Festival to showcase country's best and oldest fishing boats

Sailing ships from a time gone by, the 32nd Portsoy Traditional Boat festival is set to showcase some of the country’s best and oldest fishing boats.

It’s one of Scotland’s largest maritime festivals and gets underway in the Aberdeenshire village this weekend.

One of the oldest vessels in attendance is the fishing boat the Isabella Fortuna.

It’s skipper Malcom Bremner said: “She was built in Arbroath in 1890 and at that time she was the largest fishing vessel in the East coast of Scotland.

Isabella Fortuna: One of the oldest vessels in attendance. STV News

‘‘I’m interested in looking after old boats but also more importantly passing on traditional skills like engineering, woodwork, carpentry, even rope work, sails.

“It’s all traditional industries that used to be the normal over 135 years ago.’’

More than two dozen are due to arrive across the weekend for visitors to see… some more than a hundred years old.

And as time marches on – keeping traditional skills going and the historic boats afloat is becoming a challenge.

David Urquhart is the festival’s Chairman: ‘‘It is very important, because there is less boats coming to the festival. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years and some of the skippers then were 80 years old back then and sadly they’re no longer with us.

‘‘But it’s important to see the boats as they come in like ‘Isabella’ and get the youngsters down onto ‘Isabella’ to see what fishing was like 50/60 years ago.”

But there are those working to preserve skills from times gone by.

Traditional wood workers have come from Norway to pass on their skills and to bring new ones back from Scotland.

Tove Hjellnes, Norwegian Coastal Federation explained: ‘‘We are neighbours, we are part of the same history, same tradition. Especially the boats are the same, the same way you build boats in Scotland and in Norway or Scandinavia.

‘‘Since we are living on the coast along the water, we should know how to make boats and how to repair boats and to use boats because it connects us as people, I think.’’

And what would a festival be without music? A live soundtrack will accompany the weekend which kicks off with the Scottish Folk Band Manran.

Aidan Moodie, Mànran Guitarist: ‘You’ve got Marcus and me from Orkney, everybody from the west coast and Ryan from Ireland. We try and showcase a lot of the different Celtic music cultures in what we do, even though now a days we’ve got a bit of pop and rock in it. It’s great to be here. We’re hoping to sail away in a dinghy boat by tonight.”

As time marches on, organisers say the festival is becoming even more important in keeping Scotland’s maritime heritage alive.