Tiree regatta in the 1980s
Photograph of a Tiree regatta in the 1980s.
Courtesy of Mr Gavin MacIntyre
The Tiree regatta was started by Peter MacNeill, a travelling salesman from Colonsay, who visited Tiree before World War I. Fishermen on Tiree had always raced back from the fishing banks and the regatta grew out of this rivalry.
The classic Tiree skiff was between 20 and 26 feet long and pointed at both ends. Some of the larger boats were half-decked but all were rigged as dipping lugs. As outboard engines came into use in the 1930s and 1940s, flat transom sterns became popular.
In the early regattas, up to thirty boats would take part in sailing and rowing races. The mid-1990s saw as many as ten Tiree boats competing regularly. Sadly in 2003 there was only one regatta with two boats and in 2004 no regatta at all.
Colour photograph of a regatta in the 1980s.
Tiree regatta in the 1980s.