At a gathering of gentlemen in the Club House of the North of Ireland Yacht Club at Cultra on 13th August 1901 it was resolved, 'to get up a new class'. It would seem likely that this decision to promote yet another One Design Class, then something of a specialty on Belfast Lough, was prompted to at least some extent by pecuniary considerations.

Of the existing classes at Cultra both the Bird and the Star carried paid hands - a near contemporary report remarking that this was necessary because 'Belfast sailors are business men who do not like to waste time between the train and the starting gun, and they grumbled at the time needed to hoist and pull out the small kite'. The newly proposed class specifically precluded paid hands - saving about 30 per annum - and the Club later employed men especially for the maintenance of the boats at a cost of 2. 10/- a year to each owner.

Having already decided on the required specification for the new boats - with the rather significant stipulation that 'the limit of price was fixed 45 exclusive of moorings' - four leading yacht designers of the day were invited to submit sketch designs. At the same time two local boat builders were asked to tender estimates for the cost of construction of the new class. The only other matter decided that evening was the election of W.M. Inglis to act as Honorary Class Secretary.

In less than a week these same gentlemen met again to examine the various designs submitted, of the four originally invited only two had responded. One of these was rejected out of hand as 'unsuitable' - the other being accepted with the proviso that 'a full counter was suggested as an improvement to Linton Hope's'. Hilditch of Carrickfergus had tendered a price of 35 per boat, inclusive of spars and standing rigging, while a separate price of one guinea per boat was quoted for the provision of all necessary running rigging and blocks. Paddy McKeown, perhaps the most celebrated of Northern Irish boat builders, had offered to build the boats for two and a half pounds less than Hilditch yet the contract had gone to the Carrick yard. This was probably because of McKeown's widely recognised weakness for 'improving' on any design given him - unfortunately for him this ability to turn out the occasional 'flyer' was just about the last quality required of a One Design constructor. The whole object was to have the Glass as evenly matched as possible.

A comprehensive wardrobe of sails - Mainsail, No. 1 and No. 2 Jibs, Spinnaker, three sail bags and mainsail cover - was offered by W.W. English at 5. 15/- per suit. However, this was obviously thought to be an iniquitously exorbitant figure, as it had to be pared down to the even fiver before it was accepted.

Exactly a fortnight after the initial invitation to submit a sketch plan had been extended, Linton Hope's revised design was selected and he was instructed 'to put working drawings in hand at once'. The question of a name for the new class was now aired for the first time, but no immediate consensus being arrived at and it being an obviously debatable subject it was adjourned until their next meeting.

The Royal Warrant was not received until 1902.

Now that the design had been chosen and the various tenders for construction and fitting-out had been accepted there was evidently some impatience to take delivery of the new boats. It was toward this end that it was proposed that Hilditch should be paid a bonus of 1 per hull if he delivered all the fourteen boats commissioned inside a stipulated time - a penalty to be incurred by him if he exceeded that limit. This matter was left to Inglis to negotiate, as were the arrangements for payment as each stage was completed. It was also resolved that the N.I.Y.C. should purchase the design and that each boat under construction then, or at a later date, should pay one pound each for use of the same. Having got through so much practical business it was decided that the Class Rules should be left over for the time being and the adjourned question of a title for the new Belfast Lough One Design Class Ill was now raised again. Several names had been proposed, it appears, but 'as three viz. Flower, Goddess and Fairy seemed most in favour, a ballot was taken in which 'Fairy' won by streets'. The exciting news that heralded in 1902 was that 15th April was to be delivery date for the first ten boats, the remaining four commissioned to be ready for the second week in May of that year. The meeting that received this particular item of news promptly - and enthusiastically - held a ballot for the boats already planked-up. At this same meeting the Hon. Class Secretary was authorised to affiliate the Fairy Class with the Belfast Lough One Design and instructed 'to arrange for races at Bangor provided not more than four times in season Regattas included, also to arrange for evening races on Tuesday or Thursday evenings to start at 7 p.m.'.

