Orkney Dinghies

Last update 8/11/2024

Below is a listing of Orkney Sailing Dinghies. Included are most of the Holm Snipe fleet, past and present, as well as a selection of boats from the other local clubs. Sailing has a long history in the Orkney Islands, from the viking longships to the local skiffs and yoles and then more recently the modern fibreglass racing boats. The Snipe became a significant Orkney class in the 50s when boat plans became available which a number of local folks used. A number of other classes have also been popular in the islands, including the Albacore, 505, Merlin Rocket, Wayfarer, Laser, Topper, Mirror and Enterprise.

For further reading concerning a historical perspective of Orkney Dinghy sailing see the Old boats and boat stories pages.

The Snipe class design originated in 1931, and the class became popular as a home build route to fun on the water. In 1950 the class established itself in Orkney, beginning with wooden home built boats which were then superseded by modern fibreglass boats. In 2014 the UK Snipe National Championships were held in Orkney, with the boats sailing from the Ness in Stromness for racing in the Bay of Ireland. The event was a great success and then the class chose to return to Orkney again in 2017. The 2017 event was run from Kirkwall using the facilities at Hatston (the Hatston slip and the RYA Training centre were used). The event attracted a number of boats from South and a number of local boats also took part.

Other classes have been successful in Orkney as well as in Shetland and the North of Scotland.

The Merlin Rocket was popular for many years, particularly in Kirkwall. Some of the early boats were home built, then in the sixties some more modern boats were brought North from Buckie in England. Dan Grieve moved from the Merlin Rocket to the Albacore and had great success with Mizpah. A number of the Merlin Rocket sailors followed his wake into the one design class (perhaps the Merlin Rocket development class became too costly) and the Albacore became a popular local class. The Albacore is still popular in Shetland, but has largely died in Orkney.

In the early 80s Ian Pole inherited a 505 from Shetland, the attractions of high speed, big sails and trapeze converted a number of other Orcadians and there was soon a class of six active boats. The Wayfarer became popular as a cruising boat in Orkney, and the class was put to good use as a training craft. James Clouston built a fine example which made use of all design latitude allowed in class rules, Smyril was born. Smyril was a legend in her day winning all of the local events and often finishing ahead of 505s.

Yachting World published a design for a wooden home built catamaran. This design proved to be inspirational for a generation of Orkney speed merchants. The first boats were racing way back in 1962. The class eventually gave way to progress and a number of sailors moved on to the more modern Hobie 18 catamaran. The Hobies' popularlity has fluctuated over time and always provides a great spectacle at local regattas with their high speed and coloured sails.

The Laser has attracted a particular type of sailor for many years. The low maintenance, easily rigged simple boat which offers competitive racing as well as high speed off the wind thrills is a perfect combination for many sailors, especially those who have difficulty keeping a regular crew. An additional attraction of the Laser is the Island Games. 

The Enterprise was popular for a time, and a group of Pentland Firth sailors would come to Orkney to race their Enterprises in Orkney in the 60s. Later on John Leslie had some success with his boat Merry Dancer. Westray had an active class of Enterprises for a time, some of which were locally built, and some moved to Kirkwall.

Holm Snipes

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The table below outlines all boats assigned with H numbers, although some of the boats are currently based in clubs other than Holm Sailing Club.

Other Orkney Dinghies

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Old Snipes

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Old Orkney Dinghies

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