Established in 1911 on the river Clyde, the family-run firm of McGruer & Company Ltd created some of the finest sailing yachts ever built in Scotland.The smallest of these were the Lorne Class, designed in the 1960’s by the legendary James McGruer as “affordable” family sail cruisers.
At 28 ft. LOA not only did they have the thoroughbred lines and renowned sea-keeping qualities of their larger cousins but they were one of the last and best examples in small cruising yacht design of the centuries old woodworking skills and traditional plank on frame construction which had made McGruer & Company Ltd famous.
Using original documents from the McGruer archive and first-hand accounts from builders and owners this meticulously researched and extensively referenced scholarly work tells the story of how and why the Lorne Class yachts were conceived and constructed, the men and women who sailed them, the often incredible voyages that these plucky little yachts undertook as far as the Pacific and the Sub-Arctic and their continuing importance within the world-wide revival of classic yachting.