The decision that there was 'no restriction as to owners not steering themselves' and the preclusion of paid hands being the only Class Rules already arrived at, these now came under full discussion in preparation for an eagerly anticipated first season. Perhaps there is nothing particularly unusual about them, though at least one regulation - limiting painting to 'three times in season, black leading barred' - might well embarrass the slightly less energetic (though none the less enthusiastic for all that) owner of to-day! Another prohibition, likely to raise a hollow guffaw in this present time of tight financial exigency, insisted that only 'one suit of sails is allowed in each year, except in case of accident'. A nostalgic and certainly envious - sigh for those bygone days of lower wage rates in the yard and cheaper sails is a more probable reaction. There had been remarkably little dissension at any of these early meetings. But an unusual and, therefore, rather uncharacteristic flair-up occurred when discussing the imminent matter of making the final payment to Hilditch. Each owner had already paid 45 on account, leaving a balance of 2. 8s. 2d., plus the promised 1 bonus for prompt delivery, outstanding on each boat. When this final sum was called for all but one member of The Class paid up on demand. Whatever this particular gentleman's reasons for delay his conduct seems to have incensed his fellow Fairy owners, who peremptorily insisted that Inglis immediately 'institute legal proceedings for recovery of balance of monies due'. Sad to record, this unfortunate little contretemps does not appear to have been amicably resolved. The boat in question - 'Orina', later to be named 'Maimoune' not sailing with the rest of The Class until 1906, and then only after she had changed hands.

Of the original fourteen boats commissioned one seems never to have even reached Cultra. A No. 16 was balloted for and drawn - and tentatively name 'Wraith' - yet is never mentioned as having sailed with the rest of the Class or featured in the results. It seems likely that she may never have been completed, at least not for the gentlemen who ordered her, as the payments on her account ceased after the initial three payments of 5 - though that alone would suggest that construction had begun. One account suggests that she was destroyed by fire when being built though this may be confusing her with 'Iolanthe', ex-Brownie. Further, most early articles written on the subject of the Fairies only mention thirteen boats having been built for the Class. Incidentally, it is probably worth noting here that the explanation for there never being a No. 3 sail number in the Fairy Class was due to the difficulty in reading that particular figure from the distance of the shore, it was too easily confused with other numbers apparently. It is not clear whether this problem, or to be more precise, remedy was unique to the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club or not, but the Island Class were later to adopt the same practice - the first No. 3 to race at Cultra being the Lake Class 'Dan'.

The first race for the Fairy Class was held at Cultra on 10th May 1902 with six starters and was won by Fiend, appropriately helmed by William Inglis who had done so much to steer the Class into existence. By the July of that year all thirteen boats were starting regularly. At the beginning of that first season the complaint was made 'that spars would not set the lug properly' - the simple solution to that particular problem allowed owners to lengthen booms and yards as required to trim the sails correctly. It was also decided necessary at the end of the year to redesign the area of the rudder, but apart from such minor details the new boats seem to have acquitted themselves well - earning them the epithet of 'fleet-footed little maidens' from one of the leading yachting journals of the day.

Whether or not it is indicative of the ebullient nature of yachting generally in those early years or just a pointed comment on the standards of Fairy steersmen, a discussion took place 'regarding closer attention being paid to the sailing rules there having been considerable laxity last season'. All this led to the hard worked Class Secretary being instructed 'to draw up a note mentioning some of the more important points' in an effort to introduce some discipline. One wonders if it was this same anarchic style of sailing that prompted one pessimistic owner to suggest the advisability of keeping a spare mast readily available at the Club House. At any rate, the more intrepid - or, perhaps, more parsimonious (if we are to judge from their earlier conduct) - majority obviously thought this a totally unnecessary precaution as the motion was defeated.

At the beginning of the 1914 season it was pessimistically being reported 'that as far as local regattas are concerned, the outlook is not too lively at present'. This dismal state of affairs had been occasioned by the political situation which was 'so uncertain, and the domination of the British Government by the Nationalists is so complete, that it really looks as if Belfast Lough yachtsmen would be occupied more in serious preparations for retaining their citizenship as subjects of the British Empire than in racing'. This particular writer then made it abundantly clear 'here his political affiliations lay when he expressed his fervent desire to see other nation summarily dismiss the crowd of hireling place-seekers who have exploited their temporary predominance for their own ends entirely''

The depressing events of 1919 were leavened to at least some extent by the arrival of a 'new' boat to adopt the sail number vacated by 'Oberon'. The new No. 11 - Bought from Dublin - was 'Mousme', originally a small yawl rigged cruiser built in 1908 by Hilditch on the Fairy lines and now converted to the Class specification. Nor did the old competitive enthusiasm seem to have been unduly damped by the recent events as provision was being made to ensure that each boat was hauled out, scrubbed and anti-fouled every four weeks as they prepared to embark on their extensive pre-war racing programme.

