Bermudan cutter Mylne from 1931 built in Bangor
Eilidh is a 17.80 m bermudan cutter, designed byAlfred Mylne (design no. 331, 1930) and built in 1931 byA.M. Dickie & Sons in Bangor (North Wales). The yard was an offshoot of the Dickie firm from Tarbert: Peter Dickie had left Scotland in 1925 to take over the Rowlands Dockyard site in Bangor, maintaining close ties with the Mylne and Fife design offices.
The boat was commissioned by Scottish yachtsman Thomas E. Russell for extended family cruises and regattas. Its name is the Gaelic form of Helen, in tribute to the owner’s niece.
Specifications
- Overall length: 17.80 m
- Waterline length: 11.89 m
- Beam: 3.65 m
- Draft: 2.40 m
- Air draft: 22 m
- Displacement: approx. 21 tonnes
- Construction: Burmese teak planking on oak frames, elm inner keel
History and owners
The Russell family used Eilidh from 1931, based on Bute Island on the Clyde. From 1935, the boat cruised in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Estonia. Left in Hankø during World War II, it survived the conflict and returned to its home port of Colintraive in August 1948.
In 1973, Eilidh was sold to the John Mill family (Clyde Cruising Club), who raced the boat. In 2001, the boat was found in Dumbarton and acquired by Jean-François Behard, its first French owner, who brought it to the Pasqui yard in Villefranche-sur-Mer for a full restoration.
Restoration 2002–2007
The structural overhaul was carried out byGilbert Pasqui in Villefranche-sur-Mer: treatment of all structural points, addition of a double forward cabin, new mast and boom in spruce built in 2004 to original plans. The mast step reinforcement was completed in 2007 atClassic Works in La Ciotat.
Race record
- 1981: winner of the CCC/RORC Blue Water Race to La Trinité-sur-Mer (under Mill ownership)
- 1992: winner of the CCC/RORC Blue Water Race to Brest
- 1994: Clyde–Brest record improved by one day and one hour
- Since 2005: classic yacht regattas in the Mediterranean (based in Marseille)
