TOWARD Sailing Club was the second club in Scotland and the first in central Scotland to become a registered charity, a SCIO. Due to this, a number of other clubs, often referred to the club by the RYA, sought advice on the advantages of and how to become a SCIO.
The commodore of Wormit Club in Fife came through and met with the officers of the club. While he was picking their brains about the advantages of being a SCIO, the TSC folk were picking his about the St Ayles Skiffs that had sprung up all over the country.
Surrounding local communities like Strachur, Tighnabruaich, Colintraive and Bute had all built a skiff and offered it as an additional activity to their members. When the Wormit Club asked a TSC member to go through and talk about SCIOs, he took the opportunity to find out more about their skiffs. He came back enthusiastically and suggested, since the club had recently become a seasports club rather than a sailing club, perhaps they too should look at adding a skiff to their activities.
Being a canny Yorkshire man, the commodore at the time was not easily persuaded. He carefully compared the price of the kit to build a skiff and the selling price of a second-hand skiff. Once he was satisfied that it could be sold at a profit if the idea of skiffing didn’t take off locally, he recommended it to the rest of the board, who agreed to purchase a kit and build a skiff.
One of the members drove to Cumbria to pick up the kit. The new owners at Castle Toward agreed to them using one of their sheds for those early days of the build. However, circumstances soon changed and the build was continued in the club’s own boat store, with different members taking over the responsibility as technical leads.
With a team of enthusiastic workers behind them, and over three winters and many, many hours of sawing, clamping, gluing, sanding and painting, the skiff has now been completed. It’s taken time to get to this stage, but new skiffing sections can now be added to the club’s portfolio of activities.
The skiff has been named Brontosaurus after the shore-based HMS Brontosaurus that was at Castle Toward during World War Two, keeping the link with the castle alive.
On Saturday, May 2, Toward Seasports Club finally celebrated the launch of the new hand-built skiff.
There was a good crowd of members spectating as it set off on its maiden voyage around the bay. Everyone enjoyed the launching celebration greatly, especially the tea and cake, and many members are enthusiastic about the opportunity to learn skiff rowing.
A spokesperson for the club said: “A huge thank you to everyone who helped make this possible.”
This skiff can be used for racing at local, national or international events, as well as youth sections, golden oldies and those who just want the absolute pleasure of having a row on the water on a sunny, calm day.
