How it all started

The Ayle of Quinte Skiff Club was formed as a not-for-profit corporation in 2015.  

 

The club’s first St. Ayles skiff (“Sea Shadow”) was built over the winter 2012/13 and the second skiff (“Sea Spirit”) was built two years later (winter 2014/15).  The third skiff (“William S. Shipp”) was built by Renbrook School near Hartford, Connecticut.  Toby Goodrich, boatbuilder/teacher and Jane Shipp, former head of the school, generously donated this skiff to our club in 2016.

 

All three boats are registered with the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association (SCRA) which was formed in 2010 to encourage boat building, rowing and racing of coastal rowing boats around the Scottish coastline.  The Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther originally commissioned the boat design from Iain Oughtred with Alec Jordan of Jordan Boats supplying the kits.  Click here for the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association website to learn more about the St. Ayles skiff.  

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The Ayle of Quinte Skiff Club has the only St. Ayles skiff fleet in Canada and six members: Jane Dean, Tony, Marilyn, Sandy, Bob and Elyse represented Canada in the 2016 Skiffie Worlds championship in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland.  In the Stranraer SkiffieWorlds 2019 championship on Loch Ryan in Scotland, Canada was represented by ten club members: Jane Dean, Tony, Sandy, Marilyn, Bob, Des, Olivia, George, Susan Thompson-Jaine and Peter Campbell. The club also represented Canada in 2014, 2015 and 2016, when the club’s skiffs competed in the annual Challenge Race at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum near Vergennes, Vermont.