Clyde
Clyde was originally built for Scottish waters and as a result is a sizeable Six Metre. She was designed by Archie McMillan based on the lines of Fiona, a William Fife III Six Metre from 1933. Archie was the last foreman of the William Fife Boatyard and took over the yard when William Fife III passed away in 1944. Archie named his new yard the Fairlie Slipway Company and continued to build and develop designs from the drawing board of William Fife.
Archie wanted to build himself a Six Metre so naturally he looked through the Fife designs. There he found the lines for Fiona, a Fife design from 1933. He went about changing and modernising her design to suit the class rules of the 1950s. Six Metre historian Tim Street has confirmed that Clyde was one of the few post-WWII Sixes to be built at the Fife yard.
In 1956 Archie’s yard was purchased by the Parker family and, with that, they also became the owners of Clyde. She was taken to Cowes Week in 1956 and raced with only two other Six Metres. Following Cowes Week in 1956, the Six Metre fleet did no further racing in the UK until the 1980s.
In 1984 Clyde was purchased by her current and long-standing owner and taken to Brittany, France, where a hull restoration was undertaken by Chantier Pichavant yard. Work was undertaken to put her back into racing trim with a new deck layout, strengthening around the mast, wooden spars replaced for aluminium ones, new winches and sails.
Clyde raced up until 2015 with her current owner and has since enjoyed a relaxed life cruising in Brittany. Clyde was put up for sale in January 2021.
Information kindly supplied by Carl Whitewood.
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