alfred mylne yacht designer 1872-1951

Alfred Mylne grew up in a burgeoning city at the height of the industrial revolution that turned Glasgow from a small rural town to the second city of the Empire, responsible for building half the world’s shipping.

Mylne’s story is one of towering success and international prominence in the Edwardian pre-war period and then again in the 1930’s. His name was inextricably linked to those other titans of yacht design, G. L. Watson and William Fife. Watson, under whom he trained for four years, was to become his nemesis, while Fife was to become his greatest rival and friend.

At the turn of the 20th Century Mylne & Fife yachts dominated the regatta results. Fife and Watson would loudly proclaim their success, and their names remain well known to this day. Mylne on the other hand was inherently shy, serious and technically brilliant. This is the untold story of his life, the yachts he designed and built, and the legacy of Scotland’s greatest yacht designer.

Edition: 2022