Protesting too much

Protests are the nasty side of racing, featuring committees formed of jumped-up sea squirts masquerading as lawyers, ignorant of the rules of natural justice, revelling in their one day of power and recalling unsettled scores better long forgotten. They rarely produce results that would stand in a proper forum. Sadly a look through the archives shows that it always was thus.

At the start of the Royal Gourock Closing Regatta at the very end of the 1933 season an incident occurred that changed Scottish yachting history, leading certainly to the first and possibly also to the second of the two transatlantic challenges that I wrote about  here,  here and here. The dramatis personae were Herbert Thom’s Gigha, Robert Sharp’s Bernera and Willie Russell’s Sanda. What follows is courtesy of Willie’s daughter and foredeck hand Udy, who has bequeathed to us a careful diary record. On the page for this race we find:

“1^st!! Crew Daddy, Harry, Udy, Hamish Ross

Two boats with protest flags flying!!!!

At the start Gigha and Bernera fouled with us in close attendance and we got away and were only passed once by Gigha. It was a very close and exciting race, squalls coming everywhere, we had the spinnaker up hundreds of times and it was terribly tiring but thrilling. We were first round every mark, which was quite a change for Sanda. Southerly wind all the time but it did not carry past the Cloch with much strength.

Gourock Committee disqualified Bernera and gave Gigha her 2^nd prize. We think we ought to have been disqualified if Bernera was, so we asked Sharp to go to the YRA. I think he is going.

Results:- Sanda 1^st, Gigha 2^nd Bernera disqualified.”

Here is Udy’s faithful record of the outcome. First, her own report.

“The Protest Case

Gigha v Bernera and Sanda

At the start of the race Gigha fouled Bernera.

We were to leeward in close attendance. Gigha approached the line off the wind, while Sanda and Bernera approached it on the wind.

Sanda luffed Bernera right into the wind and Bernera responded.

Gigha shouted to us “I’m on starboard tack,” she then hit Bernera near her mainstays. By this time we were well across the line and Gigha had had plenty of room at the mark.

Bernera could do nothing as she was in a sandwich. We just managed to keep clear when Bernera was forced to bear away.

We say in Sanda’s evidence that the boats were converging and Gigha had plenty of room at the mark. She was the weather boat and should have kept clear. She did not shout for “Room” or “water.”

Gigha was going to send in his protest and accuse Bernera and Sanda of being on port tack but Bernera told him we were not so he changed his protest and accused us of not giving enough room.

Gigha brought four witnesses which were heard and Bernera only got one of his two witnesses heard.

The Committee were very muddled and did not know what to think. They eventually took Gigha’s evidence against Sanda’s and Bernera’s. The case may go before YRA as Sanda should have been disqualified if Bernera was.”

The Royal Gourock Committee wrote on 28 September with their findings.

“Decision of Sailing Committee – Bernera disqualified
1                     The foul took place when Gigha and Bernera were passing but had not passed the mark.
2                     From the starting gun to the time the foul took place an overlap between Gigha and Bernera had been established.
3                     When the foul took place all three boats, Gigha to weather, Bernera and Sanda (to leeward) were on starboard tack.
4                     When passing mark, Sanda luffed Bernera, who responded.
5                     Bernera having luffed, Gigha – but for risk of hitting mark – should have responded also.
6                     Gigha therefore was entitled to room at mark.
7                     Gigha contended that in addition to the words used (“I’m on starboard tack”) she hailed for “room” or “Water.” This was denied by Bernera and Sanda and Committee gives this decision to Bernera.”

On 12 October 1933 Robert Sharp of Bernera wrote to the Committee

“Dear Sir

I wish to give you notice that I desire to appeal against the decision of your Sailing Committee in the protest between Bernera and Gigha, as stated in your letter of 28 September, on the following points:-

1             Rule 46 YRA states that the principal or his representative has the right to be present during the hearing of the evidence.

2             It was stated by you as proved that Sanda luffed Bernera. Why is Bernera disqualified and not Sanda?

3             Gigha makes no attempt to avoid a collision but struck Bernera. Rule 30 YRA section B states that windward yacht must respond to luff and protest if she thinks fit.

I shall be grateful if you will arrange for the evidence in this case to be reheard in the presence of Mr Thom, Mr Russell and myself. Mr Russell of Sanda is particularly keen on this being done as he was the winner of the race and feels that his position is most unsatisfactory as the matter stands.

I am,

Yours faithfully

“Bernera”

Here is the reply

“R K Sharp Esq

Dear Sir

Protest “Bernera”/”Gigha”

In replying to your letter of 12^th inst I beg to report that the Sailing Committee do not see any necessity to reconsider their decision and can only advise you to appeal to the YRA.