In the middle 'twenties the calendar of events that had been built up in the years before the war underwent something of an overhaul. It was decided in 1924 that the Class would not go down for Strangford Week as not enough boats went to provide good racing there, though those that did depleted the fleet sufficiently to spoil competition at Cultra. The change of owners race was enlivened by the introduction of a sweepstake - intended, no doubt, to test the confidence of each helmsman in his own ability! To encourage new Fairy adherents - and to catch them young - the Class Rules were altered to permit under-sixteens still attending school to sail in addition to the maximum of three crew members per boat already allowed. As a further enticement to the youngsters one of the Ladies Races was abandoned in favour of a race for juveniles. Competition amongst the regular Fairy Corinthians was stimulated by the presentation of the lnglis Challenge Cup to be raced for annually on the last Saturday points day of each season. However revolutionary these activities might have seemed to the traditionalists, the spirit stirring amongst the Fairies still did not run to the adoption of Bermudian rig when it was proposed - another year would elapse before any change was made in that direction and then only after considerable heart searching.

The merits of the Bermudian rig had been a perennial subject for debate and much acrimonious correspondence in the various yachting journals during the first two decades of the century. In 1907 one such contributor had remarked, rather categorically, that he believed 'Mr. Linton Hope would not have much difficulty in proving the rig (Bermudian) less satisfactory than the gaff mainsail or gunter lug'. In support of his argument he cited the suspicious haste with which Hope had discarded that particular sail plan after trying it out on the celebrated 'Kismet'. A protagonist of the rig responded that it was nothing new to British waters and recalled the 'all-in-one' mast used by 'Birdie', a highly successful racing canoe, as early as 1892 and commented that the 'so-called' Marconi rig of 1904 was an 'anticipation though only a modification of the 'Mudian rig'. Such was the nature of the controversy - mostly pretty irrelevant. However, a wind of change was whistling through the rigging of Britain. By 1915 even 'Yachting Monthly' once intransigent in its opposition to this novel rig, was extolling the Marconi mast for its simplicity and convenience. Linton Hope was by this time arguing in 'The Field' that its great virtue was its efficiency to windward and by saving weight aloft reducing the centre of gravity - making it 'markedly superior when stability is taken into account'. The designer of the Fairy concluded by stating the opinion that the Bermudian rig was some 26% more efficient when taken area for area over other sails. All this was as nothing to the Corinthians at Cultra - Conway Ross, in particular, was in no way impressed by anything that had been written on the subject, he insisted that the Fairy arrangement made for a very efficient sail, conceding only that it made for a rather severe twisting strain on the mast. He expressed total incredulity that the roller boom could possibly make for an efficient sail and quoted Morgan Giles description of it as an abomination -heartily concurring with that view.

When the question of altering the Fairy was again raised in 1925 the notion was still being vigorously resisted by the conservatives. Evidently the pressure for change was energetically lobbied by its proponents, for by the end of that same season the majority of the Class had decided to make some concession to modernity and were prepared to depart from the original gunter lug sail. Even then the decision was not arrived at lightly. The proposal specifically stated that the boats would only 'be rigged with Bermudian style of rig, provided that the cost did not exceed 30 or thereabouts'. The design of this modification was left in the capable and - fortunately for the Fairies, who had frequent recourse for technical assistance to this same source - ever-willing hands of Jack Workman. The actual task of making the new masts and, more importantly, ensuring that the rigging conformed with the new rule was entrusted to Billy Milford and the Club yard staff. This Marconi rig, looking more 'modern' and rakish, marked the departure from the original and more traditional design still retained by the Lough Erne Fairies. Apparently the new arrangement proved satisfactory as no mention was made for another eight years regarding any shortcomings or required necessary improvements', even when commissioning Alfred Mylne to produce a plan for new sails in 1929.

The first of the inter-class races with the Rivers was inaugurated in 1926, establishing a tradition that would survive over the years - including that Class translating its base from R.U.Y.C. to Strangford Lough. In the autumn of 1925 'Sheevra' had become a total loss when beached in a storm at Ballyholme but during the following winter 'that doyen of boat builders' Andy Kirwan had rebuilt her. However, she did not return to the Class immediately as her rigging had not been modified along with the rest of the Fairies and she was temporarily confined to a maverick existence competing in handicap races at various regattas. Her little odyssey ended in August 1930 when Billy Barnett brought her back into the Class at Cultra, confining her excursions for the time being. The early 'thirties was obviously a remarkably healthy period for the Class, a report on yachting activities in Belfast Lough written in 1931 commented that 'the Fairies raced three times a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and although these yachts have been racing for nearly thirty years, the whole Class of eleven yachts usually answered the starting gun'. This discrepancy in numbers is accounted for by the fact that the article was published just immediately prior to the return of 'Sheevra' and during the period when 'Fay' was sailing off the north western coast of England, having been taken away from the rest of the Class when her owner had left the country. Another point made in this same report, regarding the Fairies, concerned 'the number of Ladies sailing both as helmswomen and crew' - this particular feature seemingly being regarded in a favourable light!

