Yacht club looks forward to weighing anchor again

Lochaber Yacht Club (LYC) may have been forced to drop anchor for the foreseeable future, but everything is shipshape and ready to go once coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

Established in 1954, LYC and its members have been sailing on Loch Linnhe ever since and Commodore Hamish Loudon and his hard-working committee are looking forward to welcoming sailors of all ages and abilities back to the water.

‘It’s been really tough not being able to get out there, especially since the weather has been so good recently, but the loch will still be there when we return,’ he said.

An established

Royal

Yachting Association (SYA) sailing establishment, LYC offers come and try sessions for anyone interested in learning to sail and, being a family sailing club, does everything it can to get young people involved.

‘That’s one of the beauties of sailing,’ added Hamish. ‘It’s one of the few cradle to grave activities. Families can do it together and contrary to misguided opinion, it doesn’t have to break the bank.

‘Joining a sailing club is cheaper than other outdoor pursuits such as skiing and horseriding. The water is on our doorstep and costs nothing and you don’t have to wait for the snow to take part.’

The club hosts social events throughout the year, including a sailing regatta and Thursday club nights.

It also hosts a hill race in association with Lochaber Athletic Club where runners are ferried across the loch to run up and down the hill opposite the clubhouse.

Established in 1954, LYC had an unusual origin. Badly in need of new business – no longer was there a big demand for building fighter planes – Fort William-based British Aluminium (BA) decided to build a yacht called Morag Mhor.

This led to the company starting its own club and LYC was born.

To get the club off to a good start, BA presented sailors with two 14-foot clinker built sailing dinghies which could be seen out on the loch racing.

The next thing was to find a place to repair and store the boats and the club got the use of one of the Nissen huts on the

The Nissen clubhouse, at the old naval base at Corpach, was the first base for the club.

old Admiralty site in Corpach which was home for the club until 1963 when it moved to the old Annat Mill.

Sadly the building of the walkway for the chip pipe out to the island severely restricted the sailing area and smells and effluent from the pulping process were not pleasant so the club planned a move to a site at Ashburn.

It moved into Downie’s old boatshed as a stopgap but hiccups with planning permission meant it stayed there from 1969 to 1982.

The new clubhouse was much admired but, probably as a result of vandalism, it caught fire in 2006 and was destroyed.

Undeterred, the club got to work and the present fine clubhouse was rebuilt and ready only a year after the fire.

In spite of these setbacks, the club has flourished over the years. Training courses were started in 1983 and dozens of beginners, young and old, have become skilled sailors as a result.