This blog is dedicated to them and their numerous owners and friends down the years.