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The Dutch three-masted schooner Oosterschelde on a visit to Stornoway for Sail Hebrides. She is being escorted out of the harbour by two traditional Hebridean fishing vessels, Jubilee in front and An Sulaire behind. These two boats were participating in a race as part of the Sail Hebrides Maritime Festival.
courtesy Donald Macleod
Jubilee arrives at the Old School site in Lionel, Ness where she remained until repairs were carried out in 2005
courtesy Falmadair
Jubilee makes a welcome return to Port of Ness, where she was originally launched in 1935
courtesy Falmadair
Stressful sailing. Onboard Jubilee
courtesy Franzi Richter
courtesy Franzi Richter
An Sulaire
courtesy sulaire
An Sulaire and crew in the inner harbour.
courtesy Donald Macleod
Aboard An Sulaire
courtesy Franzi Richter
An Sulaire courtesy Franzi Richter
The crew hauling Mayflower up the slipway at Skigersta pier in the early 1950s. Read more about Mayflower here.
courtesy Falmadair
The 20 foot keel length Pride of Lionel was owned by Norman Campbell (Tabaidh), 6 Lionel, and registered as SY 455 on 25 May 1918.
courtesy Falmadair
Mairi MacLeods Runag...
courtesy Mairi MacLeod
build underway...
courtesy Mairi MacLeod
at the Lyme Regis Boat Building Academy in 2009.
courtesy Mairi MacLeod
Mairi chose to build a half-size Sgoth Niseach. Full size boats were just over 30, the boat that Mairi built is 16 6". The translation of Sgoth Niseach is Ness-type skiff, Ness being the northernmost part of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides where the boats were used for fishing. Runag, Gaelic for little sweetheart, was planked in Alaskan yellow cedar on oak, the planks and ribs fastened with traditional rose head copper nails.
courtesy Mairi MacLeod
courtesy Mairi MacLeod
Sgoth Niseach translates into English as Ness Skiff, at type of small fishing vessels which evolved in the region of Ness, northernmost part of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. They are double ended like their Norwegian ... but have a distinctive large dipping lug rig which some have likened to a lateen sail. I asked Iain Oughtred about his view of the evolution of this boat type and especially that big sail. Iains reply:
These boats had nearly died out completely by mid 20th century, but some worthy restorations and new builds are keeping their heritage alive.
Jubilee was built in 1935 by John F. Macleod. By 1978 she was in need of restoration, was purchased by a group on behalf of the Ness community, funds were secured and work begun. She was re- launched in1980 at Ness Harbour. Further repairs were undertaken in 1995 to coincide with the building of a new Sgoth, An Sulaire. The 28 Jubilee is currently the ward of Falmadair, the North Lewis Maritime Society.
An Sulaire is a new 30ft. sgoth, commissiond by the An Sulaire Trust, built by John Murdo Macleod, assisted by Angus Smith. Macleod is the son of John F. who built Jubilee. He is regarded as a master boatbuilder and the BBC produced a documentary of the build. She is currently in Ullapool on the Scottish mainland for some repair work.
In 2009 Mairi Macleod of Stonaway was completing her course at the Lyme Regis Boatbuilding Academy. She chose to build a half size sgoth as her final project and was helped by John Murdo Macleod. Its a beautiful boat as you can see in the above photos. After graduating other concerns intervened and the boat is still unfinished, but it back in Stornaway, awaiting Mairis finishing touches, planned for next summer.
Theres a Facebook page for these boats here.
Finally, heres a link to some closely related boats Ive written about previously.
A big thanks to Iain Oughtred for his insight.
Original post Thomas Armstrong @ 70.8%
André Mauric was the most prolific and best known of Frances 20th century yacht designers. His career started in the 1920s with radical designs for racing yachts to the International Metre Rule in the days when the bermudan rig was still considered new-fangled and fragile, and carried on well into the 1980s when, among other winners he designed the the highly successful Atlantic crossing record breaker Kriter VIII. In between he designed dozens of great boats, including Pen Duick VI for Eric Tabarly, the 1972 Half Ton Cup winner Impensable, the popular and successful First 30, and Sylphe, a classic yacht hidden for 5 years underwater.
After the war Sylphe was recovered and completed. Her long submersion had done no harm – indeed it may have further improved the seasoning of her timbers and made them less liable to distort, crack, or split in later age. She was finally launched in 1947, and though Mauric had designed her with one of his trademark tall bermudan cutter rigs supported on a slender mast, her sailplan was modified in 1953 to give her a larger and taller foretriangle, its foot extended by a short bowsprit. These modifications were no doubt intended to keep her competitive with the latest offshore racing boats which, encouraged by the allowances in the old RORC rating rule, had begun to sport big overlapping genoas and high aspect mainsails. 
Her new Dutch owners sailed her to Turkey and set about a 7-month total overhaul to make her more suitable for Mediterranean charter use. Although the interior had mostly to be stripped out and rebuilt to provide more comfortable charter accommodation, the original hull timbers and planking, having endured such a long submersion so many years ago, were found to be in excellent order. Only a couple of rot-infected frames had to be replaced. Her owners are proud to claim that Sylphe still has none of the steel bracing and reinforcement that many other yachts of her day now need to keep them in sailing order. They are equally proud that she retains her original mast winches and her unique, custom made, cockpit sheet winches. 