As regards Rule 45 YRA this rule prescribes that the principal, or his representative on each side, shall have the right to be present during the hearing of the evidence, but does not say that principal must be present and, of course, you did not ask to attend yourself during the meeting.

Yours faithfully

McGlashan, Sec.”

As the YRA would have had no power to overturn crucial findings of fact Robert Sharp and Willie Russell decided not to take matters further.

The episode left a very bad taste in the mouths of the Sharps and the Russells and I’m not surprised. Herbert Thom was well known for gamesmanship and probably felt he was entitled to shout “starboard” at other yachts also on starboard, but it’s astonishing that he won after being found untruthful about the call for water. I haven’t researched the relevant rule in 1933 about calling for water at the start but clearly the over-riding rule to avoid a collision was in force. Shouldn’t Thom have done this, hitting the start mark if need be, after all these things are designed for it?

For Willie Russell Thom’s shout was a shout too far. He decided forthwith to leave the Scottish Islands class and return to the six metres, commissioning Alfred Mylne to design him a new yacht, Kyla.

Where are we now? Help is at hand, thanks to Antares.

Above is one of the classic Clyde Cruising Club sketch charts that many of us depended on for our lives, sometimes  literally, forty or so years ago. They are still an awful lot better than the proverbial AA road map beloved of many former navigators (and would have helped the commander of HMS Astute, as I wrote a couple of years back, here: Aground in Kyle in Style).

At the other extreme are the ferociously expensive charts produced by the Admiralty and a number of major suppliers, all of which lack the level of detail required by those of us who enjoy our voyaging at a micro level, exploring narrow channels, shallow bays and little remote anchorages that nobody but us knows about.

Now help has arrived in the form of a fascinating project run by Bob Bradfield with assistance from a growing band of enthusiasts. News about Antares Charts is spreading rapidly by word of mouth, which is how I heard about it a few week ago,  but the project deserves a good push forward from scottishboating, so here is Bob’s guest post .

"Antares Charts – Bob Bradfield

As an avid reader of Classic Boat magazine I am full of admiration for people who design, build and navigate traditional craft. I therefore thoroughly enjoyed Ewan Kennedy’s blog account of his recent exploits in an Iain Oughtred designed skiff. Not only was it an exciting adventure but one that took him to some places I know intimately, as I have created modern, very large scale electronic charts of them: the narrow channel between Luing and Torsa, linking the bottom end of the Cuan Sound with Ardinamir Bay, being an example.

I used to own a classic boat – ‘Antares’ carried a gaff schooner rig on an oak-on-oak hull – but my recreation now involves hydrographic surveying and cartography or, put simply, making very large scale charts that can be used in an iPad, or similar device, with its internal GPS. It always struck me as crazy that GPS enables our cars to tell us when to turn left or right, farmers to plough their fields to centimetre accuracy and yet as sailors we also know precisely where we are but lack the charts to make full use of that knowledge. So, five years ago, I decided to try to do something about it with the result that we have now published 134 charts of areas on the West Coast of Scotland that we think might interest users of recreational boats of all kinds: and for next season there will be at least 180 charts. Being electronic they don’t have a scale in the conventional sense but if you think 10 times the scale of the best UKHO chart for an area you will get the picture…

The charts are made available through our website www.antarescharts.co.uk for a nominal charge and are now regularly used by several hundred people: we have had a lot of fantastic feedback. Our primary focus is the owners of cruising sailing yachts with draughts of about 2m but some of our charts are very definitely for people with much smaller craft. And modern electronics means there is now no bar to using them in open boats: an iPad (3G version with GPS – not the WiFi version) or other tablet, or even a mobile phone in an inexpensive waterproof case will run the charts and typically give you your position on them to better than 10 metres. Battery life is fantastic and can be extended by only checking your position occasionally, when you most need it. We are big fans of Memory Map software and apps, which enable our charts to run seamlessly with UKHO charts, all for well under £100.

The motivation for making the charts is that it gives us a great excuse to spend time in some delightful places. It is most definitely not a money making operation! And for this reason we try to pick out not only the places we know people will go to but also those that we think are interesting or exciting. We have quite a list but always want more ideas, particularly for places that people can get to without a month’s voyage but which are challenging without a good chart. So please do email ideas to me: bob[at] antarescharts.co.uk" 

  

Bilderglug Report - Skiff Cruising works

It was that time of year again, when some of us get called out for service on the Bilderglug Fleet. This time someone had the idea of borrowing the Selkie from the kind islanders of Seil in place of our own ships. The idea germinated into a full-blown weekend of experimentation to see how Iain Oughtred’s wonderful creation would perform under sail and also to test the feasibility of cruising in an open rowing skiff. There was relief all round when the Admiral announced that he had no objection.

