Loch Long One Design
Loch Long One Design is a small wooden keelboat used for racing and training on Loch Long. Built in 1937 by the Loch Long Sailing Club to celebrate the coronation, it was designed to be inexpensive and safe for local conditions. The boat is about 6.4 m long, 1.78 m wide, with a hull weight around 544 kg and a typical crew of 2–3. It carries a mainsail of about 14 m2, a jib of around 4 m2, and can fly a spinnaker of about 17 m2.
The design comes from the Swedish Stjärnbåt, adapted by James Croll to add a counter stern, switch from clinker to carvel construction, and allow a permanent backstay. To keep costs down and preserve its one-design character, changes have been made slowly and selectively.
Over the years, updates have been modest: spinnakers appeared in 1975, aluminium masts were tested but not adopted for cost reasons, sails moved to synthetic fibres in 1961, and a larger genoa was used to cope with local tides and lighter winds. In the 1990s a battened jib increased sail area and durability. Since 1994, some strip-plank hull Loch Longs have been built—about five boats—to reduce construction costs.
There are active racing fleets at Cove Sailing Club on the Clyde and Aldeburgh Yacht Club on the River Alde. In the past there have been fleets at Gourock, Tighnabruaich, Fairlie, Largs, and Granton. A few Loch Longs have travelled far, with boats seen in Kyle of Lochalsh, Falmouth, and even across the Atlantic; one was exported to the United States and another was taken to Brazil by artist Simon Starling for installation art.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:58 (CET).