"straight is the line of duty; curved is the line of beauty": G.L. Watson - the Art and Science of Yacht Design

The handsome cover of this volume from the Peggy Bawn Press

George Lennox Watson by Sir James Guthrie RSA

Peggy Bawn sailing herself off Brooklin, Maine, 2007

Peggy Bawn on Belfast Lough c.1894

Shamrock II's launch, Clydeside

Hunter's Quay c.1882 Royal Clyde Regatta

In Famous Clyde Yachts, Henry Sheilds painted Watson's 1884 5 tonner Shona. Shona gained her fame in America as Charlie Barr's first command.

J. Stwart Clark's Ornsay on Rothsay Bay.

Watson designed this Lowestoft Beach Yawl Happy New Year IV, 1893

Spinnaker Letting Go by Barlow Moore depicts Watson's Valkyrie II losing the 1893 Americas Cup to Nat Herreshoff's Vigilant

Watson, c.1894

Sir Thomas Liptons Watson designed Shamrock II in the 1901 America's Cup

A rare onboard view of Shamrock II during the 1901 Cup. That's Watson with binoculars.

Queen of Scots (1903) designed for William Coats

I must confess that when I received this lavishly illustrated work, I had no knowledge of Watson or his renown. Gary MacMahon (see my AK Ilen posts) was a member of the production team for this sumptuous book through the work of his design firm Copper Reed Studio in Limerick, Ireland and was kind enough to send me a copy. The publisher, Peggy Bawn Press, is named after the small cruising/racing yacht, recently restored and pictured above. Below is a synopsis of this beautifully designed and exhaustively researched volume found on the publisher's website. I'm including this as it is far more succinct than I would be.

"Martin Black’s biography of the great Scottish designer, George Lennox Watson, is much more than a record of his life and work during the Golden Age of Yacht Design. Perhaps uniquely, it also describes the emergence of the role of the modern independent designer, of any profession or discipline. Watson’s career spanned a seminal period in industrial and social development, marking the transition from instinctive and evolutionary craft work to the application of disciplined technological innovation, using new material technology and tank testing.
So this book sheds light on social and industrial history with hundreds of contemporary illustrations, most of which are previously unpublished. Watson’s genius shines through in early racing cutters carrying clouds of sail, pro-bono pioneering work on lifeboats, America’s Cup challengers, and ultimately in sumptuous steam yachts, Watson’s adage: Straight is the line of duty; curved is the line of beauty... is consistently evident.
Carrying his prodigious research lightly, the author’s work floats easily above its load waterline, including delightful mini biographies of the colourful leading characters. Even the footnotes are entertaining.
Meanwhile this extensive and ambitious first volume has an easy “dip-in” structure to be savoured in slices. For example, the chapters on the America’s Cup challenge the conventional histories with newly discovered first hand insider sources.
In recent years, through many superb restorations, classic yachting has found a significant nostalgic niche in the yachting media, if only because of the innate beauty of the yachts and the spectacle they provide. This has revived the reputations of designers Herreshoff and Fife, but Watson’s genius needed to be rescued from a relative obscurity which was triggered by his early death. Was he “the greatest yacht designer of the 19th century”, as Olin Stephens acknowledged? Read Martin Black’s book and see if you agree. At the very least, you will find that George Lennox Watson deserves his place among the pantheon of the greats.
Then you may also answer the question I posed initially; along the way, you will enjoy many illuminating experiences, and also a rattling good yarn!"

Henry J Cooney

While this is not an inexpensive book, it is one that deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone interested in yacht design and/or the America's Cup. Have a look!

Originally published by Thomas Armstrong in 70.8%

Flying Fifteen up for grabs on Ebay

all photos above courtesy ebay

Uffa Fox and Prince Phillip sailing Coweslip

these two courtesy BIFFA,

For sale on ebay, only a few hours left, located CA, is this beautiful if somewhat radical little speedster. Designed by Uffa Fox in1947. Check it out on ebay. Here's some history of the boat from the UK Class Association:

The Flying 15 was designed by Uffa Fox in 1947 and the first hulls built at his Cowes based boatyard. Uffa recounts in his 1959 book, "Sailing Boats" that Jimmy Damant, a Commodore of the Island SC and one of the earliest owners of the International 14, had often encouraged him to; "Design a boat like the 14-footer, but at least 18ft long, that will not capsize. Then you would have a sensible, safe boat, that was fun to sail as well, for the rough and tumble of tidal waters like the Solent."

