Volume Ii Part 8 (1/2)
During 1863 the first symptoms of a break out from bounds was exhibited, and prizes were given for a race for yachts of 25 tons and under, besides one for yachts of 10 tons and under. A stipulation was made with regard to the latter race--viz. that each yacht was to be manned by one hand only, a dangerous though sporting condition which had previously brought disaster and proved fatal in Irish waters, and has never been permitted since. Both races filled, Mr. Fulton's 'Glide,' 14 tons, won the first, and Mr. McIver's 'Brenda,' 8 tons, the second.
With this divergence from the original scheme on which the club was founded the society threw off its old name and came out under the more independent t.i.tle of the Clyde Yacht Club. To celebrate this era the annual regatta was lengthened out to a two days' programme, and the 'Lesbia,' 37, cutter; 'Reverie,' 41, schooner; 'Kilmeny,' 30, cutter, and 'Dawn,' yawl, met to do battle with the 15-ton 'Torch,' the crack of the year. Besides the annual regatta, at which yachts from all parts of the kingdom were invited to compete, the Corinthian regatta of the club must not be lost sight of or hidden away behind the l.u.s.tre of the great event of the season. It had formed part of each season's programme of events for some years, and had been the means of cultivating a true taste for amateur seamans.h.i.+p. Many a member can look back to his first Corinthian race as the beginning of his practical experience in yacht racing. The races at these regattas have been mostly handicaps, and two or three are always open to yachts in cruising trim. The only conditions of the regatta are that 'Yachts may carry their ordinary paid hands, but no extra paid hands, and must be steered by members of a yacht club.'
It is always pleasant to meet with names which are as well known as the club to which they belong, to whom their club owes much, and whose pride and interests are centred in its prosperity. It was in 1863 that two such members' names were added to the official list--the late Mr.
J. A. Lockett as Rear-Commodore and Mr. William York as treasurer.
Both these gentlemen have for the last thirty years been busily engaged in furthering the welfare of the club, the one in his capacity as secretary or treasurer, or both, the other in several offices, but princ.i.p.ally as one of the house committee.
When the year 1867 closed the Clyde Yacht Club's first racing decade, the club was well under way and able to hold its own with any existing yacht-racing community, both as a provider of sport and for the attractions offered to the lovers of yachts and yachting, when with their friends they were brought together on the waters of the 'Bonny Clyde.' This was noticeable in 1863, but it became much more so in 1865, when the well-known clippers 'Mosquito,' 59 tons; 'Glance,' 35 tons; 'Fiona,' 78 tons; and the 'Vindex,' 44 tons, came round to the Firth to sail under the Clyde Club's auspices.
Though opening and closing cruises had always been in vogue since the foundation of the club, it was left for the tenth year to start the long series of these expeditions, which last from a Thursday to the Monday morning following, and, with the combined attractions of racing, cruising and social gatherings, have proved such pleasant features in each season's yachting. The list of members had now reached over 100, while the yacht tonnage had risen to 1,200 gross, comprising 87 yachts of 5 to 103 tons. Among these were included the three most successful yachts of the year in the United Kingdom, and, to the praise of the Clyde sh.o.r.es it may be said, all built and designed by Mr. W. Fife of Fairlie--the 'Fiona' in the 1st, the 'Kilmeny' in the 2nd, and the 'Torch' in the 3rd cla.s.s.
The season of 1868 would have pa.s.sed without note or comment had it not been that the club founded an annual Corinthian match, in which two paid hands were to be allowed for yachts of 15 tons and over, and one paid hand to all the smaller yachts. The helmsman was to be an amateur, and no _shot-bag or s.h.i.+fting ballast_ of any kind was to be permitted. Besides proving that the club possessed amateur seamen capable of handling a racing yacht of any size, the fact that that unseaworthy equipment s.h.i.+fting ballast, which had been in use in the Clyde foot cla.s.ses and in most racing yachts during the early Fifties, was to be abolished, at all events in this race, was a move in the right direction.
1869 is a year of real historical importance, for it not only gives the date when the 40-, 20-, and 10-ton cla.s.ses became generally acknowledged, but it brings credit to the Clyde Yacht Club where credit is due, as being the founder of these cla.s.ses, which held sway for so many years. A year later the club was the first to introduce the smaller cla.s.s of 5 tons as a standing dish in its regatta programmes, and to the Clyde Yacht Club belongs the honour of being the first in the field to recognise that this diminutive cla.s.s of flyers was well worthy on its own merits of being encouraged.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Start for Ardrishaig Cup.]
Channel matches had been long ere this time a matter of annual interest with some of the clubs in the south of England, as well as the Royal Alfred Yacht Club at Kingstown, and Royal Northern in Scotland; but the sport of Channel racing and open-sea work had either not been thought of, or had met with no favour, for the first Channel match held in connection with the Clyde Club did not take place till 1871. The race came off after the regatta held that year at Barrow and before the Clyde regattas, the course being from Barrow to the Clyde, so that the yachts about to visit and race in the Firth might find it worth their while to put on a spurt and make the best of their way to their destination. No better course could be chosen for trying a vessel on all points of sailing, to say nothing of her sea-going powers, including as it does the pa.s.sage between the Isle of Man and the Mull of Galloway. For this race the 'Enid,' 57 tons; 'Livonia,'
280; 'Glance,' 35; and 'Coralie,' 35, started, all yachts at that date as racers. The 'Glance' saved her time and carried off the trophy.
