As always, compromise carried the day. The days of the £5. a year mooring were gone for ever, but the club was guaranteed 120 moorings round the periphery of the marina at a fraction of the "walk-on" rate. We were given a piece of land and told we had to erect a clubhouse within 5 years it was built and opened in 12 months. We also built a slipway and boat hoist which are currently unusable due to a continuing disagreement - the guns of war still mutter in the distance and the price of liberty remains eternal vigilance.
The advent of the marina has had its positive side with little of the old vandalism problem which once plagued us and many new club members have been recruited from the ranks of those in the marina proper.
The story of T.C.C. v The Rest would fill a book, but in the face of what, at times, seemed like insurmountable odds we have survived and prospered and are now the strongest boating organisation between the upper Clyde and the Mersey. Nothing is won without cost however and some of our older members of modest means were forced, even at "reduced rates", to swallow the anchor - we should not forget the debt we owe them.
Recently the club has won renown through its involvement in the World Half Ton Championships. We are also running a Frostbite series which is proving popular with visitors. Crystal balls are hard to come by, but if present-day members maintain the spirit and grit of their forebears the club must have a sound future. It is up to all of us to make it so.
(for Period 1985 to 1999 see page 36)
The first lifeboat arrived in Troon in 1871. At this time Troon was a commercial port with sailing vessels taking in and discharging cargoes daily. There was also a thriving fishing fleet. Lifeboats were already stationed at Ayr and Irvine. The early boats were between 32 and 34 feet long and were rowed from the beach at the Pan rocks or launched from South Beach. It was in 1904 that the first motor boat came to Troon and was moored just inside the gut in the inner basin. This resulted in a much greater range for the lifeboat and eventually the smaller stations at Ayr, Irvine, Ardrossan and Ballantrae were closed leaving Troon and Girvan as the main stations.
There have been three lifeboats in Troon since Troon Cruising Club began in 1955. T.C.C. boats were at the official handing over ceremony on all three occasions. The Watson type boat "James and Barbara Aitken" served from 1955 to 1968 followed by the Waveney boat 44-007 called "Connel Elizabeth Cargill". In 1988 the present 52 foot Arun type lifeboat "City of Glasgow" 52-38 came on station.
Many men have given faithful service on our lifeboat especially our present coxswain Ian Johnson who will have served in that role for 20 years in 1999.
Troon Lifeboat published by Cluny publishers is a very interesting read. Copy in Club library.
175th Anniversary of the Lifeboat Service this year (1999)