Uffa eventually drew-up a hull twenty foot overall, fifteen foot on the waterline and drawing nine inches without the keel. The steeply raked keel adds 2ft 6inches to the draft, the rake helping to remove any weed. The original construction was for a 1/8" thick diagonal inner skin and 3/16" fore and aft, honduras mahogany outer skin over 3/8" x 1/4" ribs at 2" centres. The deck was 3/16" marine plywood. The original design weight was 285lb for the hull with a 400 lb keel. Driving this was a sail plan and mast height exactly as for the International 14 of that period.

Coigach Rules!

all photos courtesy Coigach Lass

My news friends in my old stomping ground on Rhu Coigach on the northwest coast of Scotland are making progress with their build of the Ian Oughtred designed St. Ayles Skiff, intended for participation in the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project. They've turned the boat, a big day, and she's looking lovely. This is a real community project (obvious in the photos). Coigach is small. When I was there in1976 it was about 200 people spread over an 11 mile peninsula, and everyone was in walking distance of the sea! It's grown slightly in the intervening years, but not a lot. This is a fairly isolated part of the NW coast of Scotland, and when I was a youngster and visiting in 1976 I had to hitch a ride on the mail truck from Ullapool to Achiltibue, along the mostly single track road just to get there, and it's definitely one of the most starkly beautiful landscapes in the world, riding between deep lochs and high mountains. I have been in touch with some old friends and new and it's simply heartwarming to see them cooperating on this new project. 'Buie Boats rule'! New friend Lesley Muir writes the Coigach Lass weblog and is doing a great job, my untold thanks to you, Lesley. And hello to Iain Campbell, my mentor for cement, house building, the SNP and all things local Scot's culture. It was a wonderful time for me. Thanks Iain.

postscript: Lesley reports there's been a new bagpipe tune written for the Lass!

Charlie Hussey, Boatbuilder

Charlie Hussey

Harlequin, Clyde 17/19 Lugger

'No photos of Katydid from this period have come to light but another 17/19 Clyde Lugger was the subject of a photographic supplement from The Yachtsman and gives an impression what it must have been like to race these boats.'

Katydid as Charlie found her

With Katydid in his shop, Charlie questions the originality of her deck. His intention is to restore he to her to 'look and sail as she did when launched in 1892'.
This entails a bit of detective work.

Garboard off

Sighting down the keel

Keel shot

Heavy Metal

Katydid opened up

all photos courtesy Charlie Hussey

Charlie Hussey is an interesting boat builder, with an interesting weblog. He is apparently meticulous and exacting in his work and has an artists eye that shows in his photography and the presentation of his blog. I like his attitude: "Let’s get one think straight. This blog is not a chronological account of work as it gets done. It is selective, irregular and completely biased in favour of the colourful aspects of what I do." And so it is. You can see from the evidence above that Charlie's got a real sense for color and proportion in his photographs. One gets a sense of Charlie's keen observation, sense of proportion, his discerning approach to his work and his process in this statement about Katydid, relating to her photo in profile view.

'This entry is more or less all about Katydid’s profile – the way that she looks when viewed from the side. There’s lots more to say about her ‘end-on’ view but that will have to wait.

More or less the first thing that I did once Katydid was moved into the shed was to level and measure her. Together with the design offsets provided by Fairlie Restorations from the Fife archive I had enough information to compare Katydid as designed and Katydid as she is now. While the tables of offsets and raw measurements were adequate to confirm a few basic facts I decided to create CAD models of Katydid’s hullform in order to investigate how and to what extent there are differences. The whole process was, for me, amazingly illuminating. I really don’t think that I would have got very far at all in interpreting the history of Katydid’s hull form without the use of CAD. For those of a technical inclination I am using PolyCAD for this work.

Katydid’s sheerline is a bit flat (and bumpy). The weight of the coach roof on the deck structures has nipped her in at the waist and paradoxically, lifted her sheerline amidships, contributing to her rather flat looking sheer. The damage that the running backstays have done to the beamshelf and frames where they attach also indicates that her hullform has been pulled about a fair bit over time. This photo, of Katydid on the water (probably in the 1970’s) gives a general impression of what she most recently looked like afloat.

(note that she is a bit fine in the stern and not really designed to carry weight in the cruising cockpit – hence the nose-up attitude)"...read the full article here.

