St Ayles Skiffs
Concurrent with Independence, the group is building two St Ayles Skiffs.
Wikipedia tells us that the St. Ayles (pronounced Saint Isles) Skiff is a 4 oared rowing boat, designed by Iain Oughtred and inspired by the traditional Fair Isle skiff. The boat’s hull and frames are built using clinker plywood and it measures 22’ with a beam of 5’ 8”. It is normally crewed by four sweep rowers with a coxswain.
The boat design was commissioned by The Scottish Fisheries Museum in 2009 as a vessel for use in The Scottish Coastal Rowing Project. It is suitable for construction by community groups and amateur boat builders. The boats are normally supplied in kit form.
Over 130 boats had been built by 2016, mostly by communities around the Scottish coast but increasingly by groups elsewhere, including England, Northern Ireland, the United States, Australia and New Zealand.
In the case of American River, funds to purchase two kits were provided by an anonymous donor in the south-east of South Australia and the kit came from Stray Dog Boat Works in the Adelaide Hills. We hope to use the completed skiffs in regattas, etc around the island and possible beyond.
The first of the two St Ayles Skiffs to be built by Rebuild Independece Group Inc. at American River in construction (March 2017).
The first St Ayles Skiff has now been moved to the mezanine floor in the boathouse where it will be finished off and made ready for use.
The framework on which the hull of the first was constructed lies ready to receive the second.