Ten
years ago, six members of the Loch Broom Sailing Club, Adrian Morgan, Topher
Dawson, Richard Weekes, Mike Connor, Sue Evans and John McIntyre, together with local
boatbuilder Chris Perkins signed cheques to form the Ullapool Skiff Syndicate,
as it was originally called.
When people ask “How did it all start?” the club
can be proud to say that “It was us wot (mostly) did it.” And now look where we
are?
Not
many people know, however, that the germ
of the idea of starting a syndicate to build and row a Scottish Coastal Rowing
St Ayles skiff came from Joe Hayes, boat builder and now oyster farmer, who at
the time, in October 2009, was building his house at Cambeltown. “Have you seen
this Scottish coastal rowing thing?” was
the gist of it. “Vaguely,” I replied.
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| The Golden Girls cross the line to win the Gold Medal in 2012 |
That
same day, googling uncovered more about this ambitious project to revitalise
coastal communities through communal rowing, first by building, then racing
skiffs designed by Skye designer Iain Oughtred. The prototype had been built in
Anstruther under the guidance of Strathkanaird's Chris Perkins, in honour of whom it was named,
from the first of what would be hundreds of kits developed and produced by founder member Alec Jordan.
The
Friday before the seven met at Topher’s house, a small notice, with a drawing
of the skiff, had appeared in the
Ullapool News inviting anyone wishing to join a rowing syndicate to get in
touch. The meeting was short, and by the end, all had written cheques for
around £170 to fund the cost of one of
Alec’s kits.
It
would be only the second boat built.
Next
Friday’s Ullapool News on 16th October, carried this notice:
SCOTTISH COASTAL ROWING PROJECT
A Skiff is born
An Ullapool rowing team has been formed to
build and race a 22ft St Ayles Skiff, one of several being built nationwide as
part of the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project.
Responding to a letter in the Ullapool
News, seven members have now signed up for the first skiff, which will be built
locally, and on the water early next year. The cost will be around £250 per
person.
The double ended, lightweight clinker/epoxy
skiff, based on a Fair Isles design by Skye small boat designer Iain Oughtred,
requires four rowers, and a coxswain.
The first Ullapool boat will be used to showcase the project. Anyone, young, old, male, female, fit or unfit, will be welcome to have a go.
At least five teams around the Scottish
coastline will be building identical boats, with a view to racing next year in
a series of regattas around the Scottish coast.
Loch Broom is an excellent stretch of water
for sea rowing, providing healthy exercise and the chance of competition with
skiffs from other coastal communities.
Rowing is a great way to keep fit. And once
a regatta circuit is established, Ullapool can compete against, and socialise
with, rowing teams from around the Scottish coast.
The aim is to host a Scottish Coastal
Rowing Regatta in Loch Broom, with teams from all over the country taking part.
However, to be competitive, Ullapool needs
at least two boats.
The current team consists of Adrian Morgan,
Topher Dawson, Chris Perkins, Sue Evans, Mike Connor, Richard Weekes and John
Mcintyre.
The nucleus of a second team is already in
place.
Fiona Macdonald, Marcus Macdonald, Rory
Ross and at least three others are keen to build a second Ullapool skiff (which
should be even cheaper than the first).
Anyone who wants to sign up for a second
Ullapool team should contact Adrian Morgan.
The
kit arrived and was delivered to Leckmelm, where John, Dan Johnson and I had a
workshop. Topher and I were soon after interviewed by Radio Scotland, standing
by the pile of plywood on its pallet.
Construction began under the leadership
of Chris, who had built the Anstruther prototype boat, and Topher, teacher and renowned professional boatbuilder. All members, however, had a hand in gluing, planing,
scraping, clamping , bevelling and painting, with the exception of Adrian who
was busy building boats to order close by. He did, however, fashion the
distinctive arrowhead stemhead late one night.
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| Chris and Mike help to laminate Ulla's stem at Leckmelm Farm |
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| Richard Weekes planes a gunwale timber |
The
launch took place at Leckmelm, which had been put forward as a permanent base, in early 2010.
The first regatta took place at Anstruther, the result appearing in the
Ullapool News as follows (note how the subject of oars loomed [sic] large even
in the very early days):
Ulla at Anstruther
Ulla’s mixed team, Topher, Adrian, Dan, Charlotte, Jan, Laura
and Sue may not have covered themselves in glory at the opening regatta in
Anstruther, but their skiff was certainly admired for its build quality and
quirky details – the Viking steerboard being the main attraction. Laminated
breasthooks and dowelled gunwales all came in for close scrutiny, as did the
extreme length and weight – 28lb apiece – of the oars.
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| Ulla at Anstruther where the team try out the first of a series of oars |
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| Ulla's steerboard came in for much comment |
The
consensus among the opposition was that, either we were right, or very wrong.
But we knew we were here to find out. As it happened, there wasn’t much in it,
no matter what was wielded. Pin oars, cheap Finnish oars, long oars and short
oars – even mixed oars flailing at random – seemed to perform much the same.
Ulla can claim to have looked by far the most elegant of the half dozen skiffs,
with a rowing technique that was as good as it gets after half an hour
practice.
The
men’s team won their opening bout outside the harbour with the Coigach Lads
(sweet victory) and progressed to the finals inside the breakwater where they
were beaten by an oar blade’s width by Port Seton(?), while the women’s teams
struggled in the rising wind and waves to master their unusually long and heavy
oars, going down womanfully. The mixed team fared little better. Jan steered
throughout and from a nervous start very soon was heard encouraging her team in
language hardly fit for the wife of a pillar of the Ullapool academic
establishment.
Highlight
of the day was the appearance of our master builder, Mr Dawson, and his
japanese saw with which he lopped a foot or so off each of the oar blades. The
discarded pieces were forthwith attacked by a gang of beach dogs which made off
with them, to the cheers of the crowds of Ansthrutherians and holidaymakers
thronging the beach.
The
racing was close, despite wildly differing styles of rowing. Length and weight
of oar and rowing techniques seemed to count for little. The skiffs reach their
hull speed after a few strokes and a law of diminishing returns prevails
thereafter. This makes for good competition, with no skiff streets ahead of
another.
Ulla’s crew thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and Alec Jordan’s
organisation proved near faultless. Heats got off promptly and the schedule
kept to time, despite the changing of crews, some of whom had to be rustled up
on the spur of the moment.
While
crews struggled on the sea, a BBC Scotland broadcast team buzzed about
overhead, catching the action from a microlight. And miraculously, the sun
shone on the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project’s opening regatta throughout.
When
in 2010 Fiona MacDonald and her friends Bev Macgregor, Kaz Foot, Kathleen Mckay and Sue
Evans (aka The Golden Girls) formed their legendary team with cox Mcintyre, races and medals were soon being won
regularly. Moreover fund raising went ahead apace, with raffles, cake stalls
and every kind of ingenious way to wheedle cash from Ullapudlian purses.
With
this injection of much needed enthusiasm, cash and energy, Ullapool Coastal rowing
was now thriving, and has never looked back.
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| Fun [sic] raising with the Golden Girls took many forms, some alcoholic... |
Under
Topher’s guidance, Ullapool coastal rowing has continue to prosper. Villagers both young and old have taken to rowing with a vengeance, largely thanks to his leadership. His ingenuity, drive,
enthusiasm, organisational and boat building skills have helped turn an idea
into a phenomenon, both in Ullapool and worldwide.
Of
the seven members of the original syndicate, only two remain. But it is fair to say that without the
confidence of those original seven putting their own money on the table, and
building the skiff, it would never have happened.
See
also Chris Perkin’s article in the July/August 2013 issue of Watercraft.