If 1871 opened up Channel groping under racing trim, 'progress' must truly be held the motto for 1872. Not only was the club made a Royal club, and allowed the privilege of placing a crown over the lion's head in the burgee crest, but early in the spring of this year the Royal Clyde opened to its members the house which Mr. Hunter, of Hafton, had built for them at Hunter's Quay adjoining the hotel.
Of course with a settled headquarters, Hunter's Quay became the future rendezvous for all club fixtures, such as opening and closing cruises, regattas, matches and the like; and as the opening cruise this year may be considered the first general meeting of members afloat off the new house, it will not be amiss to give a short description of it. The meeting took place on Thursday, May 30, and began at 2 P.M. with a lunch at the club-house, after which at 4 P.M. the yachts weighed anchor under the Commodore, and sailed under his orders till the signal was made from the flags.h.i.+p for them to make the best of their way to Rothesay. On arrival there, those who were not required on board their vessels to stow sails and clear up for the night took their dinghies ash.o.r.e, or were taken in their gigs, for a stroll through the old town. In the meantime on board the yachts, as soon as the decks had been cleared up and ropes coiled down in their places, the galley fires were lighted, so that by 7 P.M. the men had had their tea, and the cooks and stewards were ready with goodly repasts awaiting the coming on board again of the hungry masters and their friends.
Dinner over, the pleasures of the evening began with what is known as 's.h.i.+p-visiting'--that is, the yacht-owner starts off, and either rows himself and friends in his dinghy, or is rowed in correct form, to some friend's yacht where he may remain, or, after a short visit, proceed, taking with him his host and as many of his friends as he can pack away in the gig's stern-sheets, to some other yacht, and so on _ad infinitum_. To row himself is much the better plan, since it means independence of the crew (which perhaps may consist only of one hand), and avoidance of a troubled conscience, that the man or men are being kept up and prevented from turning in.
The following morning only a few burgees were visible, most of the yachts having donned their silken racing flags, for an early start had to be made in a handicap race to be sailed _via_ the Garroch Head (the most south-westerly extremity of the Isle of Bute) to Tignabruich.
More than half the yachts were started in this race, for which four cups were provided as prizes. The contingent of small non-racers made Tignabruich by way of the Kyles of Bute, as did also some of the larger sailing yachts, which preferred calm and untroubled travelling to a dusting round the Garroch Head. The gathering at the head of the Kyles is, if anything, more enjoyable than that spent at Rothesay. The anchorage is more land-locked, and therefore less liable to disturbance from winds or sweeping seas, and s.h.i.+p-visiting can be carried on without any fear of a ducking or other unpleasantness.
On the Sat.u.r.day morning, the members of the club and their friends breakfasted together at 9.30 at the Royal Hotel, when the prizes were presented to the winners; after which a few returned to their yachts, got under way, and dispersed with the object of extending their cruise, while those left behind remained to enjoy the beautiful scenery and walks with which the locality abounds, and on Sunday attend church parade on board Lord Glasgow's yacht.
[Ill.u.s.tration: 'Marjorie.'
_Blue, with white cross. 68 tons_ (_J. Coats, Jun., Esq._). _Built by Steele & Co._, 1883.]
Beyond the adoption by the club of the Royal Alfred Yacht Club rules and regulations, nothing of any moment worth chronicling took place till 1875, in which year the purchase was completed by the club of the whole of the grounds and buildings, including the hotel and club-house, and early in 1876 the members enjoyed the privilege of not only having a club-house, but also an establishment worked on the principle of a private hotel, where they could provide themselves and their families or friends with comfortable quarters on very reasonable club terms.
In this matter the Royal Clyde Yacht Club is specially fortunate, as also in one other, viz. the magnificent scenic setting by which their possession is surrounded. Nothing can equal the Holy Loch for beauty and charm of colour, on a summer's evening, particularly about sunset, or an early winter's morning, with its sunrise lowering and accompanied by ever-changing tints lending their enchantments to the rugged grandeur of the hills which bound it. This, with the distant view up the Clyde, obtained from the club-house windows or frontage, is not to be surpa.s.sed in any country in the world.
At the opening of the season of 1877, and the close of the second decade, the club numbered no fewer than 643 members, with a fleet of yachts computed at 195, and as the Club Regatta now occupied two days, the three Clyde clubs--viz. the Royal Clyde, the Royal Northern, and the four-year-old Mudhook Yacht Club--considered it necessary to work together for the furtherance of sport, and held their first meeting to arrange a suitable date for celebrating a 'Clyde Week.' A change was also made this season in the several courses at the regattas, a change which had been for some time considered desirable, and which turned out a welcome improvement.
The new courses were as follows: For First-Cla.s.s Yachts, from Hunter's Quay to Toward buoy, thence to Skelmorlie buoy, thence to the Powder Vessel's buoy, and thence to Hunter's Quay, leaving all on the port hand; twice round, distance 50 miles.
The Second-Cla.s.s Course lay from Hunter's Quay to Skelmorlie buoy, thence to the Powder Vessel's buoy, and thence to Hunter's Quay, leaving all on the port hand; twice round, distance 40 miles.
The Third-Cla.s.s Course was from Hunter's Quay to a flagboat moored in Inverkip Bay, thence to the Powder Vessel's buoy and back to Hunter's Quay; twice round, distance 30 miles.
The Fourth-Cla.s.s Course was from Hunter's Quay to the Inverkip flagboat, and back to Hunter's Quay; twice round, distance 24 miles.
The Fifth-Cla.s.s Course lay from Hunter's Quay to a flagboat moored off Dunoon Pier, thence to a flagboat moored off Kilcreggan and back to Hunter's Quay; twice round, distance 11 miles.