The ‘Eilean Thiriodh’ in Scarinish harbour in 2000
Photograph of the skiff ‘Eilean Thiriodh’ in Scarinish harbour in 2000.
Courtesy of Mr Ron Hutchison
Owned by David Hepburn, the skiff ‘Eilean Thiriodh’ was built in Oban in 2000 to the dimensions of a traditional Tiree boat belonging to Willie MacIntosh of Urvaig. Raced for the first time in 2000, she won the Tiree regatta.
The classic Tiree skiff was between 20 and 26 feet long, and double-ended (a sharp bow and stern). Some of the larger boats were half-decked with a ‘deaca bheag’, but they were more usually completely open. Later boats built for the lobster fishery around the east end were much wider, or beamier.
They were all rigged as dipping lugs, although a few added a bowsprit and jib in a jackass rig in the 1930s. As outboard engines became popular in the 1930s and 40s flat transom sterns became more common.
Colour photograph of the dinghy `Eilean Thiriodh` in 2000.
The dinghy `Eilean Thiriodh` in Scarinish harbour, photographed by Ron Hutchison in 2000.