A matter that affected owners more practically that year was the decision that in future winters each would look after, or, at least see to, his own repairs and annual maintenance. This had arisen after a discussion on the accounts for fitting-out and care of the boats, still attended to as a Class, when laid-up by the Club employees - charges that were thought at the time to be 'excessive'. A rather curious note is struck by an entry in the Class Minutes for 1931 that no action was to be taken 'in regard to the letter received by the Secretary in regard to the length of 'Pixie' as it would appear that there was no change in the length of the boat'. All this may make No. 5 sound like something out of 'Alice in Wonderland' but more probably refers to the fact that she needed rebuilt with a new side after being wrecked on the coast of the Ards Peninsula on her way home from Strangford Week.

When discussing ordering new sails for the Class at the end of 1933 it was suggested that the rig might be advantageously altered again 'so as to bring them more up to date' and Alfred Mylne was again approached with the request to produce a sail plan. The opportunity was to be taken this time, if possible, to reduce the sail area but to utilise the existing spars - a rather restricting order, one imagines! In the long run Mylne was given slightly more latitude when it was eventually resolved that 'if he considered more advisable to give us a completely new sail plan on the true Bermudian lines with all sails inboard or short bowsprit'. The design that finally evolved required shifting the mast back fifteen inches on the deck and reduced the sail area to 236 square feet. With the exception of a later

Determined by common agreement at the beginning of each season. If he received no offers from that source in the stipulated time he was entitled to sell it wherever he could find a buyer. But the problem was arriving at this predetermined price. This had been fixed at 100 in 1946 and was subject to annual review. By 1948 there was an animated, not to say heated, discussion on the review procedure. The matter was resolved by the adoption of a formula that can only be described as a trifle complicated! It was decided that the price of a boat, not including sails, should not exceed 100 plus % of the capital expenditure since the end of the war up to a total expenditure of 80 -the amount of such expenditure to be depreciated by 1/10th of the original amount in each year subsequent to the work being carried out. Sails were to be depreciated by 1/3rd after each seasons use. Capital expenditure was to be taken as any replacement or repairs to the hull, frames, floors, garboards, planks, deck beams and deck but excluded mast and spars, rigging, keel bolts, deck canvas or floor boards. This was alt very well -but the problem still remained of finding a buyer acceptable to the rest of the Class within the allotted period of six weeks. This was not the final word on the subject, understandably perhaps, as there were obvious difficulties in administering such a system - and still with no firm guarantee of retaining a boat at Cultra.

The last discussion to take place on the subject of sail design arose in 1947 when debating the ordering of new suits for the following season and applied only to the cut of the spinnaker. A quotation had been received for what was described as 'a flattish sail' which would also serve as a reaching jib. Some three pounds dearer, at 11. 7/-, they were offered a semi-parachute type sail. There was considerably less talk than usual on this traditionally contentious subject, and a large majority came down in favour of the more up-to date semi-parachute spinnaker.

The first, and fortunately last, tragic accident in a Fairy occurred in 1949. 'Minx' got caught by a freak squall and sank with the loss of one crew member. This led to the proposal being made in the following year that buoyancy tanks should be fitted to each boat but this was defeated on the practical grounds that they would take up so much space as to preclude the carrying of spinnaker boom, sweep and such other sailing paraphernalia. Personal safety was ensured already by the ruling, which required each boat to carry a life buoy - increased to three at a later date.

In 1956 'Sheevra' embarked on another of her peregrinations, this time to Lough Erne - returning to Cultra five years later. The same year that she returned, 1961, it was decided to buy the first suits of Terylene sails for the Fairy Class. These cost 55. 2s. 6d. - a figure that seems staggeringly high compared with the cost of the original sails, yet, on reflection, very reasonable compared with to-day's prices.

The sale of 'Psyche' outside the R.N.I.Y.C. membership in 1973 raised once more the whole question of how best to retain boats in the Class. The final solution seems so simple that it is remarkable that it was never mooted before. The Class Secretary now became a Trustee for that body and a part share of each boat was henceforth to be vested in his name. Should a boat in the future come on the market he would have a legal right, as a nominal part-owner, to insist that it should only be sold to some person who would keep it at Cultra. This device has not yet been tested and hopefully it will be some considerable time, if ever, before it is.

So, one hundred years after the first Fairy race their future seems secure - perhaps it is being over optimistic to expect them to survive another century but at the moment there seems to be a lot of life left in the old Belfast Lough One Design Class.

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