Plockton Small Boat Sailing Club

There cannot be many better ways of spending a warm early summer evening than on the waters of Lochcarron with the sun still glinting off the Applecross hills and over the Cullins in the distance. Even when there is very little wind for propulsion, it is very gratifying to know that you are at a great distance from the mischievous midge. Sailing out of Plockton conjures many images from great wind and sun to flat calm with some light drizzle. However, evenings like these have their own magic as you become entranced by the mist and the clouds hanging off the mountains and creating wonderful hues and colours on the horizon.

Although the rigs and boats are much changed, the current club has developed from a strong seagoing tradition: from the days when sail was the norm for fishing boats and they went out with drift nets and long lines to make a living. On the way home, for sport, the skippers would race each other, competing both for the biggest catch and the first boat home.

Nowadays the drift nets are long gone, but the competitive spirit remains.  The tradition of the après sail is well established and, often, long after the boats are safely on their moorings, there is much discussion and sometimes heated debates about the course for racing; the unfortunate, or fortunate depending where you are, wind-shifts or the great skill in crossing the line first.  

Plockton Small Boat Sailing Club still carries on two important Highland traditions: skilled seamanship on the water and the ability to discuss tactics over many hours with the aid of an occasional dram.

 The Club was formed in 1933 and, therefore, 2008 is an important milestone in the club’s history as it is the 75^th anniversary year. A grand 75^th anniversary raffle is planned and there will be an exhibition of the club’s history and development with other events in the pipeline. 

Initially races were for local clinker built boats only (the Plockton ‘local boats’) with the first trophy, the Plockton Trophy being presented to the club by Roddy MacKay and Donald Gillies, in honour of their fathers “true men of the sea”. The trophy was to be sailed for over three races and the first regatta was held in the summer of 1934.

 Since then many other trophies have been presented to the club and races now extend from May to the end of August with a fortnight’s regatta held in last week of July and the first in August. Races are held for centreboards, ‘local boats’, yachts and last year a rowing challenge was reinstated. Usually the centreboard races run co-jointly with the ‘local boat’ races, sailing the same course but starting 5 minutes earlier. During the regatta fortnight in addition to normal series races there are cups for boys and girls, youths and ladies. There is also a long distance race on the middle Saturday when the yacht race is also held. The regatta culminates with ragamuffin race where children make their own sails from old sheets and decorate them with a painting of some amusing topical event. The final weekend is also rounded off with a concert (including prize giving), dance and a day of music in local hotels.

 In addition to racing the club owns 7 toppers which are used for youth and adult training throughout the summer. The club has RYA training centre status.

 Last year saw the club enter into an exciting project (Am Bata) with the Plockton High School which involves a ‘boat builder in residence’ teaching traditional boat building skills to senior pupils and night classes. Funding has been put in place to build three new traditional Plockton ‘local boats’ over three years. The first of these will be owned by the club and it is planned to incorporate it into the club’s training scheme.   Information about this project can be found at http://www.am-bata.org

The ‘Local Boats’ and Their Rigs

The first meetings of the club stipulated that the boats should be open clinker built boats of 15’ water length with a 6” keel and this rule is still in place today.
For many decades a substantial number of the boats were ‘McKenzie’ boats built by ‘John MacKenzie and Son, Boat builders, Portree’.  These boats were the mainstay of the club for many years and even now although new boats have appeared, roughly half the fleet still consists of ‘MacKenzie’ boats.  The last MacKenzie boats were built in the late 60’s.
During the next two decades no new boats were built and indeed there was a period in the early to mid 70’s when the active fleet diminished to but a few boats.  However, that trend started to reverse by the end of that decade and in 1985 the first new boat for almost 20 years was built.
It was the ‘Coruisk’, commissioned by Rod MacLeod and built by Malcolm Hendry of Carbost.
From then until now a further 8 boats have followed. Two were constructed in Thurso, 5 in Skye and one in Plockton.  (with the ‘Am Bata’ project now a reality that Plockton built boat will soon be added to!)

The first boats used gunter or gaff rigs with wooded masts and booms and the sails made of cotton.  Now, however, light aluminium Bermudan rigs have replaced these with custom made synthetic sails.

 The Future

The Am Bata project is an exciting project which will further enhance the position of the ‘local boat’ in the club’s activities.  However, the club is also keen to see a healthy centreboard fleet and in recent years participation in these races has dropped.  It is to be hoped that this trend can be reversed and that there is a healthy fleet of both centreboards and local boats.  Back in the mid 70’s the local boat fleet was struggling and now it is very healthy, therefore, there is no reason why the same can’t be achieved with the centreboards.