There’s a very serious side to what follows, so this post continues with a disclaimer- don’t try this at home!

Rowing skiffs such as the St Ayles are designed specifically for rowing, with slender lines to provide a sleek, easily driven hull. They will not necessarily possess sufficient reserve stability to be safe boats under sail. By contrast a substantial working boat, such as my own Christmas Wherry, will take any amount of wind, sea and bad weather but it’s a tough pull to heave her through the water under oar. We approached the weekend with great care and the knowledge that the Fleet included a couple of engined ships that would never be far away. Secure in the knowledge that our friends would look after us if need be we set up the Selkie with my wherry’s sprit rig.

Purists will point out that the original Fair Isle skiffs, from which Iain’s design was developed, carried a low aspect dipping lug rig and were presumably sailed whenever possible. That’s as may be, but we don’t know the conditions under which they sailed, whether they had a load of fish aboard or whatever. The modern view would be that an unboomed dipping lug is not a particularly safe rig in any small open boat. Sprit rig has a number of distinct advantages over the lug and properly set up is efficient and easily handled. It drives well to windward, but its main advantages come when coming ashore or if a sudden squall approaches, when the sail can be brailed in to the mast in a jiffy. In a really serious situation the sprit can simply be hauled out, so that you’re left with half the area in a cut down leg of mutton shape.

The weekend was to prove that the skiff is certainly able to be sailed under a suitable rig in safe conditions. Winds were light but she managed a tack angle of about 110 degrees and came about easily with the help of the wherry’s little jib.

As far as cruising a skiff was concerned the three of us aboard had plenty of space for our tents, gear etcetera, but had we been five up space would have been a little tight. What follows is a log of the trip.

 

Day One Friday 26 July, HW Oban 2019 GMT = about 2050 BST in Seil Sound. Crew this day, Topher, Jan, Sue and myself.

Tides were very important in this trip, as the streams are strong locally. It’s often not understood that in Seil Sound the flood tide tracks the Eastern, Ardmaddy side running North until the Sound narrows, then follows the shore down the Western, Seil side Southwards into the Cuan Sound, so that the guide tells us

“The North-going tidal stream in the Sound begins 4 hours 20 minutes after high water at Oban and the South-going stream begins 2 hours before high water at Oban.”

Many don’t appreciate that although the stream direction changes the water level continues to rise or fall up to high or low water respectively. All very confusing but also important.

The effect of this was that leaving at about 1800 BST we could follow the Seil shore down with  the stream and then fork West into the Cuan Sound with an increasing tide in our favour.

With three rowing and one coxing we tramped along in a lovely sunny afternoon and  soon reached the Cuan, closely following the Torsa shore and passing inshore of Eilean Fraoch and Glas Eilean (heather island and grey island) to reach the narrow passage between Torsa Beag and Luing. We were inspected by several members of the local seal families who inhabit the bays and haul-outs in the Sound.

The tide was flowing fast against us in the passage, but it was easily stemmed by some firm paddling and we passed through Ardinamir to rejoin Seil Sound. There followed half an hour or so against the last of the flood tide, enlivened by Topher’s recounting the tales of Emanuel Pyecroft, until at 1720 we beached for the night in Kilchattan Bay.

Total distance rowed was about six miles.

Day Two Saturday 27 July, HW Oban 0831 and 2058 GMT, hence the stream going Northwards from Ardluing from about 1400 BST. Crew this day, Topher, Jan and myself, with coxing by Laurence.

 

After a pleasant breakfast we had a nice row South with the ebb against a gentle breeze to beach at Bagh na h-Aird (the bay at the point) for lunch and a look at the yachts in the West Highland feeder race from Oban. Setting off about 1330 BST we rowed round to Ardluing, then unbrailed the skiff, hoisted the jib and had our first experience of a St Ayles skiff under sail. The last of the ebb was bringing the stragglers over the finish line off the buoy as we drifted past in what promised to be a hot afternoon.

 

Despite us all being old sailors we soon decided to return to the oars. With three rowing and Laurence at the helm we got along at a good steady clip, the tide increasing as we travelled North into the swirls between Fladda and the Dubh Sgeir, then across a wide stretch of glassy water past Easdale and on to Insh. We followed the shore line closely to inspect the hermit’s house, built into a cave with glazed windows and a drystane patio perched high on the cliff.

Our destination for afternoon tea and cake was the lagoon in the North of Insh, a place of astonishing beauty that could easily be in the Pacific. It disappears at high tide, when it can become unsafe in the Atlantic swell and any weather, but was idyllic and safe for our visit. We were beginning to learn that skiffs have distinct possibilities not shared by other craft. In the now windless conditions our friends in their Wayfarer had endured a long tow behind the Minna and we reflected that had we been aboard our own boats we would have shared their fate.