Charlie reports to me that much of his current work is what he calls 'boat joinery', ie: making glass boats look better. I suspect he'd prefer some more challenging work, say a commission for a wood boat, or another classic restoration. Based in Edinburgh (UK), Charlie can be contacted at 07870 104471 or by email at charlie.hussey@gmail.com. If you have a building or restoration project, I suggest you could do worse than to give Charlie a call.

The Scottish Coastal Rowing Project: a great and portable idea!

The model of a Fair Isle skiff in the Scottish Fisheries Museum which inspired
the design of the St Ayles Skiff.

Prototype build by the crew at Jordan Boats
courtesy Alec Jordan

Prototype build by the crew at Jordan Boats
courtesy Alec Jordan

Prototype build by the crew at Jordan Boats
courtesy Alec Jordan

Here is a wonderful project spearheaded by the Scottish Fisheries Museum in collaboration with Alec Jordan of Jordan Boats and Iain Oughtred. Nominally the Scottish Coastal Rowing Project, the idea is to involve communities in building this boat, a traditional design updated for modern construction techniques by Iain, with an eye to competitive rowing events. Jordan Boats is supplying the boats in kit form with the goal of making the build an achievable project for amateur building. The boat chosen is the St. Ayles Skiff and as you can see, is quite elegant. Alec Jordan, a longtime provider of kits for Iain Oughtred designs, states that he feels that with this design, Iain has outdone himself, again. I think it's a great concept, and can see it being utilized by coastal communities worldwide, either adopting this design or substituting local historic craft, say a dory for New England groups or an outrigger canoe in Micronesia. My correspondence with Alec Jordan indicates that he is willing to craft kits for amateur construction for any designs submitted to him, copyright permitting. He would of course review all proposals. Seems to me a hungry idea, one which could lead to interaction and competition not just locally but on a global scale. Mr. Jordan estimates that the cost for the St Ayles is expected to fall somewhere around $4500., significantly less than many of the boats currently embraced by rowing enthusiats, bringing the funding possibilities to a wider range of groups. Interested parties can contact me directly or Alec Jordan via his website. Click the top two images for the brochure and full prospectus PDF's.

I would like to add as a postscript that in a telephone conversation with Alec Jordan today he expressed he is not a boat designer and only designs and plans submitted or approved by a registered Naval Architect would receive consideration for the constructing of kits. Understandable. He also stressed that for the Scot's program only boats built in wood ie: ply or larch would qualify. No GRP, or as we say over here, fiberglass. OK? I think this should become the two firm parameters for any groups worldwide who would like to join this iniative.

MiniTransat 2009

2007 route

Painting the hull of 724, Chris Tutmark's boat

Ever wondered what the guts of a Mini look like? 724's interior looking at the bilge pump and the autopilot pump through the stern hatch.

Almost ready

Chris

Reality is Jesse's boat

Racing in France

Bottom work

Jesse



all photos courtesy Chris and Jesse

Next Sunday, September 13th, sees the launch of the 2009 Mini Transat. For those of you not familiar with this event, it's a singlehanded bash across the Atlantic from France to Brazil in diminutive 21' high tech racing craft known as the Mini 650(for 6.5 m). First held in 1977, the race was conceived by an Englishman but is administered and dominated by the French and is considered to be one of the most physically and mentally challenging sailing events ever. I was first atracted to the class because I find these high tech little monsters beautiful in their own way, and now marvel at the development of the class and the stamina and seamanship needed to complete this race.
Following the success of Clay Burkhalter in 2007 (he placed 12th. which is considered excellent for an American), two American sailors will be testing themselves in Sunday's event.

Chris Tutmark, 42, and Jesse Rowse, 24, will both be competing in this event for the first time. They both would like to better Clay's 2007 finish. Both have a subsidiary blog, Chris with Sailing Anarchy and Jesse with Sail Magazine. Both are seasoned racers although neither has ever sailed across the Atlantic. 70.8% wishes them both godspeed and bon chance in this herculean effort. It takes a tremendous amount of work just to get to the point of starting the race, with the job of lining up sponsors, etc. and a minimum of 1000 miles solo at sea to qualify. It's quite a distinction. It is also, historically, a springboard to success as a professional sailor: witness EllenMacArthur et al. Unlike my other favorite transatlantic 'race' the Jester Challenge, this is a fiercely competitive event. The man who conceived the race, Bob Salmon, did so out of motivation similar to that of the creators of the Jester.
I'll be rooting for both American entries!