Fife’s designs to return to the Clyde

A fifth instalment of the prestigious and idiosyncratic Fife Regatta is being planned for June next year. Starting from Largs marina close to the heritage village of Fairlie where the three generations of Wm Fife built their famous boats, the regatta will follow a similar format to the others of 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013 according to organiser Alastair Houston.

Kentra on the race from Portavadie on Loch Fyne to Largs 2013, she was 90 years old. © Marc Turner

The fifth regatta is due to take place in Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters, and will be a month earlier than a more general classic regatta, also basing itself in Largs, in July. It will take place from 4 – 12 June 2020 (full moon is on the 5th/6th), starting and finishing in Largs and sailing to various venues around the Clyde.

Latifa, owned by Mario Pirri, cruising up the Kyles of Bute in 2013

It will have been seven years since many of the great designs like Mariquita, Latifa and other smaller boats graced the waters of the lower Clyde. Fife designs have made the pilgrimage from the Mediterranean, the Baltic and even the USA. The magnificent ketch Kentra‘s owners liked the surroundings so much she has spent the best part of the last decade cruising the the Hebrides.

The regatta has only just been announced so there is no list of entries yet and no notice of race. But if earlier years are anything to go by then it should be one of the great spectacles for any fan of beautiful boats as they make their way back to their launch place at Fairlie to celebrate the heritage and craftsmanship of the men of the Fife boatyard in the decades before and after the turn of the 20th century.

www.yachthavens.com/largs

www.fiferegatta.com

Photos by:   Marc Turner