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Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival to host biggest ever skiff regatta

More than half a century after rival Scottish fishing villages last locked oars against each other in fiercely contested rowing battles, community-built wooden boats are being launched into the sea once more for what is believed to be the biggest ever skiff regatta.

Coastal rowing is undergoing an astonishing revival as communities attempt to reclaim their lost sea-faring traditions, with 50 wooden skiffs being built or in the process of being crafted by novice boat builders in the past 18 months. Many of the communities behind the resurgence will be gathering together to celebrate their heritage at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival on July 2 and 3.

Skiff racing tops the bill of attractions at this year’s event – the 18th annual festival to take place in the North East fishing village of Portsoy - and forms part of the year of Active Scotland initiative to encourage communities to get active together. Fifteen skiffs from Portobello to Stornoway will be taking part in the regatta, with races over a 2km stretch of stunning coastline and finishing at the historic 17th century Portsoy harbour.

The vessels taking part in the regatta are St Ayles skiffs, the design of which was commissioned from internationally renowned boat owner Iain Oughtred by the Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther in Fife. Rather than simply fund-raise to buy a boat, communities buy a kit at a cost of around £3,000 and work together to build it themselves.

Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival chairman Roger Goodyear says, “We’ve watched interest in traditional boat building rise through the years to the point where we have 15,000 visitors coming to the Festival, so it comes as no surprise at all that the St Ayles skiff project has been so successful. We were delighted to learn that 15 skiffs will be racing at Portsoy: it may not sound a lot but it is quite an achievement given that it is only in the last 18 months that communities have been buying their own St Ayles skiffs.

“The skiff racing will be a magnificent sight, and the Festival will be a great opportunity for communities who are interested in coastal rowing to come and hear the inspiring stories of those who have been pivotal to reviving this wonderful link to our past.”

It will be the second time at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival for Ali Grant of the Portobello coastal rowing project, Rowporty. Last year they took a 50-strong contingent to the Moray Firth and they will be attending in even greater numbers this year. Ali, a founding member of Rowporty, says, “I think coastal rowing is taking off because it is a genuinely inclusive project. It’s a team sport and because teams are based locally, it’s a great way to get to know your own neighbours. It’s a sad fact that most neighbours barely speak to each other these days, but put them in a boat and it bonds them together in a way that nobody anticipates. What happens in your own community then happens on another level when the teams go to other towns and villages for regattas. I would never have thought about visiting somewhere like Portsoy, but I went to the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival last year and thought it was fantastic. Coastal rowing is taking people to parts of their own country that they otherwise would have no reason to visit.

“Everyone involved with Rowporty is incredibly proud of what they have achieved. What started life as nothing but planks of wood has transformed into a most magnificent thing. It’s not just a boat: it’s something that is bringing our community together. Our beach at Portobello is one of the few that you can go on at any time of the day or night, and the boat has become a real focal point and showpiece for the community.”

Portobello was one of the first towns in the country to buy a St Ayle’s Skiff kit and built the vessel, Icebreaker, over the course of several months. The project involved everyone from school children to senior citizens - even a 93-year-old founding member of the Portobello Amateur Rowing Club – and all of them were complete boat building novices. With the help of a carpenter, each task was broken down into manageable chunks and slowly but surely Icebreaker came to life. The response to the project was so great that a second boat, Jenny Skylark, was also built. Over 70 people are now involved with Rowporty, but that is still a long way short of the numbers taking part in coastal rowing during its hey day.

Coastal rowing was a popular pastime in Scotland’s communities up until the 1950s, and it was not uncommon for dozens of handcrafted wooden vessels to participate in regattas between rival villages. But times changed and slowly the link to the tradition was lost. Large numbers of men from the communities never returned from the war and so the pool of rowing talent was reduced, and then the modern age of the power boat arrived. The demise of the fishing industry and the mining towns along the east coast also played a role in coastal rowing disappearing from the sporting calendar.

Topher Dawson is convener of Ullapool Coastal Rowing Club. He believes that the sport is undergoing a revival because modern day communities want to understand where they have evolved from. He says, “I’ve seen lots of old photographs from the 1950s which shows that coastal rowing was a huge thing, not just in Scotland, but all over the UK. One of the main reasons for its demise in Scotland was that a lot of the coastal communities around Edinburgh became dormitory towns for the city. Now we’ve moved on and a lot of these towns want to reassert themselves and regain their own sense of identity.

“It’s a fantastic way to bring different generations together and without the skiff they probably would never have met. It’s not just about bringing our own community together either, as coastal rowing brings other communities together. The way it has taken off again has been really surprising: nobody thought that it would, but it has. The skiff design has only been available for 18 months, but already 50 have been sold and I can see a day in the not too distant future when we will have regattas of 20 boats and hundreds of rowers.”

The Festival puts a special emphasis on boat building, restoration and sailing and associated traditional crafts including knitting, weaving and embroidery. It is a perfect family day out, with a packed programme of music, arts and crafts, food and activities. This year’s festival is part of the year of Active Scotland, a national initiative to get communities to participate in exercise together, and there will be activities from rowing to running.

For further information on the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival visit www.scottishtraditionalboatfestival.org.uk or call 01261 842951. Day and weekend tickets can be now purchased for the Festival. An adult day ticket costs £8, children aged 5-18 and concessions are £5. Adult weekend tickets are priced at £12 and children and concessions at £8. There are also family tickets available which allow entry for 2 adults and 3 children for £25 for a day ticket and £35 for a weekend. Children under 5 go free and there is no charge for parking. The Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Traditional Boat Festival is supported by EventScotland as part of the year of Active Scotland.

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