Ten years on the water

Skiff club celebrates 10th anniversary of boat launch

On Monday, June 12, approximately 40 members and former members of the Ayle of Quinte Skiff club gathered for dinner at Cressy Mustard in Waupoos to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the launch of their first boat, the Sea Shadow, a St. Ayles skiff. Seven of the original 12 boat builders were present to celebrate this milestone. A St. Ayles skiff is a type of rowboat that was used for fishing in the coastal areas of Scotland until the middle of the twentieth century. On weekends, the crews would race against each other for fun. With the transition to power boats, this activity died out, and in the early 2000s the Scottish Fisheries Museum commissioned the design of a boat that would rejuvenate amateur boat building and recreational racing. In December 2012, a group of County men decided to purchase a kit and build a skiff over the winter months. This was the idea of Chris Ireland, an accomplished boat-builder and member of the Shadow Cabinet—a larger group of men who would meet regularly for outings and lunch. A subset of this larger group, who all had an interest in woodworking or boat building, embarked on the project to build the boat.

Chris Ireland likens the kit to a scaled-up version of a balsa wood model airplane kit, where the shapes are punched out from a flat sheet of wood. In this case, there are 17 sheets of marine plywood, and plenty of gluing and fitting together. “One of the biggest tasks was gluing up all the planks, getting them nice and perfect, because all the planks are curved.

All the pieces were there, it was a matter of gluing them up to the correct shape,” he said. “There was still a ton of work to be done aside from the kit. The gunwales had to be done, and we had to make the thwarts and the oars.” The boat was built in Greg Leggatt’s workshop, which provided ample area for working. Another bonus was that Greg’s wife, Sue, always ensured there was a steady supply of cookies for the hard-working men. The group included a number of other boat-builders, including Sandy Pratt and Bob McKittrick, and they decided that the boat stem, as well as the keel and inner keel, should be constructed out of solid wood, rather than the plywood supplied. These pieces had to be cut and moulded to the correct shape, but would result in a much more durable boat.

Bob McKittrick noted that he was 74 years old when he started the project, and the others in the builders’ group were of a similar age. Two of the original builders have since passed away, and one is in ill health, and there was one who actually never rowed the boat, but most of the remaining members are still active rowers. McKittrick said he was privileged to be a member of the group, and he is proud to see that the boat he helped to build, plus a second one built the following year, is still in use. “I feel I took far more away from belonging to this group than I put in,” he said. “Whatever we have now is related to the original group of builders.” Jim Vince was one of the original builders, and he said it was a great winter project for him at the time. “We had a great time, and we worked on it over the winter and had it ready by spring. We launched it in June 2013, and it was fun to see it on the water. We had a great celebration launching it.”

In the first years after the launch, the group took to boat to regattas in Mystic, Connecticut and Lake Champlain, Vermont. The Ayle of Quinte Skiff Club was created as a not-for-profit entity in 2015, and club members have carried the Canadian flag at the World Championships in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Netherlands. It remains the only skiff club in Canada. The club now has three boats, and rows five days a week, weather permitting. For more information, please visit countycoastalrowing.org

Seven of the original twelve builders gather at Cressy Mustard to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Sea Shadow. (L-R): Greg Leggatt, Jim Vince, Sandy Pratt, Bob McKittrick, John Fricker, Tony Dean and Chris Ireland.