NEWS
Tributes have flowed in for renowned boatbuilder and designer Iain Oughtred who died on the Isle of Skye in February, aged 84.
Born in Melbourne in 1939, Iain grew up in Sydney sailing, building and designing fast dinghies from an early age, becoming one of the greatest designers of traditional sailing dinghies in a career that spanned more than 50 years.
Iain drew, always by hand, more than 100 designs for traditionally styled boats, starting with an 18ft cruiser Happy Jack in 1967. In the 1980s, Iain moved to Scotland, originally to race 10m² canoes, but never left, living in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Findhorn. The vessels he designed were of Scottish and Norwegian working boat descent and well-known for being beautifully proportioned. He continued to build more prototypes of his designs, and developed a series of double-enders. which he sailed in many raids (small boat cruises in company).
Iain moved to the Isle of Skye in 2001 and continued designing, building and sailing. Iain designed the popular Caledonia Yawl, Ness Yawl, Grebe, Tammie Norrie, Shearwater, Arctic Tern, Elf Faering and the Acorn Skiff. He was best known for his St Ayles Skiff, which was the result of a Scottish Fisheries Museum design brief in 2008 to create a boat for four rowers and a cox, buildable from a kit by Jordan Boats. The St Ayles has spawned a worldwide community of amateur boatbuilders and rowers.
Author Nic Compton, who wrote the boo
