Little Sparta’s paper-boat regatta

Magnus Linklater

Many a yacht race has foundered in high winds, but to stage a regatta, using paper boats instead, is surely summer madness.  Ian Hamilton Finlay, however, always believed in challenging the odds, so to mark the centenary of his birth, a hundred paper boats were launched into a stiff breeze on the 3rd August, on the little loch that lies at the heart of the garden. 

Finlay himself loved boats, both big and small, and his own model paper boat, carved in marble, is owned by the National Galleries of Scotland. On the banks of his pond once stood a notice reading “Please do not feed the boats.”

Finlay’s marble boat would, of course,  have sunk, so real paper boats, carefully folded, origami-style, were preferred.  Each one was numbered, and  supporters had paid £20 to sponsor  a boat in the hope of winning first prize – a record of the race in the style of ‘Ian’s Fleet,’ the famous photograph of Finlay’s own model boats under sail.  Lining the banks of the loch, anxious boat-owners watched as head gardener George Gilliland produced the delicate craft from an IKEA shopping bag and placed them on the starting line. The race was on.

Suffice it to say that officials of the Royal Yacht Club  would have been less than impressed. Carried over the waves on a windy day, some boats scuttled over the surface, many in the wrong direction, while others preferred to sit it out under the nearest shoreline; some just unfolded and  sank. There were, however, a determined few that sailed majestically towards the finishing line, borne along by the breeze – a paper-boat flotilla on a Scottish loch, heading in the right direction. Sir Ben Ainslie, Olympic champion, would have been proud of  them. With tension mounting, yacht no 75  was pronounced the winner as it cruised through the reeds to victory. “It judged the course to perfection,” said Gilliland. “It was close-hauled up to the last minute, so someone had clearly rigged it well.”

The winner, Michael Hamish Glen,  wordsmith,  letter-press printer and former colleague of Finlay’s, said he was thrilled at having come first. “It was a truly Finlay event but Ian would have been furiously envious of my winning,” he said. 

Talks are under way about the possibility of making the race an annual event. “I don’t think anyone would jib at that,” said Gilliland.