 

After tea we rowed round the North of Seil to Puilladobhrain (pool of the otter), where the skiff could thread her way with care through the reefs and save a mile or so of effort. We beached at about 2000 on Eilean Buidhe (yellow island) near the wreck and in a place far too shallow to be troubled by yachts.

 

Total distance travelled about thirteen miles, one under sail.

Day Three Sunday 28 July, HW Oban 0909 and 2139 GMT. Crew this day, Topher, Jan and myself.

We woke to pouring rain and one of these days where you are reluctant to leave your tent. Unlike our friends with masts those of us in the skiff had no worries about passing under the Bridge. They on the other hand had to balance having sufficient not to ground on a falling tide with having sufficient clearance and there were worries that tidal predictions are not always quite accurate.

In the event the Admiral had it right. We set off at 0930 BST and all passed down the channel on high water with nearly a metre of clear air above the masts on the Minna and the Back Magician.

 

Clearly in Calvanist country we shivered in the rain and felt we were paying the price for the previous days of lovely sun. We tried a bit of sailing but the inactivity made us colder and we were happy to beach at lunchtime in the North of Shuna, our chosen campsite.

 

After a nice hot lunch the sun came out and we introduced some of our friends to the delights of skiffing, making a brisk mussel-hunting excursion to Eilean Gamhna (calve island) just a sufficient distance to bring up blisters in hands unused to rowing. It was good to get the tents and clothing dried out and have time to prepare a nice dinner. 

Afterwards Laurence and Thomas got us all building reed boats, which sailed with varying results.

Distance travelled about eight miles, mostly rowed.

Day Four Monday 29 July, HW Oban 0949 and 2225 GMT. Crew this day, Topher, Jan and myself.

Another wet morning followed, but with a promise of better conditions later. With a Force Two South westerly we tried a couple of hours of sailing before the cold got the better of us and we went back to rowing to warm up.

We sailed enough to discover that the skiff tracks nicely in light airs. Surprisingly she carried a little weather helm and in careful hands could be put about without stalling. She was very stable and we felt that we would be happy to try her in stronger winds. The main thing learned was that she balanced nicely under a modest rig set far enough forward so as not to interfere too much with rowing. There are definite possibilities for skiff-sailing.

image courtesy of the Admiral

We abandoned our sailing experiment to concentrate on the serious business of catching our dinner. We rowed up to the Cuan Sound where we could set a line in the tide and soon had three fine codling aboard, caught each time close to the seabed on our bottom hook.

Our final port of call before returning the Selkie to her station was a sentimental visit to Port na Morachd (port of the big i.e. important people) an historic port of refuge full of history and now threatened by a massive industrial fish farm just offshore, which Argyll & Bute Council has just unanimously consented despite a huge mailbag of objections, including well over 100 from residents of Seil, Easdale and Luing. The main drivers of the local economy here are tourism and leisure and bizarrely the same council is promoting a kayak trail through the Sound.

It felt appropriate to make a last visit to this lovely bay before it becomes out of bounds. Coming ashore we discovered a feature that I had certainly not noticed before, a line of huge stones almost certainly the remains of a Viking or early Scottish boat noust.

This area is steeped in archaeology, with Port na Morachd overlooked by the pre-historic Dun Fadaidh on the mainland and Caisteal nan Con (house of the dogs) on Torsa. I am fascinated by the castle. It is generally supposed to have been a hunting lodge of the MacDougalls and is known to have become Campbell property the year before Bannockburn, to become MacDougall property again in the Sixteenth Century. The MacLeans of Duart also possessed it for a while and as they were known as the dogs their tenure provides another theory about its name. It's probably of prehistoric origin and has been cleverly built into a natural rock outcrop with later modifications including possibly the installation of a chimney, an item only found only in the grandest of Scottish homes until quite recently. Nearby is a lovely sheltered bay, ideal for beaching boats. Sadly none of this counts with the planners.

 

We climbed the steep hill behind the Port, harder work by far than our earlier rowing, to admire the views out West to Colonsay and North to the Sound of Mull. From our vantage point we spotted the beautiful Fife yacht Kentra, visiting the West coast for her ninetieth birthday cruise.

 

Finally we scrambled and slid back down to sea level in heavy rain squalls for a brisk row up the Sound, to give the Selkie a good scrub and leave her on her pontoon in time for the club’s evening row.

Distance travelled about seven miles, mostly rowed.

In summary we rowed for over thirty miles in total, dined well and remained friends throughout, altogether a great way to spend a Summer weekend and a clear demonstration after the excitement of the Worlds that our skiffs are not confined to racing.

The charts in this post are used courtesy of Antares Charts, a great co-operative operation that is great value and really worth supporting.