User:Penfold77/Loch Long

Loch Long

The Loch Long One Design is a small wooden sloop rigged keelboat. The design was commissioned by members of Loch Long Sailing Club to mark the coronation of George VI and to replace their existing sailing craft with a low cost design which was capable of safe use in the local conditions found on Loch Long and the Firth of Clyde. The lines of the Norwegian Starboat (Stjärnbåt) were adapted by James Croll to add a counter stern, alter construction from clinker to carvel and allow a permanent backstay to be fitted.

Development
In order to keep ownership costs down and preserve the integrity of the Loch Long as a 'one design' class, new technology and ideas have been introduced sparingly and slowly. Although the spinnaker was first flown on the Solent in 1860s, this somewhat capricious sail was not adopted by the class until 1975. Aluminium alloy masts were experimented with around the same time, but were not adopted for reasons of cost. Sails made of manmade fibres were experimented with after the Second World War, and were adopted in 1961. Local conditions of strong tides and regular light winds caused sailors on the Forth to adopt a genoa with a larger sail area than the original jib. In the 1990s a battened jib with an increased sail area was developed to enhance sail durability and performance. New Loch Longs with strip planked hulls were admitted to the class in 1994; 5 boats have been constructed using this method so far, which is significantly cheaper to build than the original carvel construction.

Miscellany

 * Loch Long number 8 'Ripple' appeared in the 1949 film 'Floodtide'.
 * Loch Long number 6 'Sirocco' was hit by a malfunctioning torpedo on 3rd July 1957.
 * The first five Loch Longs cost just £66 each, compared to £300 for a Dragon OD(May 1937).
 * Price for a new one has risen with inflation and the rise in the cost of labour and materials; by 1949 the cost had risen to £425, and to £495 by 1963. The first strip-plank Loch Long, No.136 'Viva' built in 1993, cost £15,000.
 * Out of more than 130 built, over 100 are believed to still exist.

Geographic Spread
There are active racing fleets at Cove Sailing Club and Royal Gourock Yacht Club on the Clyde and Aldeburgh Yacht Club on the River Alde. In the past there have been fleets at Tighnabruaich, Fairlie, Largs and Gourock on the Clyde, and Granton on the Firth of Forth. A few Loch Longs have escaped the straitjacket of racing and may be found elsewhere. They have been seen as far afield as Kyle of Lochalsh, Falmouth and even across the Atlantic; at least one was exported to the USA, and another was transported to Brazil by the artist Simon Starling and features as a piece of installation art!

Builders

 * Aldeburgh Boatyard
 * McKellar's Slipway of Kilcreggan

Builders no longer trading

 * Alexander Robertson and Sons Ltd (Yachtbuilders)
 * William Boag of Largs
 * James Colquhoun & Sons of Dunoon
 * Robert Shaw of Cove
 * Nunn Bros. of Woodbridge, Suffolk
 * Bute Slip Dock Co. of Bute
 * J. Rodger of Glasgow
 * D. Munroe & Sons of Gairletter
 * C. Whissock of Woodbridge, Suffolk
 * Fairlie Yacht Slip of Fairlie