Between the years 1857 and 1862 little of importance took place.
During 1863 the first symptoms of a break out from bounds was exhibited, and prizes were given for a race for yachts of 25 tons and under, besides one for yachts of 10 tons and under. A stipulation was made with regard to the latter race—viz. that each yacht was to be manned by one hand only, a dangerous though sporting condition which had previously brought disaster and proved fatal in Irish waters, and has never been permitted since. Both races filled, Mr. Fulton's 'Glide,' 14 tons, won the first, and Mr. McIver's 'Brenda,' 8 tons, the second.
With this divergence from the original scheme on which the club was founded the society threw off its old name and came out under the more independent title of the Clyde Yacht Club. To celebrate this era the annual regatta was lengthened out to a two days' programme, and the 'Lesbia,' 37, cutter; 'Reverie,' 41, schooner; 'Kilmeny,' 30, cutter, and 'Dawn,' yawl, met to do battle with the 15-ton 'Torch,' the crack of the year. Besides the annual regatta, at which yachts from all parts of the kingdom were invited to compete, the Corinthian regatta of the club must not be lost sight of or hidden away behind the lustre of the great event of the season. It had formed part of each season's programme of events for some years, and had been the means of cultivating a true taste for amateur seamanship. Many a member can look back to his first Corinthian race as the beginning of his practical experience in yacht racing. The races at these regattas have been mostly handicaps, and two or three are always open to yachts in cruising trim. The only conditions of the regatta are that 'Yachts may carry their ordinary paid hands, but no extra paid hands, and must be steered by members of a yacht club.'
It is always pleasant to meet with names which are as well known as the club to which they belong, to whom their club owes much, and whose pride and interests are centred in its prosperity. It was in 1863 that two such members' names were added to the official list—the late Mr. J. A. Lockett as Rear-Commodore and Mr. William York as treasurer. Both these gentlemen have for the last thirty years been busily engaged in furthering the welfare of the club, the one in his capacity as secretary or treasurer, or both, the other in several offices, but principally as one of the house committee.
When the year 1867 closed the Clyde Yacht Club's first racing decade, the club was well under way and able to hold its own with any existing yacht-racing community, both as a provider of sport and for the attractions offered to the lovers of yachts and yachting, when with their friends they were brought together on the waters of the 'Bonny Clyde.' This was noticeable in 1863, but it became much more so in 1865, when the well-known clippers 'Mosquito,' 59 tons; 'Glance,' 35 tons; 'Fiona,' 78 tons; and the 'Vindex,' 44 tons, came round to the Firth to sail under the Clyde Club's auspices.
Though opening and closing cruises had always been in vogue since the foundation of the club, it was left for the tenth year to start the long series of these expeditions, which last from a Thursday to the Monday morning following, and, with the combined attractions of racing, cruising and social gatherings, have proved such pleasant features in each season's yachting. The list of members had now reached over 100, while the yacht tonnage had risen to 1,200 gross, comprising 87 yachts of 5 to 103 tons. Among these were included the three most successful yachts of the year in the United Kingdom, and, to the praise of the Clyde shores it may be said, all built and designed by Mr. W. Fife of Fairlie—the 'Fiona' in the 1st, the 'Kilmeny' in the 2nd, and the 'Torch' in the 3rd class.
The season of 1868 would have passed without note or comment had it not been that the club founded an annual Corinthian match, in which two paid hands were to be allowed for yachts of 15 tons and over, and one paid hand to all the smaller yachts. The helmsman was to be an amateur, and no shot-bag or shifting ballast of any kind was to be permitted. Besides proving that the club possessed amateur seamen capable of handling a racing yacht of any size, the fact that that unseaworthy equipment shifting ballast, which had been in use in the Clyde foot classes and in most racing yachts during the early Fifties, was to be abolished, at all events in this race, was a move in the right direction.
1869 is a year of real historical importance, for it not only gives the date when the 40-, 20-, and 10-ton classes became generally acknowledged, but it brings credit to the Clyde Yacht Club where credit is due, as being the founder of these classes, which held sway for so many years. A year later the club was the first to introduce the smaller class of 5 tons as a standing dish in its regatta programmes, and to the Clyde Yacht Club belongs the honour of being the first in the field to recognise that this diminutive class of flyers was well worthy on its own merits of being encouraged.
