Time 17:52 – by Steffan Meyric Hughes
It’s not just the classic sailing yachts that have caught people’s eye on the Firth of Clyde this Richard Mille Cup week. Weaving in and out between the Targas, the RIBs and the sailing fleet, a little blue motor launch has set people talking.
Her name, Loch Lomond, could hardly be more appropriate, although she was, in fact, designed and built by aFrenchman in the manner (vaguely!) of one of the ‘royal barges’, IE tenders to the English royal family’s yacht Britannia. She’s actually (whisper it) a lot nicer. The letters RORC (Royal Ocean Racing Club) painted on her transom are the first hint that this is no hooligan’s gin palace, but Loch Lomond’s salty credentials run deeper than that. She was designed and built by the Norman ocean-racing yachtsman Halvard Mabire at his own boatyard and launched in 2008, with at least half an eye to using her as a spectator launch, a role that has been embraced by her new owner James Chrismas, who bought her a couple of years ago, and has been spending long winter days off the water to get her to the best condition possible. James himself is a racing yachtsman of a lifetime’s standing, including as regular crew for the Olympic gold medal-winning Stewart Morris, a man who for decades was unbeatable in the Swallow and International 14 classes.
Loch Lomond is built in foam sandwich GRP and powered by a single 150hp diesel fed by two tanks. She displaces, over 35ft (10.7) of length, an almost unfeasible 2.2 tonnes and her semi-displacement hull form is good for 20-24 knots. Her seamanlike features, aside from the split tankage, include a ‘weed hatch’ to access the propeller from inside the boat, and internal beaching legs. The interior consists of a good-sized, central, open-backed wheelhouse, a lovely rear saloon and galley, and a heads and cabin in the bows. James was planning his dream cruise to Scotland this summer, after towing Loch Lomond up by road. The Richard Mille Cup rolling into town to coincide with the end of this cruise was too serendipitous to ignore. In April 2026, Loch Lomond won the Classic Boat magazine award for best new powered vessel. You can read more about Loch Lomond and her owner here: https://www.classicboat.co.uk/news/halvards-motorboat-loch-lomond-sot-regatta-spectator-launch/