Fast and Bonnie by May Fife McCallum

Author:May Fife McCallum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Metre Classes

When the International Rule came into force, Myles Kennedy commissioned William Fife to design and build the 23-metre White Heather II. The boat was delivered and no others were built that year; therefore he had few adversaries. The following year, 1908, Sir Thomas Lipton ordered another Shamrock from Fife, built to the new 23-metre rule in the hope that it might be accepted as a challenger for the America’s Cup. The challenge was refused because the United States did not accept the International Rule and they went their own way to develop the Universal Rule. In spite of this rebuff, Sir Thomas enjoyed a year of fierce competition against White Heather II. Both these boats were designed and built by William Fife, evenly matched, and the yachting fraternity followed the progress of each race with great interest.

This battle between Sir Thomas Lipton’s Shamrock and Myles Kennedy’s White Heather II continued in 1909. Sir Thomas had been so pleased with the performance of this boat that as a mark of recognition to the family he presented each of William’s sisters with Shamrock brooches. These were in the form of crossed enamelled flags, on one side the Royal Ulster Yacht Club and on the other Shamrock’s house flag. The coloured enamelled flags surmounted a bow in the shape of a shamrock studded with small emeralds.

During this period Myles Kennedy spent a considerable sum of money altering White Heather II in an attempt to get the better of Shamrock. One of his adjustments was to ask Fife to pad a section of the hull with solid mahogany screwed on to the planking forward and aft of amidships, tapering it to nothing at the ends. This resulted in a more buoyant hull, which required more lead on the keel to bring it back to the required waterline and carry more sail. The alterations were successful and the boats became even more closely matched. This is shown by White Heather’s 19 wins to Shamrock’s 22 in 41 matches. In one race the two boats sailed beam to beam, bows level for several miles. These two magnificent large yachts provided exciting matches throughout the year. They were both Fife designed, and were seldom more than a few yards apart in the thousand-odd miles they sailed against each other. The excitement of these contests must have compensated for Lipton’s disappointment at the New York Yacht Club’s refusal to accept his America’s Cup challenge using Shamrock.

From the beginning the metre boats became very popular because they offered exciting competition on equal terms. Since not all yachtsmen could aspire to a 23-metre they turned to the more affordable smaller metre classes. In 1907, in addition to White Heather II, William Fife designed a ten-metre to be built in Norway, a 15-metre built at Robertson’s of Sandbank, an eight-metre for a Spanish gentleman and one for the well-known Southsea yachtswoman Mrs R.G. Allen.

Mrs Allen, an exceptional helmswoman, may be regarded as the instigator of eight-metre racing on the Solent.

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