Andi Robertson

After this year’s re-vamped Scottish Series turned out to be a ‘classic’, could the changes become a template for other regattas looking to refresh and revive?

I know I am not the only scribe in the parish of Y&Y who harbours a particular fondness for Tarbert, Loch Fyne and the Scottish Series. Bob Fisher used to be a regular who enjoyed the very essence of Tarbert, good close IRC racing amidst the most spectacular scenery – when you could see it – backed up by an ample debriefing and rebriefing long into the evenings in the Tarbert Hotel, the Corner Hoose, the Anchorage, the Vic. And Fish was not alone. The recipe was a popular one and time was that there used to be 200 or more yachts packed into the Kintyre harbour haven and there was scarcely elbow room in the pubs.

But interest in the north of Britain’s biggest and most competitive regatta steadily ebbed, and numbers dropped. At different stages of decline there was talk of moving from Tarbert into the Clyde and indeed the idea that the event might move to happen every two years, as per Cork and Dún Laoghaire.

Now thanks to the investment of Jamie McGarry and Colin Moore who own naming sponsor Silvers Marine – an all-service Clyde yard of some considerable history and distinction – the regatta has been on a real, solid upturn for the last couple of years. And this year was, as they say, a classic.