Opposite: Dragon chases Kelpie around a mark racing on handicap in Largs in 1905. The Alfred Mylne design Mouchette (left) was favourite for the Olympics of 1908 but the teacher was beaten by the student and the gold medal went to Hera designed and steered by Mylne’s former apprentice. Far left: among the best 6 Metres of the early 1900s was Claire. And in this case Alfred Mylne could claim all the credit…
raced on the Riviera, on occasion accompa- nied by Alfred Mylne, who crewed for him as part of a working holiday. To be fair, he did make special arrangements to be back to support the Clyde ‘Fortnight’, but this famous Scottish festival was in serious decline, and no wonder – international rac- ing offered larger prizes, and keener sport. National differences remained but were
After that Euterpe only showed promise
when the weather suited her. She proved an impossibly unpredictable boat to sail, a waste of money in effect. There was a little ripple in the yachting
press when Tid denied he was co-owner with George Martin, even though the Lloyd’s Register of Yachts shows other- wise. Perhaps there had been objections from the Coats clan, for George had all the education (Eton, Oxford) and breeding (his aunt was a countess) but almost no money. Previously there had been another unde-
sirable Coats hanger-on, a distant relative with a shady reputation for unpaid gambling debts. (Unfortunately, after Tid relayed the family pressure to break up their friendship to his companion, an unpleasant and very public court case for slander ensued. The shameless plaintiff represented himself flamboyantly, only to be thoroughly ridiculed by the sharp lawyers and solid respectability of the Coats dynasty, whose evidence seemed given more in sorrow than in anger. Some time later the gambling indiscretions were proved horribly real.) Of course Euterpe didn’t make the cut
for the One Ton Cup; Tid built himself another Six that season which also failed, plus yet another in 1914. All these were constructed at Mylne and Tid’s new busi- ness enterprise, the Bute Slip Dock at Ard- maleish. Boats built there were of superb craftsmanship, and the reliably annual Glen Coats commissions enabled the yard to weather through both bad times and good.
Largs versus Cowes There were still distinct and fundamental differences between the two big yachting centres of the Solent and the Clyde. This is well illustrated by comparing two articles in the press around that time. The first is from a Yachting Monthly
reporter who had missed his steamer con- nection and was forced to take afternoon tea at Largs. Opposite him, around a table, were three men, one seemed to be a baker, another possibly a chemist and the third, large and prosperous, possibly a ‘motor taxi’ owner.
They were discussing Tid’s uncle George
Coats’s Lady Anne, and clearly knew every technical detail about the 15 Metre, com- paring her to others in the class with insight and accuracy. The chemist had photo - graphed Istria and Lady Anne in identical trims, and compared measurements from his prints to give a fair account of their likely handling, citing the effects of lee helm as opposed to weather helm, and ‘steering affected by the immersion of a flat topside’. The journalist was astonished to hear
three apparently ordinary members of the working public with such enthusiastic detailed appreciation of yacht design. Where else could you find this, he won- dered? ‘Surely nowhere outside Largs’. Contrast this with another Yachting
Monthly editorial, later in the same volume. Cowes is described as a place where yachtsmen, cruising men and racing men, meet ‘society’. People go to Cowes to race, but that is a mere detail: they can be divided into ‘people who are looked at, and people who look at them. ‘Apart from the Squadron Battery, or
the Royal London Balcony, where the real enthusiasts may gather, much activity involves getting afloat and coming ashore, and to be photographed while doing it, so that interested observers could get accounts of who has been, and who was likely to be, where.’ Of course huge local enthusiasm existed
at regatta bases like Torquay, Harwich and the east coast but wherever royalty and aristocracy were linked to yacht racing the highest social hierarchies, propped up by the gossip columns, tended to become of more interest than the yachts themselves. At Largs everyone knew the boats: they
had been designed and built close by, their designers had been known since they were lads, and vessels large and small were being crewed expertly by local men. Kelpie’s skipper, Robert Morris, came from Largs. This was a community sport in which fami- lies both rich and poor had been involved for generations. Very different from the lofty socially hierarchical gatherings at Cowes. As the outbreak of war drew nearer Tid
now increasingly blurred by friendships made by racing keenly against each other, and socialising afterwards. Where you competed was becoming somewhat less important. International competitions like the One Ton Cup and the Coupe de France were among the highlights of the season. Fanatical racing Germans such as Edward Nordheim were accepted as equals and part of the yachting scene. Which made things a bit difficult by September 1914.
The Clyde Cruising Club Back in Scotland in 1910 the Clyde Cruis- ing Club was formed. Its numbers quickly swelled to over 200. Tid was asked to be its Commodore. Although links were forged with other cruising groups this was an intrinsically Scottish club, celebrating the joy of sailing among the beauties of the west coast. Tid remained at the helm for many years, despite his constant absences compet- ing elsewhere. Having a Coats as figurehead served its purpose, while other lesser men were left to man the different organising committees and do the actual work. Local cruising was not threatened by rival
activities on the continent. The membership boasted few names of particular note. The club’s entire annual accounts would hardly have paid for a new mast on one of the larger yachts. Eventually Alfred Mylne was to become Commodore, but for him cruis- ing was what he sought most on the water; his heart was truly given to the beautiful lochs of the west coast which he had known from a boy. Tid had probably accepted more out of duty than anything else.
The end of the party In 1914, when the guillotine of war stopped everything, nationality suddenly became crucial, but English and Scottish men were now fighting for the same king. I wish I could praise Tid for his National
Service: unfortunately he seems to have spent the duration safely over in the USA ‘raising funds for charity’ while living in a luxury hotel. Too rich to become cannon fodder on the battlefield, or so it seems. And after peace was declared at the end of 1918 even the richest yachtsmen and women discovered that they were emerg- ing into a quite different world.
SEAHORSE 57
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