The Tarbert Scottish Series - just Symptomatic of Wider Malaise ?

Being an ex-pat from Caledonias finest sailing area, I was reading this thread on Clyde Sailing about the decline in fortunes for the Scottish Series.

I feel rather priveledge now, given the lack of numbers at the event, and not least the divisive Portavadie issue, to have been up there 5 or 6 times with overnights on most of those. Halcyon days:  Arriving in Tarbert up the Fyne on a typically humid morning, dry off a little, coffee on board with a bacon roll,  and then a pint or twenty in the sun, soaking more atmosphere than rays.

You can debate the decline in numbers at Tarbert Scottish Series from different perspectives, but the recession is the big issue here : fewer boats, and boats doing fewer events. Gone are the days when a "gentleman" of 35 , engineer or accountant or the like, would pop out an buy a class 1 or 2 cruiser racer, meter pedegree design or a decent one design with ambitions for the nationals. No, now they are stuck with an enourmous mortgage on a "Luxury Apartment" and a wage which probably hasn't risen much for that position since the mid ninetees.

On the other hand, the rich have got richer: Class 1 boats in 1992 look like little alloy and plastic toys compared to the latter day Class 0 and Class 1's dressed in black carbon. ....and if the rich loose their flavour for an event then they don't turn up.

Forgetting the Recession, Why do Boats Who Are Active Not Sail There?

There may then be an underlying decline in Scottish Series too: IMHO: Firstly, the overnight went at the bequest of various wimps- it being the only big, exciting distance race on the clyde with any level of numbers by 1995, which presented real challenges to navigation and strategy.

Secondly, the weather pattern shifted. As a nipper and young man you could set the calender on your Timex  by the good weather on the May bank holiday weekend. That all changed in the mid to late nineties with the jet stream deciding to give a run of westerlies over Scotchlandshire almost without fail for the last 15 years. In fact a gale at Tarbert Scottish Series, replaced the usual light-airs-abandoned days of yore!

Tarbert as we called it purely and simply, " are you going to Tarbert this year?" , was taken as a slightly abrupt, early doors highlight of the Scottish sailing season on the one hand. West Highland Week was seen as a poor cousin- not a serious racing event, a cruising holiday more for those with fridges on their yachts, and wooden dinghies on davits. The fact is that serious Clyde sailors trained from easter through April and early May in a well organised series of events around the clyde and local clubs to build up to the event as the real test of mettal. So it was an early peak in the season and used a bank holiday, plus some days. They cut back on days, and ok the event maybe picked up or held interest for a while.

On the other hand, the "big english" and " the Irish" used Scottish series as a shake down or tune up for brand new IRC (CHS in its day) boats. I dare say in the days of Ton designs the Tomatin and early series was also used as such (?) . The peak of this handicap test-driving came in the late nineties, early naughties with first those boats you had to find the tram lines on- the Corby's and then a plethora of IRC optimised production boats, knocking each other off the pedestal at regular intervals. Although I much prefer OD, the money on show and the seriousness of the Irish crews in particular did add some shine to the event.

A run of bad weather with gale force winds one day at least becoming the new norm, I think the lump of 30 - 40 IRC shake downers from Southern Shores probably thought better of tuning their boats at Tarbert prior to 2008.

So to summarise that all from IMHO; the event lost its' shine, its' challenge and maybe even with Portavadie, its' soul.....and maybe became a bit " Why bother? " instead of it being a "must do!" and isthmus of the Clyde racing calendar post Clyde-Week. 


Decline in One-Design  Accounts for a Lot of Boats at Tarbert Scottish Series

The dearth of OD reflects the gentleman issue again, gents being proper competitive sailing types and not cheque-book-in-your-own-wind racers. We gents of hedd-u-kay-schun are skint, it's all sunk in our button ben, vur single-end,  and no one will loan us more cash. In effect my entire generation of 35-45 year olds missed cashing in any chips on the property boom upside and are awaiting the demise of dearly beloved Jurassics before we can splash out for a 30 or 40 footer!

Okay, a Piper or a Loch Long or a FF- five grand and your in business ? Running a flying fifteen seems attractive until you trip down to Holy Loch on a chilly may evening maybe. Other OD's are no longer cheap at all relative to cash to splash which is basically about enough to cover entry fees, insurance, repairs, marina and wintering - without actually having a boat.

OD seemed to take a big hit around about 2002-2004 if I Remember rightly, because it was then that suddenly the RS400 fleet in Scotland and the Cork 1720 fleet evapourated into thin air. This was linked to the same effect- cheque book racing and individuality and my generation having to then buy their first hovel and sell the boat. OD Boats like Carmen, Blues and Showtime went over to handicap racing unfortunetly and both the sigma 33 and sonata fleet slid out from the hey days of the mid to late ninetees predominantly due to this effect.

What was behind the move out of OD on the clyde?- well take the two biggest fleets: Sonata and Sigam;: you only have to sail any 1970s david thomas design dead-down-wind for 30 seconds to know they are not a patch on the big assed french influenced sterns of modern boats from the late 80s - 90s. Also they do not really sleep their crew in a large degree of comfort. Finally it does become a bit of the usual suspects in the top places and in a declining fleet size that can be a bit boring. The  1720 probably declined due to up sizing and budget busting, but that was also to do with having to find accomodation for 5 crew and your self. I saw this as a weak point of the class from day one I counted bodies from transom along the granny rail on the wee tubs. Hence the success of the SB3/ SB20 of course, but even that has not taken off yet on the clyde.

Since I am not seeking advertising cash here, I can say I think that the industry did not help OD much: IRC prizes were always better, and you got treated pretty mediocrily by sail makers in my experience. Laying for example sigma thirty three mainsails and no.1s over each other revealed that all was not as OD as they made out!  I was once in a well known yachtie shop and the manager / junior manager dropped me like a stone when a well known IRC racer came in the door. Money sucks and gets sucked.

That the middle class employee in much of the UK and Ireland got all mortgaged up and then got basically shafted by big nasty capitalism was predictable. In sailing the allure of OD evapourated largely and was replaced on the clyde by the lust for conspicious consumption in IRC racing results from the rich who were getting richer, and now are the only ones holding their head above water.

The Future for the Scottish Series?

Well of course I am ex' pat ' and more interested in sailing OD where it is happening, not anywhere near Tarbert or Scotland really then. I dream of going back to West Highland Week for a relaxing holiday racing week,  and certainly not banging up and down the mid reaches of Loch Fyne when a far better racing series could be run at Troon or the 'patches or god help me, Largs. I have my fantastic memories of the overnights and the whole atmosphere of Tarbert at its high point so I dont want to go back to a deshevelled pensioner of an event.

Troon has been touted often for the SS event by pundits- the outer harbour fell out of use and is ideal for even Class 0 superyachts. The waters are open and shallower allowing for perfect mark laying. The views actually better than around Tarbert. I believe it has been touted for a very long time actually, before the harbour and maybe back to the Tomatin series when it was a new Marina in the 1970s, and I seem to remember a discussion about Troon in the mid ninetees!

People always said though that another venue or a return to the Tomatin several destination event would kill the event becuase there wouldn't be the atmosphere of Tarbert - rafting up after a days racing, the Craic in the pubs, the beer tent and the harbour side. However Portavadie seems to have done its share of the decline in the Craic-o-meter there. Sailors remember of course the craic, but when the memory fades and a new, sparkly event arises and everyone has a good time in the beer tent, then people soon say they will be back every year - whether that is Tarbert or not in future remains to be seen.